Question about cartridge OAL for Marlin 1894

[John in WYO]

Afternoon gents.

Snowing like crazy in Cheyenne. Several highways are closed or posted "No Unnecessary Travel". Winter is October through May in Wyoming. Trees and bushes are just starting to bud. Some of you guys are probably full-fledged into spring already.

Drifts are knee deep in several places around the house. Going to have to get the orange tractor started to get out to the county road to make it to the highway to go to work tomorrow.

I'm sitting here, warm and dry, going over my latest acquisition:

Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum. SN 22104xxx. (Does that make it a 1978 vintage gun? 100-22=78) Stock as a stove, missing the entire barrel-mounted rear sight assembly. It had a cheap Tasco 4x and an ill-fitting weaver-style scope mount on it hence the missing rear sight assembly. Minor pitting from some surface rust on receiver and lever that the store owner cleaned up.

Store owner said it was an estate consignment and had been in a closet for years. Put away dirty, for sure. I used the store bore light to check the bore. Scary looking, to say the least. Really hard to tell condition of the bore.

I've seen several in the $400-$600 range at recent guns shows and just couldn't bring my self to part with the cash. However, The price was right at $295.00 so I brought it home.

Took it home, snugged it into a vise and removed the lever and bolt. I went to work on the bore with Hoppe's and several bore brushes. It was absolutely atrocious at first blush. The patches came out with what appeared to be large flecks of rust and others particles that looked to be from leading. After about 30 minutes and lots of black, filthy patches, bore-brushing and wearing out one brush, I can pronounce it very fit for duty.

Anyone have any hints for feeding the little monster?
I've been loading .44 magnum DA & SA revolvers since 1979, this is my first Marlin 1894, so I thought I'd ask the experts (okay, I mean you guys.) about any idiosyncrasies it might have. I have molds for the Lyman 429421 SWC and 429348 WC, and several different jacketed slugs.

Mostly I'm wondering if the 429421 is too long in Magnum cases, will they cycle with .44 Specials using the same bullet?

[Shuz]

According to my records, a 429421@1.671 OAL would not feed in my Marlin 1894. Why I had that OAL in my notes, I'll never know because I usually load 429421 @1.710 for my handguns and have for years. I suspect I tried 1.710 and it wouldn't work so I tried seating deeper?
Now here's what did feed in my Marlin: Lee 44-200RNFP@from 1.592 to 1.620. Ranch Dog 44-265@1.543. Lyman 429640@1.700. In my experience the Marlin 1894 in .44 mag is quite finicky in OAL, you have to experiment to see what works.

[Outpost75]

Max. overall cartridge length to feed in the .44 Magnum Marlin 1894 without hanging up the lifter is 1.61".
Minimum overall cartridge length to avoid two cartridges double-feeding out onto the lifter and jamming is 1.50"

[Trinidad Bill]

I have a similar rifle, 1978 and I paid $300 for it several years ago. I carry it every day on my walks. It is old, not pristine, worn but comfortable to me! I put a Skinner low profile peep in the back hole and shoot a standard 240gr lead 44mag Hunters Supply bullet under 10.5gr of Unique, OAL 1.645, runs at about 1400fps. Cycles just fine.

[wv109323]

You need to slug the bore for proper fit of the bullet. Mine will not shoot accurately with .430 boolits unless they are extremely hard. I have two Lee molds ( 240 GCSWC and a 200 RNFP) and the rifle will not shoot them well as cast. They cast too small for the bore. I am going to beagle the molds and re-try. The Micro-Groove bore likes fat boolits.

[Keyston44]

SAAMI groove spec for rifles are different than handguns in 44mag. .431 or rifles, .429 for handguns. Normal .430 cast bullets leaded my Marlin barrel bad. Now I use the Ranch Dog 265 gr. sized .433. It works well in both my Ruger Super Blackhawk and my Marlin.

Key

[Char-Gar]

I filed back the lifter increasing the length about .025. I can now feed the Keith bullet rounds in 44 Magnum as slick as you please. However, I was not happy with the accuracy they produced, but I have not spent much time trying to improve it.

I have a discontinued RCBS 225 GC mold that cast bullets about 235 grains. Checked, sized .432 and loaded over 10/Unique they will produce bug hole groups at 50 yards. This about duplicate the 44-40 WCF performance out of a Winchester levergun. This is all I need for the rifle and load to do. If, I need more stomp I have bigger rifles.

This load also shoots very well in my OM Ruger SBH, so that is what I use in it and the Marlin. The Marlin wears an old Redfield 102 receiver sight. I am not experimentally minded, so when I find something that works, I stop looking. These are working guns and not plinkers so I don't worry about the extra cost of the gas check.

[John in WYO]

Thanks for the responses. Some great info here.
And that's why I posted!
You guys are great.

Trinidad Bill, you live out of town right? Grin.
Had breakfast in Raton (the other side of the mountain from T. Bill for those of you that don't know) several years ago with a guy that said he regularly sees black bears and lions traveling the draw behind his house. Good little carbine to pack around, I say. I really like the balance and ease of carry.

[W.R.Buchanan]

John: one thing you can do to your gun that will make a big difference is to chamfer the chamber mouth about .040-.050. This will make it so that SWC's don't hang up on the chamber mouth. It will also feed longer cartridges better.

Marlin states that cartridges should be limited to 1.610 OAL, but this number includes a generous safety margin.

My 1894 CB with a stock lifter will in fact feed 429421 and 429244 @1.665-.670 loaded in Magnum cases just fine. Still it would be a good idea to file/mill the stop on the lifter back about .060 (1/16" not critical) just so it would be a little more reliable. I haven't seen the need to do this but probably will in the future. Chamfering the chamber mouth cured my guns tendency to hang rounds up when closing the lever and this was caused by the boolit actually gouging into the sharp chamber mouth. The chamfer fixed this permanently.

Some people run very heavy 330 gr LFN's, and the COAL is pushing 1.750 and this requires the lifter be cut back a full .125 or 1/8".

My gun will also run shorter rounds very well.

The way the action works, is,,, as the lever is opened the lever extension allows a round to move rearward using the mag spring to push the round back against the lever extension,,, as soon as the bullet passes onto the lifter the lifter raises up a small amount to block the magazine, when the lever is all the way open and the spent cartridge is ejected,,, as the lever is closed the cam on the lever raises the lifter up until the cartridge is pinned against the top of the receiver, and then the bolt pushes the cartridge forward into the chamber while the rim is pushed up under the extractor (controlled round feed) As the lever is closed into battery the locking lug is engaged into it's place in the bolt and the gun is ready to fire and the lifter drops all the way down and allows another round to feed onto the lifter but only as much as the lever extension will allow. The rim of the cartridge should be slightly forward of the front of the loading gate.

The fact that the lifter pops up as soon as a cartridge is fully onto the lifter is why the action will feed a variety of shorter cartridges without problems. The idea is that only the rear portion of the cartridge is allowed onto the lifter before tension is put on the lifter to raise up and in doing so, as soon as the nose of the bullet goes past the front of the lifter, it pops up and blocks the next cartridge.

If it fails to accomplish this correctly you will experience the infamous "Marlin Jam" this happens most often when the lever is operated very slowly. It only takes a split second for the rim of the feeding cartridge to get onto the lifter,,, at that point the lifter must have upward pressure on it so that as soon as the nose of the bullet passes the lifter can pop up and block the next round. If it doesn't do this then the next cartridge feeds onto the lifter which ties the gun up,,, and you are screwed until you can shove the offending round forward and free the lifter.

These are excellent actions and are very easy to work on I would suggest a trip over to www.leverguns.com and read all of the info on working with these actions. They have easy to follow instructions on how to clean up and modify these actions to where the are reliable and smooth to operate. Mine is a joy to operate and shoot.

Here is a pic of my dummy rounds and the longest ones are loaded with Lyman 429244 GC and measure 1.665 long. The WFN, 4th from left, is 1.575 long , the Special case loaded with .429244 is 1.540, the 2 plated boolits are 1.420 long and the final Special case is loaded with Lee 429-240 and is 1.395 long.

All of these dummy rounds feed flawlessly in any order thru my gun as fast as I can run the lever, and this is primarily because to the chamfer on the chamber mouth which doesn't cut into the step on the SWC's or the Meplat of the WFN Boolit.

The fact that the lifter automatically raises up as soon as the bullet for any given round passes the front of the lifter, and the bullet is being introduced to the lifter by the lever extension in a controlled manner,,, is why these actions will feed virtually any combination of cartridge lengths.

I plan on making some .44 Super Short Special rounds out of .45 ACP cases ran thru a .44 cal. sizing die just to prove that the action will cycle them as well. They would be about 1.200 OAL with RFN's in place. Pretty sure they will run just fine.

Hope this helps you out some.

Randy