Marlin 1894CL

[Old Goat Keeper]

All the talk about doing Marlin conversions has me hot and bothered! What I'd really like to have is an 1894CL chambered for the new federal.327 Magnum. Two questions come to mind. First, can the Marlin CL action take the pressure of the .327? It runs at a failry high pressure. Not sure what tho. Second, will the CL handle a cartridge the length of the .327?

If anyone can see any other "problems" that I haven't please bring them up!

Thanks!

Tom

[johnly]

Pressure is no problem based on bolt thrust calculations using 44 magnum pressure levels and case diameter sized to that of the 327 Federal.

I have a 32-20 and I'd guess that the case capacity is close to that of the 327 Federal. It might be easier in the long run to just find a nice new production 1894 in 32-20.

John

[missionary5155]

Greetings
I would totaly agree... a 32-20 in a modern rifle is everything that long 32 mag is but with more powder space. But the conversion would be somewhat straight forward to end up with a rifle that does a good job on beasties of about 50 pounds or 100 pounds real close up.
I think that 32 is a nice little cartrige for a nice little revolver. A 5 shot in my wife´s posesion would be just fine. Sort of like me and my 5 shot 41 mag... Just Fine !

[6pt-sika]

It might be easier in the long run to just find a nice new production 1894 in 32-20.

John

While your statement has merit , it doesn't always feed the hunger for what a person actually wants


I for one had 4 different 32-20 lever actions and a lever in 32 H&R MAG and when they brought the 327 Federal out I was almost immediattely thinking of a way to make a rifle for that cartridge .

Also now have a Ruger Blackhawk "Buckeye Special" in 32 MAG/32-20 and had gone so far as to find out the cost and trouble to make a third cylinder for that revolver for the 327 Federal .

So it isn't "always" a matter of what will work or what we can "get by with" . It's more a matter of what a person wants .

Otherwise we'd be stuck with 5 or 6 different guns to cover EVERYTHING a normal person would need :coffee:

[btroj]

And face it 6pt, these pages are not the venue for "normal" gun people.

I have a 32-20 Marlin CL but would not mind a 32hr or a 327 Federal. Curiosity demands that we see what the cartage could do in a lever gun.

Brad

[Old Goat Keeper]

Thanks for all the good thots guys. It's just that I have a Ruger GP100 in 327 Fed. And it is a real tire, er, bullet smoker. It has no trouble driving a 115 grain bullet at over 1600 fps in a 4 inch barrel! Now all I did was to dream of it in a 20 inch barrel! BTW the .327 runs hotter than a .357 or a 44 maggie. BTW, I do have a 32-20 CL and a 25-20 CL and it is way hotter than they are. Guess I will just have to find me a gunsmith who is as nutz (yeah I belong here) as I am!

Tom

[6pt-sika]

Thanks for all the good thots guys. It's just that I have a Ruger GP100 in 327 Fed. And it is a real tire, er, bullet smoker. It has no trouble driving a 115 grain bullet at over 1600 fps in a 4 inch barrel! Now all I did was to dream of it in a 20 inch barrel! BTW the .327 runs hotter than a .357 or a 44 maggie. BTW, I do have a 32-20 CL and a 25-20 CL and it is way hotter than they are. Guess I will just have to find me a gunsmith who is as nutz (yeah I belong here) as I am!

Tom

When the 327 first came out I got my hands on a SP-101 and it did very nicely albeit LOUD . I shot maybe 150 rounds of factory and maybe another 100 or so cast reloads . Littel gun "was" going to be my deer hunting sidearm since it was kinda light and didn't pull my pants down as bad as my S&W 629 :D

But after awhile I was kinda like whats the need , I very rarely carry a sidearm in the woods when hunting anylonger .

Now the Ruger 8 shot Blackhawk in 327 is very intresting to me !

If I hadn't sold my dies , all my brass and the molds I woulda used for the 327 I'd have one of those Blackhawks by now !

I don't see why a Marlin 1894 in 357 with a barrel change and possibly a bolt change wouldn't work for the 327 . Actually I don't know if you need to change the entire bolt but rather maybe the extractor only ! And that should be easy using one of the ones that was made for the 1894CB in 32 MAG .

Or possibly a nice old 1894CL in 32-20 could be rechambered and again with some "slight mods" to the bolt area and feed ramp it should also work and cheaper !

[Old Goat Keeper]

6pt what I am looking at is to find a Marlin cowboy in 32 H&R. That way the only thing that woudl need to be done is ream the chamber longer to .327 length. That is only 1/8 inch longer so I think everything, exractor/lifter/etc., should work. And I know what that round can do so it should be hotter than a 32-20 by a good bit. Then I'd have a matching pair of Marlin and Ruge GP100.

And yes sometimes you just got to do something that is not rational to fix the itch!

Tom

[Bret4207]

Ya know, you can take the 32-20 up into the 2K area with strong brass and a strong rifle. Do you think the 327 will surpass that? It's already loaded to the max from the factory as I understand it.

[Newtire]

Having 2 of the .32-20 Marlins and a Win '92 in .32-20, I can say this..Get yourself a model with a heavier barrel than the one little round barrel that the Marlins came with.

Like I mentioned in other threads, the skinny little barrels fling different loads to complete different points of impact. The heavier barrel on the '92 keeps them all to the same point of impact and varies only in the vertical dispersion when changing from load to load.

I would have to agree that the .32-20 can be loaded pretty hot in modern guns. I got over 1800 fps with a 115 gr. cast 311316 out of my .32-20 and 22" of barrel. 1600 fps out of a 4" barrel with that .327 sounds pretty awesome! What's the load?

[Old Goat Keeper]

The .327 American eagle loading is 100 grain softpoint at 1600 fps from the factory in a 4" barrel. Do't know the powder load or kind. But I figure if it gives 1600 fps in 4" barrell then in a 20" barrell without the cylinder gap it should do close to 2500 fps. I know that Jeff Quinn at Gunblasts.com and Joe at RealGuns.com both have loaded it up really good in the GP100. It is only 1/8" longer than the 32 H&R but runs at a a much higher pressure.

T-o-m

[Bret4207]

The .327 American eagle loading is 100 grain softpoint at 1600 fps from the factory in a 4" barrel. Do't know the powder load or kind. But I figure if it gives 1600 fps in 4" barrell then in a 20" barrell without the cylinder gap it should do close to 2500 fps. I know that Jeff Quinn at Gunblasts.com and Joe at RealGuns.com both have loaded it up really good in the GP100. It is only 1/8" longer than the 32 H&R but runs at a a much higher pressure.

T-o-m

Maybe, you'll have to put it over the chrony to know. The old Hi Speed 32-20 load was an 80 gr at 2200 IIRC. I've approached 2K with a 120 gr, but after a while you realize you're just pushing things to push them.

[6pt-sika]

Brian Pearce did a piece in Handloader on the 32-20 in revolvers and leveractions a few years ago . And he had a rather stiff load for the Lyman 311316 with H-110 that was at the 2K level . He had shot it in a 24" original Winchester 1892 . He may have also tried it in the Marlin 1894CL I don't remmember . I did however try his load with the Lyman 311316 and Ranch Dog 314-115GC . They both shot very ncely out of a 1980's Marlin 1894Cl and an original Marlin 1894 of 1905 vintage . Both were good enough for deer at 50 yards provided you didn't take an iffy shot .

After the 32-20 article Pearce did another one on the 32 H&R MAG with revolvers and the Marlin 1894CB I believe . Again he had a stiff charge of H-110 along with the Lyman 311316 and the velocity he was showing would have been good enough for good shots on deer out to 50 yards .

[Newtire]

Brian Pearce did a piece in Handloader on the 32-20 in revolvers and leveractions a few years ago . And he had a rather stiff load for the Lyman 311316 with H-110 that was at the 2K level . He had shot it in a 24" original Winchester 1892 . He may have also tried it in the Marlin 1894CL I don't remmember . I did however try his load with the Lyman 311316 and Ranch Dog 314-115GC . They both shot very ncely out of a 1980's Marlin 1894Cl and an original Marlin 1894 of 1905 vintage . Both were good enough for deer at 50 yards provided you didn't take an iffy shot .

After the 32-20 article Pearce did another one on the 32 H&R MAG with revolvers and the Marlin 1894CB I believe . Again he had a stiff charge of H-110 along with the Lyman 311316 and the velocity he was showing would have been good enough for good shots on deer out to 50 yards .

Hi 6-pt. I understand your reluctance on posting the load but am curious to know. I loaded up to 11.5 grains of Win 296 with that boolit and got close to 1800 fps. It even had just a bit of what you might call recoil.

[Char-Gar]

After over a half century of being bit by the gun bug and thinking anyting new was better than everything old, I have taken the cure.

I am all for anybody having anything they want as long as they have the funds and doesn't hurt anybody else.

That said, there is nothing the .327 Mag can do the a handloaded 32-20, .357 mag and even 30-30 can't do, except consume lots of financial resources. If spending money is the goal, then go right ahead. If having something to show for that extra money is the goal, then best give this notion some more thought.

[Newtire]

after a while you realize you're just pushing things to push them.

A very good point! We all like a little experimenting but sitting back looking at it sometimes, I wonder why I would want to push the .32-20 that hard when I can get there easily with another caliber like say the .30-30.

I don't think I could get much more accurate than the 11.5 gr. load of Win 296 I'm shooting with the Lyman 311316.

When the urge to get a .25-20 hits me, I keep reminding myself that I already have a .256 Win. I don't know that it works that way though..??

[Char-Gar]

There is so much money floating around this country these days, that folks, including shooter like to indulge their whims. We accumulate guns and projects with no real purpose. One day we wake up a realize that guns are like dope, and one fix just leads to the next.

Back in the day, a man was lucky to own one good rifle. If a fellow was a handloader and caster and he had a 30-06, he also had a .308, 300 Savage, 30-40 Krag, 30-30, 30 Carbine and 32-20.

The older I get, the more of a throw-back I become.

[Newtire]

There is so much money floating around this country these days, that folks, including shooter like to indulge their whims. We accumulate guns and projects with no real purpose. One day we wake up a realize that guns are like dope, and one fix just leads to the next.

Back in the day, a man was lucky to own one good rifle. If a fellow was a handloader and caster and he had a 30-06, he also had a .308, 300 Savage, 30-40 Krag, 30-30, 30 Carbine and 32-20.

The older I get, the more of a throw-back I become.

I'm not a total junkie then, I only have 4 out of 6 of those calibers. Trouble is, there's just one .30 carbine but a lot of the others! Maybe I do have a "Problem"

[6pt-sika]

I'm not a total junkie then, I only have 4 out of 6 of those calibers. Trouble is, there's just one .30 carbine but a lot of the others! Maybe I do have a "Problem"

Hmmm I'm in better shape yet then as I only "cast" for the 44/444 and 45-70 anylonger !

Now what I load jacketed for is another story :bigsmyl2:

[6pt-sika]

I really don't see ANY reason to talk the man out of making a lever gun in 327 Federal . Sure there are a number of other things that can or could take it's place . But thats certainly no reason not to give it a try !

"If" I did what any number of well meaning souls on this forum and several others said I should do , there are MANY MANY MANY cartridges I'd never had the pleasure of shooting and or playing with !

Same goes with bullet molds !

IF we all followed the preconcieved ideas of others there would be virtually NO buisness for folks like NOE , MiHec , Ranch Dog etc !

[6pt-sika]

but after a while you realize you're just pushing things to push them.

Hence the ENTIRE Remington Ultra Mag series of cartridges !
And yes I've fooled with a couple of them [smilie=p:


I like to shoot cast bullets quite a bit in normal velocity ranges for the cartridge .

But don't let it ever be said that I don't like the jacketed bullet speed demons also !

[Plumbous]

OK, all of the reasons this conversion might not be practical are interesting, but what about the technical feasibility? Old Goat Herder wanted to know if it would work. I have been wondering about doing the same thing. I know that a firearm chambered for .327 mag will also safely chamber and fire .32 S&W, .32 S&W long, and .32 H&R mag, but will a Marlin 1894 feed them all with any reliability? I'm hoping someone here with one in .32 H&R can report on feeing with the shorter rounds. I'm thinking if it will feed with all of those, it shouldn't take much to make it feed with .327.

I'm very curious! I think a rifle that will work with all of those rounds would make a great truck gun. It could be pulled out and loaded with anything from mild to wild, for everything from gentle plinking with the kids, to taking small game for the pot, to deer at reasonable range, to self defense!

Just my thoughts, hoping for more of yours! Thanks.

[Old Goat Keeper]

EXACTLY the "why's" that keep going thru my mind Plumbous! And YES my original questions "could it be made to work in a Marlin '94" and NOT whether it was practical or needed. I DO have a Marlin in 32 H&R magnum due to arrive any day so I will have answers for the different length rounds loading or not. The ONLY difference is the .327 is .125 inch longer/ Everything else dimension wise is the same.

Tom who isn't gonna use it to shoot his goaties


OK, all of the reasons this conversion might not be practical are interesting, but what about the technical feasibility? Old Goat Herder wanted to know if it would work. I have been wondering about doing the same thing. I know that a firearm chambered for .327 mag will also safely chamber and fire .32 S&W, .32 S&W long, and .32 H&R mag, but will a Marlin 1894 feed them all with any reliability? I'm hoping someone here with one in .32 H&R can report on feeing with the shorter rounds. I'm thinking if it will feed with all of those, it shouldn't take much to make it feed with .327.

I'm very curious! I think a rifle that will work with all of those rounds would make a great truck gun. It could be pulled out and loaded with anything from mild to wild, for everything from gentle plinking with the kids, to taking small game for the pot, to deer at reasonable range, to self defense!

Just my thoughts, hoping for more of yours! Thanks.

[Plumbous]

Outstanding Tom! I'll be looking forward to a range report!