Marlin 1894 Action Job "Do's and Don'ts"

[4given]

I'm going to take my Marlin 1894SC into a local smith for an action job. I don't really need a "full race" Cowboy action shooting job but I would like it to be smooth, quick and reliable for range, field or defense purposes.

For those of you that are familiar with such things, what specifically would you have done or not have done?

Thanks!

[Shawlerbrook]

I would first make sure the gunsmith I pick was competent and familiar working on leverguns. Basically smoothing all the bearing surfaces and getting a smooth and crisp trigger. There is a lot of good information over at Marlinowners Forum.

[pietro]

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Many rifles have both detritus inside and minute burrs on the moving parts left after manufacturing - so I would suggest tearing it down totally for a deep cleaning and a light internal lube, then re-assemble it to ensure it runs OK.

Then, before taking it to a gunsmith:

A) First make sure the rifle/magazine is still empty.

B) Second, every evening for a week, while watching TV, keep constantly cycling the action until it feels like your hand will fall off or you drive your family crazy.

I usually find repeaters run much more smoothly afterwards.

Whaddaya got to lose ?

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[4given]

After watching a bunch of youtube videos I have decided to do the action job myself. I have done quite a bit of work on my handguns, bolt rifles, AR's and Ruger 10/22's so I am now confident I can work on a Marlin 1894.

Besides polishing all the recommended surfaces, I will install a Pioneer Gun Works Marlin One Piece Firing Pin Kit. These kits come with a one piece firing pin, light hammer spring, and a light lever plunger spring. I ordered a stainless steel follower and a leather lever wrap from them too. http://www.pioneergunworks.com/marlin-rifle-parts

I also ordered a Wild West Guns Happy Trigger for it. https://www.wildwestguns.com/product/trigger-happy-kit/

I'm probably going overboard but this should be a fun project while we are mostly stuck at home for a while longer. Thanks everyone for your input!

[pietro]

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One thing to remember when dis-assembling a Marlin 336/94/1895 is that most of the screws removed need to go back in the same hole. (don't ask me how I know this)

YMMV, but I poke some holes in to a side of a flattened cardboard carton, labelling each screw/hole with where it came from.

While you have it apart, it would be a good idea to also remove the loading gate (1 screw), stone the leading edge to ally the sharpness, and also stone the ramp on the rear face for the front of the gate - It'll load a bit smoother and not bite the tip of the finger that's pushing the cartridge into the magazine.



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[4given]

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One thing to remember when dis-assembling a Marlin 336/94/1895 is that most of the screws removed need to go back in the same hole. (don't ask me how I know this)

YMMV, but I poke some holes in to a side of a flattened cardboard carton, labelling each screw/hole with where it came from.

While you have it apart, it would be a good idea to also remove the loading gate (1 screw), stone the leading edge to ally the sharpness, and also stone the ramp on the rear face for the front of the gate - It'll load a bit smoother and not bite the tip of the finger that's pushing the cartridge into the magazine.



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Great ideas. Thanks!

[Baltimoreed]

The one piece firing pin will make a huge difference in the amount of effort needed to work a Marlin 1894. Remove a coil or two from the lever lock and polish the edge where it cams to make things smoother too. I also replaced my safety with a dummy screw. I’ve seen a few cowboys go to the line and at the beep eject the first couple of rds before someone yells safety. Bad way to start a stage. I used a small ‘o’ ring on my wife’s carbine’s safety, still holding up. I’ve broken 2 one pc firing pins over the years and repaired the dreaded marlin jam once on my Cowboy Ltd-still holding. A great cas rifle.

[BFJ]

Real good info above. +one on the safety, a o-ring or d-ring will keep you of out trouble. Doing a action by oneself is not that bad of project. Take your time. You can find good info on the net on action job. Both of mine Marlin 1894's have one piece firing pins.

[oconeedan]

I simply removed the little spring for the two piece firing pin, and kept the two pieces...they work fine without the spring. I had a rifle go "click" on a nice buck one time and it really hurt my feelings.
I too, used a O-ring on the safety and it has never failed me.
Trigger, sear surfaces, just polish them, don't remove any metal.
Dan

[kgb]

Have Happy Triggers on both of mine. When I bought the .32-20 it came with a very light trigger pull. Asked the friend who put me on to it and he said owner had simply installed the trigger with no other change. Shoot at silhouettes, so okay with me. One day decided to switch Happy Triggers between the guns and both guns now feel pretty similar, lighter than factory, not too light.

[4given]

Well, I am done with the action job. I disassembled and everything polished that needs polished. I noticed the bottom of the carrier has the dreaded Marlin Jam "notch" worn into it and some other fairly significant wear. See picture:



I figured while it is out I would file it down enough to JB weld in a piece of high carbon steel Jigsaw blade like this fella did:


http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/ja...arlin-jam.html

Finished the carrier mod last night. Turned out decent I think for the first one I have done.







I installed all the new parts (one piece firing pin and spring kit) and the Happy Trigger and took it out to the range this morning. It worked great! Cycled .357 and .38 special ammo without a hitch. Action works a lot smoother and the Happy Trigger is just awesome! It breaks crisp and clean with ZERO creep. I don’t have a trigger gauge but it is a lot lighter than before. 3-4 lb is my guess.

I sighted it in with the new Skinner Express peep sight. So far I don’t have to file the front sight at all shooting at 25 & 50 yards. Not sure how much elevation adjustment there is. We will see next time I take it out and shoot it at 100 yards.

So far I am super happy with the all the mods! This will be a fun rifle!

[pietro]

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Nice work !

I luv it, when a plan comes together...

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[4given]

Well it turns out I used the wrong type of jig saw blade. The one I used was made from High Carbon steel. It is not tough enough. After reassembling the rifle I cycled the action a couple of hundred times or so and then took it to the range and ran 40 or 50 rounds though it. I brought it home removed the carrier and found the "Marlin Jam" notch and funny wear pattern was already starting to form. See picture:



I did a little research and found out you want a jig saw blade that is made from High Speed Steel NOT High Carbon Steel. High Speed Steel is "tool steel" which is a lot harder and abrasion resistant and etc.

I ordered some from Amazon. They will be here tomorrow. I'll just file it down, JB weld the new HSS piece into place and try that. I'll let you know how it works this time

[mattw]

With the right piece of steel, you could always heat it up red hot and oil quench before the final polish. Guarantee that you will not wear it out then, but I am not sure how much wear it would induce on the part that rubs it! I made a pair of dual ended de-moon tube for 10mm and 45 and 45 and 38 this way years ago, can't even scratch the darn things on the ends.

[Baltimoreed]

That was how I fixed my 1894 but I must have used the right jigsaw blade as it’s still going strong. I used one of the ends after removing the pin not where the teeth are. Don’t know if it makes a difference but mine’s still ok.

[missionary5155]

Makes me wonder where the blade you used came from ?? Sort of like the newer Gerber knives.... They say Gerber but smell like stir fried dog.

[4given]

Makes me wonder where the blade you used came from ?? Sort of like the newer Gerber knives.... They say Gerber but smell like stir fried dog.

Brother Mike, that might be it. It was a harbor freight "Warrior" brand blade marked "high carbon steel" I had laying around in my garage. The new ones I ordered are Bosch brand marked "High Speed Steel" and made in Switzerland not China. Here is the link: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[W.R.Buchanan]

Sorry I didn't get here sooner, but you need to replace that carrier. It's toast and your fix will only wear out the cam on the lever, then you'll get to replace both. The way to fix this "Before" it needs it,,, is to put a radius on the point of the cam on the lever. .

Goto www.leverguns.com and read the instructions on how to do your action job, and you can omit the things you don't want to do like if you were building a CB Action gun. I don't know about your other sources on this,,, but Leverguns.com is THE definitive source for everything there is to know about them.

It mainly is deburring and breaking edges. One other area is to sand the tool marks out of the groove the ejector rides in. The last thing is to radius of the top edge of the hammer where it contacts the cocking cam on the bolt. The cam must push the hammer beyond the sear during opening which it will do anyway, however the hammer also has to be pushed down that far when closing the lever, and that is where the resistance is. Radiusing the hammer face will help that out.

And did you chamfer you chamber mouth?

See the sticky above on this.

Hope this helps,

Randy

[4given]

Sorry I didn't get here sooner, but you need to replace that carrier. It's toast and your fix will only wear out the cam on the lever, then you'll get to replace both. The way to fix this "Before" it needs it,,, is to put a radius on the point of the cam on the lever. .

Goto www.leverguns.com and read the instructions on how to do your action job, and you can omit the things you don't want to do like if you were building a CB Action gun. I don't know about your other sources on this,,, but Leverguns.com is THE definitive source for everything there is to know about them.

It mainly is deburring and breaking edges. One other area is to sand the tool marks out of the groove the ejector rides in. The last thing is to radius of the top edge of the hammer where it contacts the cocking cam on the bolt. The cam must push the hammer beyond the sear during opening which it will do anyway, however the hammer also has to be pushed down that far when closing the lever, and that is where the resistance is. Radiusing the hammer face will help that out.

And did you chamfer you chamber mouth?

See the sticky above on this.

Hope this helps,

Randy

Well better late than never! Thank you for taking the time to reply, I do appreciate it.

I got most of my information from the Marlin forum. I checked out leverguns.com as you suggested. They have the same links to the "marauder" instructions on how to fix Marlin Jam, and slick up your rifle like the Marlin forum so I think I have been looking at the same info you have recommended.

I found this on the Marlin forum https://www.marlinowners.com/forum/j...arlin-jam.html

This guy performed this carrier mod "Marlin Jam Fix" based on the "marauder" Marlin jam info. I contacted him by PM and his rifle is still running strong with this mod almost 12 years and thousands of rounds later. He says ran 8,000 rounds through it in the first year and many thousand rounds there after. Sounded good to me so I did the same thing.

After seeing the marks so soon on my new repair, I PM'ed him again a couple of days ago and asked him if he did the "snail cam" mod as he didn't mention it in his post. He said he may have knocked the edge off a little with a file but did not recall for sure.

I have also read on the Marlin Forum, some Cowboy action shooting forums and elsewhere that there is a fella who goes by Gunner Gatlin out in Michigan who does a modification to carriers to avoid this "Marlin Jam" wear. He mills the carrier then brazes/solders a piece of hard tool steel at the correct height. Apparently he does this for a lot of the CAS folks with good results. I figured the jigsaw blade method was essentially the same thing in a "redneck" sort of way.


Before replacing the carbon steel patch I put on my carrier with a high speed steel patch, I took a file to mine last night and carefully radiused the sharp edge a little, then polished it with a felt wheel and Flitz metal polish with my dremel tool. Don't know if it's enough or not. Looks about like the picture in the Marauder instructions I suppose.

After filing the snail cam I put the rifle back together and cycled dummy 38 special and .357 rounds through it and it worked just fine. I then disassembled the rifle, measured the thickness of my new high speed steel jigsaw blade, and filed that exact amount from the old repair. I cut and fitted a piece of the new high speed steel and JB welded into place leaving it to cure.

After spending all evening doing all that, I kick back in my recliner, inform my wife I thing all went well with my project. I grab my phone, check Cast Boolits , read your reply to my post, and find that I may have mucked it all up! I hope it all works.

Anyway, that's pretty much how I got from there to here.

Thanks for the advice on radiusing the hammer face. I polished it, but that's all. I will look at the link you gave me and see how to do it properly. I polished a little in the extractor groove it the bolt but did not remove the tool marks. I'll take another look at that while I still have it all apart.

I have considered chamfering the chamber mouth but I need a better tool. I have a tapered stone for my Dremel that will probably work ok but I need to attach it to a dowel or something to get it down in there. I am only shooting jacketed bullets through this rifle right now anyway because the microgroove barrel HATES cast boolits so it is not a priority.

Again thanks for your reply. Your thoughts on all this are welcome!

[4given]

Update for those interested:

I finished the the carrier repair by rounding the sharp edges and giving the new patch a nice polish. The new high speed steel is harder and takes a polish a lot nicer that the high carbon steel I used previously. I polished the sides of the hammer and the hammer strut. I sanded and polished the groove in the bolt that the ejector rides in some more. I did not radius the hammer face as I don't have a belt sander. I might have to have someone do that for me. Don't know who yet. I did polish the radius again for good measure. I put it all together and it works great so far. It cycled .38 special and .357 just fine.

Not totally happy with the lighter hammer spring that came with the one piece firing pin I bought. I had to use the washer that came with it so the slot in the hammer would clear the upper portion of the hammer strut when cocked. I think this made the spring a little more stiff. It is lighter than the factory spring for sure, but I would like there to be less resistance cycling the action when the gun is up to my shoulder if possible. Not a big deal but why not do it if I can do it and still get reliable primer strikes and ignition. There is still some resistance at the end of the cycle when closing the action. Not bad but could be better. I'll bet both of these things would improve with radiusing the hammer like W.R.Buchanan suggested. In the mean time I thing I'll look at some other hammer springs. Palo Verde adjustable hammer spring kit perhaps?

Anyway here are some pictures of the new repair on the carrier and a couple of close ups of the snail cam after I filed and polished it. I don't know if it is enough or not. I did not want to over do it. Any comments would be appreciated!