Help with my Marlin 1894 PLEASE!!!

[gee-gaw]

Hey guys,
I've got a Marlin 1894 in .44 Mag. That has just quit, feeding. The elevator won't go all the way up, and so the cartridge hangs on the breech face.
Do I need to replace the elevator, and if so, is this a fitted item, or is it plug and play.
I'm kinda lost on this as you can tell. The rifle came second hand, and appears to have had a good bit of use before I got it.

Thanks in advance for your responses,
Wayne

[RickinTN]

Wayne,
From what I know of the 1894 there is a "wear point" where the lever lifts the lifter. I've seen photos of a "fix" which involved inletting a small portion of the lifter at the contact point with the lever and inserting a small section of hacksaw blade. The blade material apparently wears much better than the material the lifter is manufactured from. I'm sure there are other remedies as well. There is a fellow that I think is from your neck of the woods who goes by "Widdermaker" on the web (post as well as u-tube stuff). As far as I know he is the authority on making Marlins "work". You might do a web search and look at some of his stuff.
Hope this helps, and good luck with it,
Rick

[btroj]

Does the carrier go fully up with no cartridge on it? If so, the loaded round may be a bit long. That will bind it up against the front of the action every time.

A good cleaning would be good too. The Marlin is easy to strip down fully.

Doesn't sound like the Marlin jam, that is when a second round tries to feed from the magazine and the rim on the second round keeps the carrier from lifting.

Try some slow working of the action with no rounds in the gun. See if things are working as they are supposed to.

[gee-gaw]

I think Rick is on the right trail... Kinda confirms what I've suspected. I'll do a search for that feller, and see what he does about it.
Thanks guys,
Wayne

[DLCTEX]

Someone posted a link to leveraction.com that dealt with this problem. It encouraged Marlin owners do the fix before wearing out the part as the fix is relatively inexpensive if the part is not replaced.

It was marlinowners.com http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/45-70-govt/78161-guide-gun-feed-issue.html

[Duckiller]

Have a 1894 in 44Mag that would not feed. Local smith couldn't make it work. Finally sent back to Marlin, when they were Marlin, and it now works.

[Gtek]

Own and played with a few. I have seen the majority of the time is one of two things. Bullet - either design nose/case edge area or C.O.A.L. Extractor- to much tension or to sharp and digging and not allowing slide up into bolt face. Does it clickity-clack with no ammo? does it function with another ammo/brand?
Before the Remlin mess stuff like that usually did not make it out the door (I did not say ever). I would take a long breath before you start FIXING. There are not a lot of parts in there and anything more than a polish job can take you clean past left field into the parking lot. Gtek

[W.R.Buchanan]

Gee Gaw: If you look at the bottom of the lifter it should be flat.

If you look at the lever there is a Cam on the lever near the pivot, It will have a sharp piont on it. This sharp point wears the bottom of the lifter and puts a small indentation in it. This prevents the lifter from raising all the way up.

Putting about a .030 radius on the sharp point of the cam prevents the lifter from wearing prematurely.

If your lifter is already worn then it needs to be replaced, when you replace it radius the cam on the lever. You can also tweak the lifter but this is not easy to get right so just replacing this inexpensive part is the way to go.

Go to Leverguns.com and look in "Marlin Resources" for complete instructions on how to disassemble the gun and perform these actions.

IT IS NOT HARD! Also taking the gun apart and reassembling it several times will familiarize you with the way it works in which case all of this will make perfect sense. These are simple guns to work on so don't be affraid of taking it apart and parts flying all over the place or not being able to get everything back in the receiver. Just follow the simple instructions.

While you have the gun apart you can chamfer the mouth of the chamber, and deburr all of the internal parts, and the gun will run much smoother when you finish with it.

All of this is covered in great detail in the Leverguns.com instructions.

If you can work a screw driver and sandpaper you can handle this. You'll also have to read instructions.

Good Luck!

Randy