Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Marlin 1894 44 Mag

Been pondering adding one to the collection for woods hunting/tracking. I have heard of the dreaded "marlin jam" and was just wondering if this is still possible with a new gun. I have pretty much read everything in the entire lever action forum and was just wondering about this jamming problem. I did find a link to marauder for a fix but was just trying to learn all the info I could on these neat little guns.

Any and all opinions are welcome on these guns.

I have one and have never experienced the problem. It is very accurate with both jacketed and cast bullets and I have successfully taken elk with it.Below is anarticle I came across explaining it.

I did not like the cross bolt safety so I installed and o-ring on it to keep it in the off position. I don't feel hammer gun needs a safety. Next I did not like the fat forearm stock so I made a new butt stock ond forend that looks like a true Model 94, which aslo reduced the weight also .


Fixing the dreaded �Marlin Jam�
By Rusty Marlin

How the Action Normally Works:
As the lever is cycled, it slightly lifts the cartridge carrier which allows one shell to come onto the carrier. And the carrier blocks the other shells so they stay in the magazine tube.

The Problem

The "Marlin Jam" as it is affectionately known is caused by an inherent design/manufacturing flaw of the Marlin lever. The lever has a snail shaped cam surface that goes around the pivot screw. Every time the lever is cycled the carrier bounces on the forward edge of the cam. The forward most edge of this cam is left sharp at the factory (the flaw).
After many thousands of cycles, the sharp edge cuts into the carrier enought so that the timing is slightly changed. At first, you will feel a slight "hitch" when cycling, then the timing will get worse; the carrier nose gets lower in relation to the magazine tube opening so that two shells are allowed to exit the magazine. The first shell comes in on top of the carrier as normal, and the second shell slips past the carrier nose and gets trapped between the top of the carrier and the magazine opening in the frame.
Marlin calls this "letting in two" because rather than letting in one cartridge at a time, the carrier allows two to slip by.

If you can get to this web site,it has a lot of other useful marlin info.

http://marauder.homestead.com/files/Marlin94Fix.html

Has anyone loaded Hornady 265 gr FP 44 cal for the Marlin 1894?
Curious about how they will feed etc being .430
They look a little longer than some other 44 cal bullets but that could be just the pic on the website.
What load did you use for elk? Sounds like an interesting challenge. I'm thinking about chasing antelope this fall (if I'm drawn) with mine. I suspect it would be a hoot sneaking in close enough to 'lopes.

I use the 240 gr Speer Flat Point, with 22 1/2 gr of H110 for elk. I shot a small 3 x bull two yrs ago, it dropped in it's tracks. I have shot as many antelope within 100 yds as I have past that. ( not with the 44 though)

Thanks. Kind of puts things in perspective WRT what calibres are "appropriate" for elk etc. Proves that shot placement and confidence in your firearm/ammo combination are right at the top of the list.
I plan on spending the majority of my range time this year shooting my Marlin 1894 44 mag in preparation for hunting only with it come Sept.

Troutfly:

I have a bunch of the Hornady RNFP 265's and have loaded them to good satisfaction. I have a 1894ss and am using (disclaimer: all loads listed here are ONLY safe for My rifle) Win brass cases through Lee carbide dies, Win wlp primers (am going to try CCI lg mag primers next batch), 22.0 grains of H110 and a pretty heavy crimp. They feed flawlessly and are plenty accurate with the stock iron sights and recoil is not a problem at all.

BTW, My usual plinker load is the WLP primers in what ever cases are handy and trimmed, 240 lasercast rnfp over 10.0 grains of unique with a good crimp, which is pleasant, accurate and I wouldn't hesitate use on deer sized game to 100 yards if it was all I had.

I have also loaded the same 265 gr Hornady RNFP's with the H110 to 23.0 grains and it is a very stout load that is not much fun to shoot but impessive on reactive targets and still pretty accurate. I have yet to use them on game but would not hesitate to use either Hornady load on deer or close in Elk, it would just depend on which was on hand...

YMMV

Be safe

Patty

Thanks for the info. I found a source in Canada for the Hornady bullets just today. Not too many folks using these bullets in 44 mag from what I can gather reading through manuals etc. Folks seem to prefer 240gr or 270-300gr, including most companies. I am hoping a 265 gr load will split the difference for my uses at least. I'll be using once fired Win brass to start anyway.
Thanks,
Jeff

I just came across this thread while doing some research after having to dispatch a marauding black bear in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, using a load similar to Patty's- Hornady 265 FP over 21.9g of H110. I had switched from 240 gn. XTP to the 265 FP, thinking that the latter might penetrate bone better. (Not based on personal experience, just conjecture. The XTP are apparently pretty good.) Jeff, have you tried these out on game?

The first round was high and hit the spine, so he was fortunately down right away; I didn't fancy chasing a wounded black bear at 3:45 am. The follow-up shots were into the chest as he lay on his side. I neglected to really check the performance of the 265's on the bear before we buried him, but it seemed that the follow-up rounds didn't exit, as I didn't see any evidence of them striking the ground behind him. Would these expand at .44 mag. velocities? I suppose they could have come to rest against the far shoulder, although at 20 yards I'd have thought they'd go straight through.

Stuart