Thinking of getting an 1894 in .357

[hylander]

So I got my eye on a nice JM 1894 in .357
What size Boolits do they usually need?
Are the throats oversized or the bore oversized?
Fill me in the particulars please.

[Winger Ed.]

Just feed it regular .357Mag handgun ammo.

It also eats .38Spec. but mine sometimes has a hard time feeding cast ones.

There are .357Mag rifle loads in the Lyman book that are hotter, and put a extra stress on a handgun.
When I got a CB in .357Mag, I loaded a bunch of hot rod (rifle only) stuff for it.

Not having much trust in 'Murphy', and knowing I have the Marlin for a long, long time--
I sold off the handgun to avoid a rifle load finding its way into my old Smith & Wesson.


With cast and mild loads, you can shoot .357Mags for about the same price as CCI .22LR Stingers.

[dangitgriff]

Don’t know what else to say except, you won’t regret it. Fun little guns. I find the 18” barrel configuration perfect for pistol-caliber shooting in a small, lightweight yet powerful package.
Ranger Point Precision offers a few parts if you want to upgrade a little. I love my little lever-gun and my 13-year-old son shoots it very well.

[frankmako]

everybody needs a 357 mag rifle. you can down load them for fun shooting or run them hot. the marlin 1894c is the smaller one of the group, 18 1/2 inch barrel. the marlin 1894cb is the 24 inch barrel. both are fine shooters and both will be priced high. sometime the henry can be a better deal and better shooter. you can slick up the marlin action and trigger with easy. you will need to slug the barrel to see what cast lead bullet the rifle will need. bullets that work for me are the 125, 140, and 158. for brands of bullets i have found the extreme plated ( or berry's) and zero bullet company bullets work the best. for cast lead my rifles loves the 158 gr bullet (.359 and .360), round nose and/or keith style. i powder coat my bullets. i seat my bullets far out, the canular is showing. you will have to play around with your load to see what the rifle likes.

[sghart3578]

I have several JM Marlins including an 1894CS made in 1982(?) if I remember correctly.

It is the funnest gun to shoot that I own. I have spent countless hours at the indoor and outdoor ranges doing extensive testing on different bullets, different powders, different primers, etc. I have chronoed dozens of different loads, tried factory sights vs peep sights vs a scope, different lubes and numerous other variables. If I can distill it down to a few lines it would be this:

The 1894C and CS with microgroove barrels are very accurate. Maybe not 1000 yard F class accurate but 2" at 100 yards is easily doable. And where I hunt that is more than enough. I venture to say that these rifles shoot better than the majority of their owners, including me. It was easy to find an accurate load right off the bat but I wanted to try different powders, primers, etc. in case we experienced another round of shortages.

I have found that as the velocity of the loads go up the point of impact goes up and to the right. It is so predictable in my rifle that I can "call my shots" depending on the load in the chamber.

Sticking to cast lead bullets, I have found the best accuracy with heavier (180 gr) bullets sized to .360".

I use one very, very light coat of Alox thinned with mineral spirits or Ben's Liquid Lube. I like TAC-1 and TAC-X also but have to adjust my sights very slightly. The accuracy with the TAC lubes is just as good as Alox but the point of impact changes a little.

Because the POI shifts with the increase and decrease in velocity I have settled on two loads. A 1500 fps second load with a 180 GC bullet over 12.5 gr of 2400 and a 1300 fps load with a 180 gr PB over 8.5 gr of A #7. The POI of these two loads are very close windage wise, only needing a change in elevation.

I went back to the the standard factory buckhorn sights on mine after a few years with a Skinner peep. The Skinner is a wonderful sight but going back and forth between elevation is harder. On my sights now I have the rear elevator on the second notch for the faster loads. If I go to my 1300 fps plain based plinking loads I simply bump the elevator up two notches to the fourth position. Easy and repeatable. No change is needed if I stay under 50 yards but at 75 and 100 yards the drop is noticeable.

I have gone as high as 1700-1800 fps with cast bullets and W296 but the groups opened up for me. To me this didn't justify the additional 200 fps on what is essentially a 75 yard rifle. Granted I didn't spend a lot of time at the high end. I didn't try Lil'Gun or many other powders in this range as 1500 fps will do anything that I want to do.

I could write another chapter on my work with jacketed loads but I will save that.

I have a new 2018 built 1894C with Ballard type rifling. It is proving to be very accurate also but with a different set of rules so to speak.

I hope this helps. By all means buy the rifle, find a good load and start having fun.


Steve in N CA

[white cloud]

.357 rifles are really useful. I like the idea of a revolver/rifle pair shooting the same ammo. Around here the deer are small and a good .357 load out of carbine does a good job. I would get the rifle.

[robg]

A 357 mag is always a good choice .had my win94 for over 20 years still shoots better than I can.

[dverna]

I never slugged mine and have two 1894's. Both shoot .358 sized bullets well using 92-6-2 alloy.

My lead is now basically free as I built a bullet trap this fall. Cases last a very long time. I think it costs me less than $3 a box to shoot .38 Spl.

I find they cost about the same to shoot as low end .22LR and are more fun.

The 1894's are easy to tune and accurate to 100 yards which is as far as I use them. The 1873's are faster if shooting CAS but I prefer the 1894's with side eject for plinking and critter control.

With a good bullet, the .357 can be used on whitetails.

[FergusonTO35]

Never found a load that my JM 1894C didn't like. .38's and mild .357's are just too much fun and dirt cheap to shoot with boolits.

[upr45]

Very fun rifle to shoot! Whenever I take a new person shooting after mastering 22LR we step up to the 357 1894 with mild loads then go full power. They always have a big smile when they touch off a full powered .357 in that rifle. I prefer to load mild rounds in a 357 case, although it will feed and shoot a 38 SP just fine.

[smkummer]

I have one of the later 18.5” 1894C but still with micro groove. I can fit 10 38 special with the lee 125 RF bullet for CASS. In my gun, I cant load a shorter combination or I start getting the marlin jam. Which was my main concern. Next was if micro groove would fire my cast, it does just fine. In fact my 100 yard plinking load is from the Lyman 45th edition. Lyman’s 195 grain loaded with a max 38 special load of 2400 at 875 FPS out of a handgun and maybe getting 1100 FPS out of the rifle. I am plinking a 8” plate at 100 yards with ease. Low recoil, fun, cheap, accurate and in 357, it would drop deer easily if I ever used it for that. I had to wait awhile to find one that wasn’t marked up price wise. I finally found one for $525 on armslist in my state and it was legit. Everyone likes shooting this gun.