Marlin 1894 .44 mag. fails to feed

[1886]

I picked up a used 1894 SS .44 mag. recently. The gun is very attractive, being well finished and sporting nice wood. The action is smooth and the factory trigger is pretty good. All seemed well until I loaded some rounds into the mag. tube. The rifle will not reliably chamber a round from the mag. into the chamber. I really have to "double clutch" the lever to get her to feed. Factory ammo and reloads both suffer. It appears the carrier travels too high causing the round not to align/angle properly with the chamber. I called Marlin and they told me they would fix her for a price and a considerable wait. It seems that they, Marlin, do not consider this to be warranty work because I am the second owner! Not what I have come to expect from Marlin. If I can purchase another carrier somewhere/anywhere(Marlin will not sell one to me because I am not a smith), I will fix it myself. I am sure I could find a smith that would order one for me but that is extra work. This assumes one is available somewhere and a simple replacement will suffice. The Marlin factory parts should all be identical so it seems hard to imagine they would not function properly. I have owned many, many Marlins and have not encountered this problem but I have read others have. Any after market carriers available that will cure this issue? Any advise? Thanks, 1886.

[J Miller]

I picked up a used 1894 SS .44 mag. recently. The gun is very attractive, being well finished and sporting nice wood. The action is smooth and the factory trigger is pretty good. All seemed well until I loaded some rounds into the mag. tube. The rifle will not reliably chamber a round from the mag. into the chamber. I really have to "double clutch" the lever to get her to feed. Factory ammo and reloads both suffer. It appears the carrier travels too high causing the round not to align/angle properly with the chamber. I called Marlin and they told me they would fix her for a price and a considerable wait. It seems that they, Marlin, do not consider this to be warranty work because I am the second owner! Not what I have come to expect from Marlin. If I can purchase another carrier somewhere/anywhere(Marlin will not sell one to me because I am not a smith), I will fix it myself. I am sure I could find a smith that would order one for me but that is extra work. This assumes one is available somewhere and a simple replacement will suffice. The Marlin factory parts should all be identical so it seems hard to imagine they would not function properly. I have owned many, many Marlins and have not encountered this problem but I have read others have. Any after market carriers available that will cure this issue? Any advise? Thanks, 1886.

1886,
Before you spend your money try something. Take it apart, and clean and lube the carrier rocker. Mine hung up on my 1894 Cowboy and really screwed things up. Once I cleaned and lubed it all was well.
If that don't work, then buy a new one.

Joe

[1886]

Thanks for your thoughts Joe. I certainly considered what you recommend. It could not hurt. However, the action is quite smooth and nothing seems to be "hanging up" except the round being loaded! Regards, 1886.

[AJMD429]

I'm pretty sure Midway or Brownell's sells the carriers; I almost bought a 'spare' a few years back, and those are my only two 'parts' sources.

[mescalero1]

You have to wonder who writes company policy, I just talked to Marlin and they sent me two screws free, it cost them the price of the two screws and $1.40 shipping, and they give it to me free?

[Leverdude]

Brownells, Midway or Numrich will sell you a carrier. I'd clean it first just to be sure, unless you already have. The lifter may well be wrong. I never checked part numbers but I'd think a 357 carrier would have to rise slightly higher to be even with the chamber.

[jdad]

Just out of curiosity are the screws snug? Loose screws will cause problems.

[Noah Zark]

I just bought a NIB 24" 1894CB in 44 Magnum that did the same thing -- rounds sticking partway into the chamber and requiring "double clutching" or tipping the muzzle toward the ground. The gun was "new old stock" and never had been fired.

I took a few rounds and applied black Sharpie ink to the outside of the case and marked the head with a off-center dot. I took care to load the dot at the 12 o'clock position and tried working the action. The Sharpie ink was scuffed and scratched about 1/2 way between the case rim and mouth, from 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock, catching on the bottom edge of the chamber mouth. Very sharp, finely-honed edge there. I hit that area with a long alumina rod and it got some better; less force was required on the lever but the cartridges still hung.

Next I fitted a ribber abrasive tip to the Dremel and polished the edge of the case mouth, just barely breaking the edge from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock, going SLOWLY and taking great care to be not at all aggressive. I worked through the ejection port with the abrasive tip extended out to the end of the collet for maximum reach. It took about three hours of polish-try-polish-try "lather, rinse,repeat" drill to strike a balance between smooth feeding and not taking too much away from the edge of the chamber mouth. Now, anything I load in the mag tube will feed smoothly with just a hint of resistance. My Marlin is now "Synchromesh" because no double clutching is needed.

While I had it apart I polished the lever cam and lifter to prevent "Marlin Jam" wear to the lifter later on.

GTG.

Noah

[Hobie]

And don't forget to tighten the loading gate screw...

[AJMD429]

Next I fitted a ribber abrasive tip to the Dremel and polished the edge of the case mouth, just barely breaking the edge from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock, going SLOWLY and taking great care to be not at all aggressive.

Dumb question, but didn't you mean the chamber...?

Cool post though! Of course it's all 'elementary' to me...
...but perhaps some of the other, less experienced gunsmiths on the forum would benefit from PICTURES...!

As for me, since I'm such an expert home gunsmith, I don't need pics to guide me, but, er... I think I loaned out my really good abrasive polishers to another expert like myself who doesn't have a set, so uhmm, well, I put my 1894 in the mail yesterday to you, and when you're finished polishing it up a bit for me, just send it back.

[Noah Zark]

Next I fitted a ribber abrasive tip to the Dremel and polished the edge of the case mouth, just barely breaking the edge from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock, going SLOWLY and taking great care to be not at all aggressive.

Dumb question, but didn't you mean the chamber...?

Yes, chamber it is.

. . . so uhmm, well, I put my 1894 in the mail yesterday to you, and when you're finished polishing it up a bit for me, just send it back.

I'll be glad to polish your case mouth.

Noah

[mikld]

Does the failure occur with all types/sizes of bullets?

[Griff]

Next I fitted a ribber abrasive tip to the Dremel and polished the edge of the case mouth, just barely breaking the edge from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock, going SLOWLY and taking great care to be not at all aggressive.

Dumb question, but didn't you mean the chamber...?

Yes, chamber it is.

. . . so uhmm, well, I put my 1894 in the mail yesterday to you, and when you're finished polishing it up a bit for me, just send it back.

I'll be glad to polish your case mouth.
Noah

Hey, if you're doin' free dental work....

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

1886,
Noah's on the right track.

I just bought a NIB 24" 1894CB in 44 Magnum that did the same thing -- rounds sticking partway into the chamber and requiring "double clutching" or tipping the muzzle toward the ground. The gun was "new old stock" and never had been fired.

I took a few rounds and applied black Sharpie ink to the outside of the case and marked the head with a off-center dot. I took care to load the dot at the 12 o'clock position and tried working the action. The Sharpie ink was scuffed and scratched about 1/2 way between the case rim and mouth, from 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock, catching on the bottom edge of the chamber mouth. Very sharp, finely-honed edge there. I hit that area with a long alumina rod and it got some better; less force was required on the lever but the cartridges still hung.

Next I fitted a ribber abrasive tip to the Dremel and polished the edge of the case mouth, just barely breaking the edge from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock, going SLOWLY and taking great care to be not at all aggressive. I worked through the ejection port with the abrasive tip extended out to the end of the collet for maximum reach. It took about three hours of polish-try-polish-try "lather, rinse,repeat" drill to strike a balance between smooth feeding and not taking too much away from the edge of the chamber mouth. Now, anything I load in the mag tube will feed smoothly with just a hint of resistance. My Marlin is now "Synchromesh" because no double clutching is needed.

While I had it apart I polished the lever cam and lifter to prevent "Marlin Jam" wear to the lifter later on.

GTG.

Noah

Noah and 1886,
That's called ramping the chamber mouth. To determine just how much you can remove take a look inside the cartridge case at the web there in the bottom. The ramp can extend to the top of the web and just a tad more. The web will support the case over the ramp and a tad more up the case. Chamfer the rest of the chamber mouth, too. but just slightly to break the sharp edge only. If you take too much it can effect headspace

Try that first and if it doesn't help polish the bolt face and extractor hook.

I picked up a used 1894 SS .44 mag. recently. The gun is very attractive, being well finished and sporting nice wood. The action is smooth and the factory trigger is pretty good. All seemed well until I loaded some rounds into the mag. tube. The rifle will not reliably chamber a round from the mag. into the chamber. I really have to "double clutch" the lever to get her to feed. Factory ammo and reloads both suffer. It appears the carrier travels too high causing the round not to align/angle properly with the chamber.[/size] I called Marlin and they told me they would fix her for a price and a considerable wait. It seems that they, Marlin, do not consider this to be warranty work because I am the second owner! Not what I have come to expect from Marlin. If I can purchase another carrier somewhere/anywhere(Marlin will not sell one to me because I am not a smith), I will fix it myself. I am sure I could find a smith that would order one for me but that is extra work. This assumes one is available somewhere and a simple replacement will suffice. The Marlin factory parts should all be identical so it seems hard to imagine they would not function properly. I have owned many, many Marlins and have not encountered this problem but I have read others have. Any after market carriers available that will cure this issue? Any advise? Thanks, 1886.

If none of the above helps you can lower the craddle part of the carrier where the carts rides by grinding in down with a drum shaped stone in a dremel. Go easy and reassem and test.

[marlinman93]

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

[1886]

Thanks to you all. I am going to send her to Mic. He will take care of the feeding issues. 1886.