Marlin 1894

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Howdy![smilie=s:

I'm looking into buying a 1894 . . . and I'm looking at a pre-safety model . . . I like the smooth stock (no checkering) is there any other differences than it just does not have a safety?

Without the safety, if you dropped it on the hammer would it go off if their was a round chambered, like the old Single Actions would?

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Alot of people have read this, surprised nobody is any smarter than me! :lol:;)

[imashooter2]

The Marlins without the cross bolt safety rely on a half cock notch. If you pull the trigger to "ease the hammer down" and drop it instead, the gun will function as designed and the cartridge will fire.

ETA: If your question is "If I have the hammer resting on the firing pin and I drop the rifle on the hammer, will it fire?" The answer is it depends on the amount of energy the drop imparts to the firing pin. There is nothing in the rifle design that would prevent firing if the hammer were hit hard enough.

ETA2: If you have the hammer in the half cock notch it would take a heck of a hit to break the sear or notch and cause the hammer to fall.

[izzyjoe]

i have one of the pre saftey models '81. there the same as the newer ones with checkerin' and the saftey same gun. but if hammer is down on the firing pin and you dropped it hard enough it would fire, but you would have to drop it on something very hard. don't think that will ever happen to you. i carry mine on half cock like everybody else. that solves that problem. but you'll love the rifle ,you might even end up with more than one. :veryconfu

[NVcurmudgeon]

I have Marlins both with and without the crossbolt safety. Like a true geezer, I use the half-cock safety that I grew up with. The crossbolt is IMO so unobtrusive as to be nearly invisible, until unloading a full tube is required. At that point I rise up and call the inventor of the crossbolt safety blessed.

[StarMetal]

I'm like Bill. I have the 45 Colt Cowboy and the safety doesn't bother me too much, but I use the half notch because that's what I grew up with. Just cock the hammer and shoot, not an extra thought and motion of taking the safety off. I think the single action revolvers are more of a danger then the lever actions. For one thing back in yesteryear it was claimed that horse back riding through brush could result in a branch thumbing back the hammer on your Colt and put a bullet into your leg or horse. Thus the reason carrying it with one empty cylinder. Also it was claimed if the revolver was dropped often it would land on the hammer. I don't see those two situations happening with a lever action. Of all the millions of these made and used for deer hunting I believe relatively few accidents of this type have happened.

Unloading them is the dangerous part like Bill mentioned. If you know how you can unload them through the loading gate.

[BCB]

Yep, I have the ones without the crossbolt safety and I use the half-cock position also...

I do unload through the loading gate. It can be a bit tricky, but it is better, at least safer, than "racking" them through the chamber with no crossbolt...

I may be mistaken, but I thought there was a neat little tool to allow easy unloading through the loading gate? May be wrong on that one...

Lever guns are great, but they can be a bit dangerous...

Good-luck...BCB

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Any gun is dangerous, if used improperly, just like a car . . .

So . . . what is this "trick" to unloading through the loading gate?

[imashooter2]

Push the gate down past the rim and the cartridge comes out the same way it went in.

ETA video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCn3fxRhmB8

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Thanks for the video!

I'm hoping to get a 44 mag for me and a 357 mag for my wife . . .

[smilie=s:

[wv109323]

Another difference in the earlier vs. the later rifles is the type of rifling. Prior to the "Micro-groove" barrel Marlin used conventional land and grooves. When Marlin came up with "micro-groove" they went hog wild. Within the same caliber they changed the specifications of the micro-groove every three or four years whether it needed it or not. Different calibers got all together different treatment.
The housewife's tales are;
The Micro-groove barrels tend to lead quicker than conventional barrels.
The Micro-groove barrels usually take .001 to .002 larger diameter over other barrels. Example. a .357 is usually shot with .358 bullets. Housewives say micro-groove barrels will shoot better with .359 or .360 bullets.
Somewhere on the web is an article about all the changes Marlin used and when. It may even be on Cast Boolits. I do know that Marlin went back to the land and groove barrel that they now call their "Ballard" rifling.

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Actually they still make both styles of rifling, just depends on model of gun chosen.