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Post by Luckyn'Gmb on Jul 23, 2016 21:43:49 GMT -6
Alpo, no; I wish I'd had the opportunity. His accurized revolvers are greatly prized to this day.
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Post by shooteruk on Jul 24, 2016 11:21:41 GMT -6
OK, so now I am less enthused about the Marlin. I hate design flaws, they shouldn't exist. Bottom line, I will clean and lube it, take it out and put a couple of boxes of various shapes and weights through it. It I get misfeeds, its back to the shop for a trade in.
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Post by shooteruk on Aug 11, 2016 11:00:44 GMT -6
Having had a chance to play with the Marlin I have some early thoughts. First, I am in the wrong category, its not a rifle, its a carbine. Second, there is no point in having any sort of scope on it. At the ranges its effective at it would actually be a draw back, restricting the field of view. Its irons or at best, a single point. I have obtained a Sitemark coreshot pro, which is a reflex sight of the intermediate size, and very reasonably priced. In fact, I think it would give my Eotech a run for the money and at a third the price!
I have fitted a picatinny rail on the receiver, replacing the old style weaver rail which only had two slots, one near each end. The new one is much more flexible, and even allows iron sight use when not mounted with an optic.
It seems a well built and practical working carbine that should be fun to shoot, though I had hoped for a bit more range and accuracy.
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Post by Sasquatch on Sept 4, 2016 8:59:59 GMT -6
How's the rifling? Marlin levers mostly have that "microgroove" rifling. Works great, they tell me, with jacketed bullets, but not so much with lead. The cowboy shooters raised so much hell (because the game outlaws jacketed) that Marlin started offering "Ballard-style cut rifling". I have no experience with the Marlins. Don't like their look or their balance. Just relating what I've heard. I'm a huge Marlin fan, and looked into this prior to buying my model 1895 (.45-70) several years ago.
The potential problems with cast (unjacketed) bullets is only with the larger caliber, higher pressure rifles such as the .444 Marlin and .45-70 gov't. I say potential because many shooters report no problems whatsoever in shooting cast bullets through them. Others say they have had problems, and by all accounts it's a non-issue in the .35 Rem, .30-30 Win and lesser calibers.
For those wanting to do cowboy shooting with cast bullets, there is still an option that works well. You just need to be sure those bullets have a gas check on them, and that will cure the problem.
As far as the flat nosed bullets in the magazine go, I didn't see any mention of Hornady's "Leverevolution" bullets here. They have a polymer-like pointed tip that will not discharge the round in front of it, and offer much better aerodynamics. They make them in most if not all popular tubular mag calibers such as .38 Special, 357 Mag, .44 Mag, .30-30 Win, .444 Marlin, & .45-70 gov't. I really like them because they drastically reduce the bullet drop beyond 100 yards - something that's a real issue with the clunky .45-70 round. I'll be using the 325 gr. FTX round this fall on my bison hunt in Montana in my Marlin 1895.
A former TFRT member's dad reloads them for me, although I'll probably use factory rounds for the hunt. He'll be using the same round in his high wall, as will her brother in a Marlin 1895.
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Post by Sasquatch on Sept 4, 2016 9:23:39 GMT -6
I have a Marlin 1894 in .357 Mag. I bought a few months ago, and absolutely love shooting it. I also find the stock to be a bit short, but at this point will leave it as is. You always have the option of adding a 1" recoil pad without cutting down the stock, even though there is no need to dampen the recoil on that small caliber.
I did that with my Model 1895 in .45-70 gov't, and added a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad (in brown) while leaving the stock its original length. That is a wonderful recoil pad that not only gave me the added length I was seeking, but really tamed the recoil on that particular cartridge. I didn't really change the look of the gun either, as unlike some pads it was generally smooth and looks like a thicker version of the brown rubber butt plates/pads Marlin started putting on their rifles in the 80s. I can post pics if looks are a concern and you'd like to see what it looks like.
Mine was made in 1981 (pre-cross bolt safety) and likely unfired. It was basically a new rifle, and the hammer spring was particularly stiff. After disassembling and polishing the contact points of the action, I found it was still a bit stiff to cycle. I ordered a Wolff reduced power hammer spring from either Midway USA or Brownell's for just a few bucks, and once I installed it the rifle cycles much more smoothly. I ordered a few extras at the time for my other Marlin rifles, but realized later they didn't need them.
I love that little carbine. The problem for me is that it's so much fun to shoot that I go through a lot of .357 rounds when I take it out (I don't care to stock .38 Special). Basically, I can't stop shooting it.
Have fun with it, as it's a great little gun.
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Post by Alpo on Sept 4, 2016 12:41:11 GMT -6
The problem, as far as cowboy shooting, is that gas checks are illegal.
They shoot steel targets at close range. CLOSE range. They want no risk of bounce-back.
You can thank them, by the way, for that safety replacement. Many times, when the guns were staged lying on the table, the shooter would pick them up to find that the weight of the gun had put the safety on. Not a good thing to find out when you are in a race. Lever, CLICK, "WTF?!?"
There were a few solutions proposed. That allen screw - tighten it up so the safety don't move.
There were people taking it off safe and scoring a line on what stuck out, then removing the safety and cutting it at the line. Polish, blue, reinstall.
Now it was flush with the side of the receiver. If you REALLY wanted it on, you could push it with a pencil, or something similar in size. And once it was ON, the other side was sticking out, making it easy to push OFF. But it would not go ON accidentally.
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Post by Alpo on Sept 4, 2016 12:54:15 GMT -6
I used to have an 1895. Most painful gun I've ever owned (not "I've ever shot". That would be a 416 Rigby, but "I've ever owned"). Was worried about my manliness for a while. Then I read Venturino's SHOOTING LEVER GUNS OF THE OLD WEST. If you've never seen Mike Venturino, he's a BIG OLD BOY (well over six foot and around 350) and he likes to shoot BIG OLD GUNS. And he flat out says, in that book, that the 1895 Marlin is painful. So I sold that sucker off, bought a 1886 Winchester (okay, Browning remake) and never looked back. Damn Marlin almost turned me off of 45/70. Now I have two Sharpses, a Roller, a Trapdoor and a #1, to go along with that Browning. Nice cartridge.
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Post by Sasquatch on Sept 4, 2016 13:21:15 GMT -6
The problem, as far as cowboy shooting, is that gas checks are illegal. They shoot steel targets at close range. CLOSE range. They want no risk of bounce-back. You can thank them, by the way, for that safety replacement. Many times, when the guns were staged lying on the table, the shooter would pick them up to find that the weight of the gun had put the safety on. Not a good thing to find out when you are in a race. Lever, CLICK, " WTF?!?" There were a few solutions proposed. That allen screw - tighten it up so the safety don't move. There were people taking it off safe and scoring a line on what stuck out, then removing the safety and cutting it at the line. Polish, blue, reinstall. Now it was flush with the side of the receiver. If you REALLY wanted it on, you could push it with a pencil, or something similar in size. And once it was ON, the other side was sticking out, making it easy to push OFF. But it would not go ON accidentally. Well, that obviously speaks to my ignorance on cowboy shooting and their rules. I've never paid any attention to it, as it has never interested me. Thanks for the info, Alpo.
So they shoot steel targets at close range, eh? That being the case, what baffles me here are the complaints of inaccuracy with cast bullets with the large calibers. The complaints I read dealt with inaccuracy using cast bullets in the micro-groove barrels, but I'd think that would be negligible at really close range. I just can't see them flying that far off to make a noticeable difference in that scenario. I'd love to get more input on that one from those of you in the know.
I'll gladly thank whoever was involved in the development of the safety replacement dummy, or "safety delete". As a hunter and casual target shooter, I've found dealing with two safeties to be a pain in the butt and was glad to get rid of it. I have to admit that I did find it useful in one case, and that was while unloading the rifle. Having the cross-bolt safety "on" while jacking rounds in and out of the receiver made me feel a little better about potential accidental discharges. That being said I've never had it happen in the models without it, so its not a huge concern with the muzzle pointed away from anyone and being sure to keep my fingers WELL away from the trigger.
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Post by Alpo on Sept 4, 2016 15:32:17 GMT -6
There are several types of rifle shooting at Cowboy.
First you have "main match". This is the "pistol-caliber" levers at short range.
Then there are the "side matches".
There are "long range main-match guns", which is shooting your pistol caliber levers at 100 to 150 yards.
Then there's "long range rifle", which is "period correct" cartridge lever guns at up to around 300. 45/70, 38/55, 45/65, like that. 444 Marlin, for example, is not allowed.
And there's "Buffalo gun". Large caliber single shots - Sharps, Rollers, Trapdoors, 1885 Brownings - at as far as that particular has available.
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Post by shooteruk on Sept 5, 2016 2:18:36 GMT -6
Well one thing is for sure, and after over 40 years of shooting I think I should know...the Marlin is indeed fun to shoot. I found myself shooting three round groups, fast. You sort of cant stop. Like Sasquash I see no point in .38's in a carbine, the .357's are just right. I still wont call it a rifle though. A rifle to me means accurate hard hitting out to at least 300 yds. The Marlin, which I like a lot is a carbine in my book. I seem to get c. 2.5" - 3" groups at 50yds with irons if I pay attention. Perhaps I can improve on that with other makes of ammo. The trials go on.
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Post by shooteruk on Sept 7, 2016 4:23:53 GMT -6
Alpo, it has Ballard rifling, not microgroove. I have looked closely and frankly it looks pretty standard. Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating, lets see how leaded and jacketed perform... Though to be honest, given the short range I am not sure its going to make a lot of odds...
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