marlin '93'

[bigted]

just arrived and new to me is a marlin 1893 rifle in 38-55. 26 inch round barrel with " SPECIAL SMOKLESS STEEL" impressed along the barrel and under the rear sight on the left side. a full length mag tube. been totally re-blued sometime long ago but i bought it as a shooter anyway. stock rockymountain style rear sight with a transplanted bead front from marples i think. wood is pretty solid with a depression style 'fix' on the wrist being the countersunk bolt for a begining split in the wrist area...the forearm is solid with no cracks.

action is very smooth with positive lockup and a trigger to beg for. all in all a very nice model from 1897 year manufacture. the bore is kinda dark with very pronounced rifling and i cant wait to get to the cleaning process.

however a couple questions first so i can get started correctly with this dandy rifle from yesteryear...

ive got loaded 10 grains unique under a...spit...jakit...spit...bullet of 220 grain from hornaday for my first rounds thru it to maybe help clean the gunk better after a thourogh cleaning...question is this...what is the preassure of a 10 grain load like?

next is this question...thinking it would come apart like the new marlins...being the bolt and lever come out easy...i tryed to dissasemble it for the scrubbing but the bolt didnt readilly come out with the lever removed...is there more to this old marlin then removal of the lever to dissasemble the bolt to clean from the breech?

thanks all for the replys and info...as well as the suggestions i know will come my way.

[northmn]

I have no idea if the originals will give any of the problems I have encountered, but here goes. Were I to recommend brass for a 38-55 I would recommend getting Starline. It will work with properly chambered rifles as well as ones like mine that would not take as cast bullets. Most 38-55's seem to have 380 bores so a Lee or LYman mold as cast seems to work.
I doubt if there is any pressure problem with the Hornady bullet as it is probably undersize anyway.

DP

[herbert buckland]

The bolt should come out with the leaver removed.Takdown of the 1893-94 is the same,open the leaver half way,remove leaver screw then leaver,the bolt can then be slid out then the ejector taken out,can not understand why the bolt is not coming out

[Salmoneye]

On my 1893, the bolt needs to be 'persuaded' over the hammer on the way out and on the way in...

Don't drop the ejector in the black hole under your desk...

I don't fit under mine as well as I used to...

[bigted]

cool...ill try the dissasembly again...just didnt want to force too hard if it wernt meant to come apart that-a-way.

also my 220 grain hornadays will not go into the muzzle at all but havnt tried them in the breech to see how far they would go up the barrel.

thanks all....nobody on the preassure of the unique load??

[fouronesix]

Well, because of the nature of small quantities of fast pistol powders in large cases like the 38-55, finding pressure data is going to be slim. The data I found for Unique in the 38-55 is in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and an older Lyman Reloading Handbook and they showed only velocities and not pressures. While a newer Lyman Reloading Handbook did show 38-55 rifle type powder data (no fast pistol powder data) with both velocities and pressure. And IMR data shows Trailboss (very fast pistol class powder) 38-55 CAS loads with both velocities and pressure.

[Salmoneye]

Only .38-55 load I can find with Unique:

http://www.reloadersnest.com/unverified_detail.asp?CaliberID=194&ID=7082

Also...I just remembered reading about an instance where the ejector had gotten 'cocked' behind the bolt and self disassembled when the bolt was forced out...

Make sure you see your ejector with the lever all the way open before attempting to disassemble again...

[bigted]

yep...came apart just like my '95' marlins. just took some tugging is all and before i got word i didnt desire to "tug" too hard without the knowledge that it would be the correct thing to do.

the bore ...[top of the rifling]...is nice and shiney but the grooves...[bottom of rifling]...seem knida dull and maybe pitted but cant be sure yet. im hoping that it isnt lead laying in the bottom of the grooves....if so there be a bunch of it.

otherwise im very tickled to have this rifle and just setting and holding it i wonder what kinda life it had and what excitement it partook in. obviousely it was a shooters rifle and it has seen a lot of shooting and maybe a few camping trips god only knows where.

so thankyou very much for the advise and suggestions. ill get some photo's and shooting done soon and report that here.

[Salmoneye]

Glad it worked for you...

I have come to love my 1893...

They are a thing of beauty...

http://i48.tinypic.com/21c9leb.jpg

[fouronesix]

For staying down in the low pressure range similar to BP, in my Win 1894s, I load about 17 gr 5744 with dacron filler under a 250 gr bullet sized to either .379 or .380 depending on rifle. Chronographed at 1250 ave.

[6.5 mike]

bigted, I have a 93 32-40 made a couple years after yours. Know what you mean about wondering where it's been & done. Only bad part is I think the last time mine was cleaned Coolidge was in office,lol.

I hold the hammer back when taking out the bolt, seems to help. Enjoy :drinks:.

[bigted]

finally got some time off from THAT job. be glad when i dont have to punch the time clock...LOL

will get back to my introduction with the new to me marlin. what a sweet rifle. have some rounds loaded with the 10 grain unique and am going to cast some rcbs 250 gr boolits to both shoot as greesers and also enough to squeese down and paper wrap em to see how this jewel likes paperpatch.

also now that i know how to dissasemble i cant wait to shoot bp in her. this is awsome...what a spiffy rifle. i just set in the loading room and hold it... still ...and try to imagine where it has been and done. guess i better get off here and get the honey-do's done so i can get to the sweet things.

more news at 11... so to speak.

[KCSO]

Comes apart basicly the same but be carefull not to lose the ejector as they can be tough to find. Pull the lever screw and the lever and the breech block comes back and out and the ejector will fit in a hole in the side of the receiver. Your oad will be ok pressure wise but I would not count on J slugs CLEANING anything. Better to work it over good with hoppes and a brush and jb's bore paste, if that don't get it consider lapping the bore but go easy as the old tubes wern't a tough as some of the modern bores are. Don't be suprised if when you shoot it the primers back out just a little as the 93's for some reason all seemed to be some generous on headspace.

[bigted]

well i still dont have pictures to share but wow what a cool shooter! i shot 3 of the unique loads with the jakex and they were pure fun...went in and loaded those three with some 300 grain pure lead boolits paperpatched to .381 and loaded em ahead of 40 grains of cartridge GOEX blackpowder...a .060 vegi wad and compressed some .200 inch. these were taken outside and oh my...what a hoot!!! these are the loads that are meant for this rifle...i hope. havnt shot at anything further then 35 yards yet so dont know how they will do but in the fun area they rule.

next will be some 270 grain lyman greesers sized down to the .372 inch and wrapped in paper to .3795. got em in the oven drying as we speak...man this rifle is a very large hoot.

getting the brown down to a minute amount now with the cleaning and the grooves look pretty rough so ill send a bunch more patched boolits down her and see if i cant shine it up some. sure glad i made the leap for this fine rifle. ill post pic's as soon as i get them for posting.

oh and yes ksco...this one push's the primers back some little bit but not enough to be dangerous. ill just keep an eye on it so if it gets worse ill take it to the doctor and see about getting it fixed.

thankyou all for the advise and suggestions.