Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin Talk 1894 CL Jammed

I seem to recall something in the past about jams with the 1894. I have a .32/20 that I bought quite a while ago, and just got around to taking it out to shoot. I loaded two rounds, and chambered the first and fired it with no problem. The second round somehow got hung up between the magazine and carrier, and I am not sure how to proceed. Taking into account that I am technologically challenged (brain OK, but bad case of fumblefingers) what is the recommended procedure for clearing the jam, and is this a common problem?

I bought the rifle used, but it was like new, and wonder if the seller had been frustrated too.

I think that is an issue with some Marlins. The carrier may be a bit too short and it allows the rim to get jammed between the mag tube/frame and the carrier. The cure to unjam it is to stick something like a pencil or if that is too big, something like a bicycle spoke to push the cartridge back up into the mag to allow the carrier to clear. As a worst case you may need to pull your magazine tube from the gun to unload it if the cartridges won�t cycle through the gun. After you safely clear the gun, you can call Marlin or Brownell�s and see about a new carrier.
This may be what you need, but you can talk to Marlin and see what they say.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=21041/sku/Carrier_Assembly__New_Style#

Thnaks for the help. I'll try clearing it with a stiff wire. and if that doesn't work I'll pull the magazine.

The same thing happened to ours. After several jams, the little button on the carrier came off the lifter and now the rifle will not feed cartridges through the magazine. I don�t want to go through the trouble of sending the rifle back to Marlin for repair. We live over 30 miles from the nearest UPS center and I don�t care to fool with the people at the UPS. So, I live with the rifle as a single shot. The 32-20 Marlin is a good rifle but it unfortunately has an oversize chamber in the rear and this is a bit hard on brass if you want to load the rifle the 327 Federal performance levels.

You can try this...

http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php/topic,58595.0.html

Or just go here, and do a "Search". Lots of Marlin info on this site...

http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php

william: according to the domestic mail manual, you can mail it back to marlin for repair. hope you live closer to a post office.

I sent my brand new in box with hang tag still on the barrel 357 magnum which would not feed any 38 caliber or 357 magnum cartridge that I tried in it back to Marlin with a note that said "if you cannot make this thing feed Remington 180 grain SJHP's, then send me my money back". I received the rifle back with the magazine tube scratched, the stock dinged in 2 or 3 places, and feeding 180's just fine. With standard factory sights it puts the 180 right smack on the money at 50 yards.

Send it back to Marlin.

I offer here for future reference, shooters can Google "marauder marlin jam" and find discussion on both causes and fix.

The short version of the best known flaw ("The Marlin Jam") is that the sharp nose of the lever wears a groove into the lifter... and that groove lets the lifter drop down to far, slipping underneath the next round in the magazine. Relative easy fix described on Marauder's site.

A less problematic issue is if the screw holding the trigger guard plate becomes slightly loose. The plate moves downward from the frame, the lifter can now travel too far south, same symptom as above.

Clearing the jam often involves removing the lever, sometimes the bolt (if you can get it out without forcing), and removing the plate so you can control the round in the magazine while moving the lifter back into position... or dropping the lifter enough so the magazine spring will unload the rifle for you

FWIW, many of the Cowboy Action shooters put literally thousands of rounds through their 1894s every year... There's no reason to suffer along with one that's not feeding properly.

-R44