Marlin 1894 .44 Mag Reline or Rebarrel

[insanelupus]

For those who became fed up with their Marlin 1894s and the 1-38" twist, if you didn't sell it, how did you remedy the issue? I thought about rebarreling one with a 1-20" twist, but after doing some reading I'm thinking about contacting John Taylor and having him simply reline it with the proper twist. Seems that would be the more cost effective route with a using rifle. Perhaps it can't or shouldn't be done, I'm not familiar with the limitations on relined barrels and high pressure cartridges.

Just curious what options are out there.

[6pt-sika]

I got wound up about relining a couple rifles a few years ago . Not to 44 MAG but to some of the "obsolete" cartridges based on the 45-70 .

Anyway the guy I talked with out in Oregon or Washington told me he wouldn't guarantee a breel that was relined if I shot jacketed in it !

For the 45-70 derivitives that was okay but I also had thoughts of reboring a 30-30 to 7-30 Waters and that kinda killed that idea .

[excess650]

Marlin 1894 44 barrels are too thin to reline.

[John Taylor]

Thought I might find you a good price on a barrel blank but Green Mountain is stuck on the 36" twist in rifle length. MeGowen has a 1 in 18 and 1 in 24 but the price of the blank with shipping is about $170, By the time it is turned, threaded and chambered it would probably be close to $400 before it is blued. Like excess650 said, your old barrel may be to thin to reline unless it is a heavy barrel.
A side note, liners are made from 4130 steel and after going through the hammer forge process they measure 28 on the Rockwell C scale which is the same hardness as a modern 4140 steel button rifled barrel. Except Douglas barrels are still going around 32 on the C scale. This is for hammer forged liners, Redman liners are button rifled and a bit softer ( B 82-92).

[475BH]

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=585600&catid=6748

I don't know what the quality is w/ the barrels from GunParts Corp.
Have you thought about going to a different caliber if you rebarrel?
Maybe the .357-44 Bain&Davis?

http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/w35744bd.html
http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

[6pt-sika]

Have you thought about going to a different caliber if you rebarrel?
Maybe the .357-44 Bain&Davis?


Now thats one that always intrested me in a rifle !

[insanelupus]

John,

Thanks for your input. This is a 20" rifle (the old short rifle configuration, made late 70s, with nose cap). Is there an exterior measurement you could give me which would give me an idea if this rifle barrel is too thin to reline?

[Ziptar]

Another idea for you.

A few weeks ago I bought a pre-safety 1894 .44 Mag at a gun show for a really good deal. I'm not fed up with the 1:38 twist, I've not even fired it.

I'd been wanting an 1894 in .45 Colt but, I'm not a fan of "Cowboy" prices or Octagonal Barrels.

I ordered a Marlin 1894 20" .45 Colt barrel from Numrich. http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=453900

UPS dropped it off night before last.

Its a micro-groove with a 1:20 twist and slugs to .451. As to the quality, it is a factory Marlin barrel without the JM stamp. It was coated in cosmoline, kinda dusty, and has a small bit of shelf wear on the bottom.

The bolt, extractor, magazine tube are the same on the .44 and .45. Its a simple swap. When its all said and done it will cost me much less than an 1894 Cowboy.

[excess650]

The round barrel 1894 44 mag barrels are THIN. I had one that you could see the roll stamping inside the bore.

For a reline its necessary to remove enough metal to allow the liner inside the old barrel. In the case of a 44 mag barrel. This will weaken the barrel at the receiver threads, dovetails, etc.

The 1-38" twist will handle 265gr and 300gr boolits. While they may be more fussy about loads than quicker twists, they will work. IMO, if you want a 1-20" twist, it will be more economical to trade that 44 mag on a 45 Colt and hotrod it!

[jgt]

I have considered this same problem when I wanted a better twist rate for my pre safety 94. The best I could come up with was to find a 38-55 barrel and have it rebored. The cost is still as much as buying another rifle, so I decided to shoot the 1/38 twist until such time as Marlin comes to their sences. It boggles the mind that Marlin came out with the ballard rifling change, then made all the other pistol cartridge shooting rifles with a 1/20 or better twist, BUT, kept the 1/38 twist in the 44 magnum ballard barrels. DUH !!!!!! Somewhere out there a village is missing their idiot !! :violin::cry:

[Mumblypeg]

I have a pre cross bolt safety 1894 in .44mag. It was round barrel. It didn't shoot cast very well and I realy liked the oct. barrel so I packed it up and sent it to Marlin for a new 20in. octagonal barrel with ballard rifleing. As it turned out... It cost me about $400, doesn't shoot as good as it did before and leads worse... it sure looks good and has no crossbolt safety with oct barrel but if I had it to do over I would just keep it or sell it and buy a new one. It does seem to shoot J stuff OK but that wasn't what I was going for. BTW, I also have one in .45 colt and it shoots very well. I guess that's what I should have done.

[44magLeo]

I have an older, pre safety 1894 44 mag and it shoots cast very well. As well as jacketed. I don't shoot heavy boolits. I have a Lyman mold that throws the 429421 at about 265 grs. I can push it to 1800 fps + and it shoots sub 2 inch groups at 50 yards with the stock sights. If I really try hard 1.5 inch has happened. I often shoot the boolits as cast, water dropped WW's, Lee Liquid Alox for a lube. No leading.
I think If you use the right size boolit, .002 or .003 over bore and keep the weight 265 grs or less they shoot fine. The heavier boolits need max speed to shoot well.

[izzyjoe]

i have an older 44 marlin, and i shoot the lee 310 without any accuratcy problems. and i shoot them mild to wild. it will do 2'' at 50yd. that's good enough fer deer, if i need more accuratcy and range, i'll grab my .270. :Fire:

[Three44s]

You might want to check this out:


http://www.montanarifleman.com/

They have barrels on sale there with a 24" twist for $125 that are contoured for a '92 Win.

Three 44s

[fatelk]

I'm sorta glad to hear that I'm not the only one that has had accuracy issues with an old Marlin 1894. My dad and I each have one in .44 mag, and neither of them will shoot worth a darn with any ammo I've tried, jacketed or cast. They will shoot about 3 1/2 inches at 50 yards.


The round barrel 1894 44 mag barrels are THIN. I had one that you could see the roll stamping inside the bore.
Mine has this too, looks like small wrinkles inside about a third of the way down, right where the heavy roll stamping is on the outside. QC must have been pretty bad to let these out of the factory. I assume this has a serious negative effect on accuracy.

[Suo Gan]

Another idea for you.

A few weeks ago I bought a pre-safety 1894 .44 Mag at a gun show for a really good deal. I'm not fed up with the 1:38 twist, I've not even fired it.

I'd been wanting an 1894 in .45 Colt but, I'm not a fan of "Cowboy" prices or Octagonal Barrels.

I ordered a Marlin 1894 20" .45 Colt barrel from Numrich. http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=453900

UPS dropped it off night before last.

Its a micro-groove with a 1:20 twist and slugs to .451. As to the quality, it is a factory Marlin barrel without the JM stamp. It was coated in cosmoline, kinda dusty, and has a small bit of shelf wear on the bottom.

The bolt, extractor, magazine tube are the same on the .44 and .45. Its a simple swap. When its all said and done it will cost me much less than an 1894 Cowboy.

Best idea so far.

[Ziptar]

Best idea so far.

I'll find out for sure soon. 2 days ago I shipped everything off to Clemets Custom.

[GabbyM]

Of course a simple solution would be to shoot 200 to 225 grain bullets from the 44 mag Marlins. 205 grain soft lead was good enuogh for the 4-40.