Max OAL for a 1894 Marlin 45 Colt

[GARCIA]

Anyone have an idea as to what the max OAL is for a 1894 Marlin in 45 Colt?
I am trying to get it to reliably feed Miha's "Ruger Only" boolit but it just is not working.
Having to load them as a single shot which really sucks!!

Anyone have a link as to how I might be able to fix/adjust the carrier so that it will feed properly.

Tom

[44 WCF]

Lever guns I've had, either 92 or 1866 and Marlin 94' have an absolute maximum load round length, they just won't work if you are loaded over that length. As far as I know you can't adjust the carrier. As long as I've stayed very close to the OAL as published in the reloading manual all is well. I do have couple moulds of SWC that will not function because the crimp groove to nose length is too long. One of those is a much beloved favorite of mine too, works like a champ in my revolver but have to single shot in my Marlin.

I keep my at 1.595" for my rifle.

44 WCF

[GARCIA]

It is really slick working with boolits from my MP Mold of the RCBS 270 SAA.
Heck I can even get it to feed a 300gr LBT LFNGC with no problem.
Ahhh, if only the "Ruger Only" boolit was just a tad shorter!!!

Tom

[W.R.Buchanan]

It is no big trick to mill the heel of the cartridge lifter back some on the 1894 Marlin.

The recommended OAL for the .44 mag versions which is virtually identical to the .45 LC version is 1.595,,,,However they will usually feed up to about 1.670 unaltered, and especially if you chamfer the chamber mouth. that's operating the lever slowly.

By milling the step on the lifter back .125 they will feed out to 1.750 which is enough to swallow any bullet you can stuff in one of those cases. IE: LBT LFN'S of like almost 400 gr.

Touching one off in a 6 1/2 lb gun might be a "once only," kind of thing, but at least you'll know it can be done.

Install Decelerator recoil pad first! You are esentially making a light weight .45-70.

Randy

[GARCIA]

Have you got a picture that you can post of exactly what you are reffering to?

Would hate to screw things up which I am prone to doing!!!

Tom

[Grapeshot]

Try shortening the case and seating/crimping die. The case will feed withhte longer boolit. I'd tweak the load from the lowest charge to what you want recoil wise. Safety being the formost concern. I'd use Nickled Brass to distinguish the shortened cases from my styandard ones.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Garcia: I can't really post a pic without complete dissassemby my gun.

When you get the lifter out of the gun there is a stop on it that the cartridge base hits when it is fed from the magazine. In fact I think you could see this step with the action open. This is what you move back.

I personally would not do this mod for just one style boolit, unless that boolit was going to be used alot. There are plenty of Boolits out there that will function thru an unaltered action.

Chamfering the chamber mouth about .040 is a good idea in any event as it makes it so longer boolits and ones with steps and wide noses don't get hung up on the sharp chamber mouth. This is a common thing to do to revolver cylinders to make it so you can load faster. Why they don't do it to rifles is beyond me, it would take 15 secnds per barrel to do.

My gun will feed .429244 at 1.660 OAL as fast as I can cycle the lever. Before the chamfer every one would get hooked on the chamber mouth, as well as LBT WFN, and just about every other boolit other than a RFN. This was no fun, and the chamfer fixed all of it.

Heres a pic of the chamfered chamber mouth. I have posted this several times.

This simpler fix might solve your problem.

Randy