Slicking up a Marlin 1895 Cowboy

[FatJackDurham]

I recently bought a barely used Marlin 1895 Cowboy in 45-70, with a nice 24" Full Octogon barrel. Recently, while testing it with some loads, I am noticing how very rough it is. I have viewed a number of posts and articles and videos about smoothing it out, and it seems to be not much more than simply looking for where the wear is occuring, and gently polishing and smoothing those bearing surfaces.

I did the Nate Kiowa Jones video on my Rossi 92, and it did wonders. I applied some of what I learned to fix and smooth my Henry Pump .22 that had an issue. Before I start on the Marlin, I wanted to solicit:

1) Are there any gotcha's I should know about our any areas of special concern to watch out for

2) Should I go ahead and buy Norton India stones for this or just use wet or dry paper on a dowel or a block?

Areas I am going to work on are:

Loading gate deburring as my rounds pick up nasty scratches coming and going
Cycle smoothness, lock and unlock
Lighten trigger safety spring

Should the Mag tube spring be lightened at all? Thanks for any input.

I also occasionally get pretty bad dents and creases in the cartridges, but only rarely. I cant figure out what is doing it.

[J Miller]

I'm not a real Marlin fixer upper but one thing I've learned that goes for any gun is to shoot it a lot before you do anything to it.
I always new or new to me guns apart and clean them, then lube them and after that I'll shoot them a couple hundred times. Then I'll evaluate what they need. You'd be surprised at how much they they'll smooth themselves up with live ammo.

As for polishing basically just polish any part that rubs or bears against another part.

Polish, do not remove metal.

Joe

[FatJackDurham]

I'm not a real Marlin fixer upper but one thing I've learned that goes for any gun is to shoot it a lot before you do anything to it.
I always new or new to me guns apart and clean them, then lube them and after that I'll shoot them a couple hundred times. Then I'll evaluate what they need. You'd be surprised at how much they they'll smooth themselves up with live ammo.

As for polishing basically just polish any part that rubs or bears against another part.

Polish, do not remove metal.

Joe

That sounds like good advice. If it wasn't mangling brass, I could probably live with it. I'd like to debur the entry gate at least'

[J Miller]

I'm not a real Marlin fixer upper but one thing I've learned that goes for any gun is to shoot it a lot before you do anything to it.
I always new or new to me guns apart and clean them, then lube them and after that I'll shoot them a couple hundred times. Then I'll evaluate what they need. You'd be surprised at how much they they'll smooth themselves up with live ammo.

As for polishing basically just polish any part that rubs or bears against another part.

Polish, do not remove metal.

Joe

That sounds like good advice. If it wasn't mangling brass, I could probably live with it. I'd like to debur the entry gate at least'

Any burrs that cause damage to the cases should be dealt with ASAP. I would polish that right quick.

Joe

[Griff]

Marauder's Rifle & Pistol Hints has a lot of information on the Marlin 1894. And since the 1894 & 336 (ooops, 1895), are the same basic design, many of those tips will work there as well.

If you're working on flat surfaces, yes, stones are great, but wet/dry on a block is just as well, and on curved surfaces is far more versatile. Don't forget the 1,000 and 1,500 grit stuff. And a Dremel with polishing pads and rouge.

[Buck Elliott]

Trade it for an 86 Winchester or Browning, and never look back...

[FatJackDurham]

Marauder's Rifle & Pistol Hints has a lot of information on the Marlin 1894. And since the 1894 & 336 (ooops, 1895), are the same basic design, many of those tips will work there as well.

If you're working on flat surfaces, yes, stones are great, but wet/dry on a block is just as well, and on curved surfaces is far more versatile. Don't forget the 1,000 and 1,500 grit stuff. And a Dremel with polishing pads and rouge.

I saw that polishing pad and rouge stuff. What is it? Is it just a gun specific polishing compound? I dont have a big polishing wheel, so I guess I could use the dremel attachment, but what do you use it on? Polishing bare metal? metal prep for bluing?

I am intriged.

[Pitchy]

Go over everything with black emery paper and smooth all parts, hit the hammer where it contacts the bolt.
Smooth the channel in the bolt where the ejector rides plus the ejector.
Lighten the lever lock spring by clipping a coil off it.
Mine is smooth as silk now.

[FatJackDurham]

Go over everything with black emery paper and smooth all parts, hit the hammer where it contacts the bolt.
Smooth the channel in the bolt where the ejector rides plus the ejector.
Lighten the lever lock spring by clipping a coil off it.
Mine is smooth as silk now.

Thanks pitchy.

[FWiedner]

Trade it for an 86 Winchester or Browning, and never look back...

Throw 5 or 6 hundred dollars into the pot and it would be a 'trade'...

[Buck Elliott]

Trade it for an 86 Winchester or Browning, and never look back...

Throw 5 or 6 hundred dollars into the pot and it would be a 'trade'...

It shouldn't be Quite that much 'boot', but it sure tells you the difference in Value, doesn't it....

You can do it, and always be glad you did, or not do it, and always wish you had...

[FatJackDurham]

86 is a beauty gun for sure. However, I think the Marlin is just fine. It just never got broken in properly, thats all.

[Pitchy]

86 is a beauty gun for sure. However, I think the Marlin is just fine. It just never got broken in properly, thats all.

Get a 86 later bro and have both, that`ll show em.
Nuttin wrong with the Marlin, good easy to work on rifle that`ll do the job.
Smooth that rifle up and she`ll be a beauty.

[new pig hunter]

The beauty of Marlin is the ease with which "everything" can be disassembled and "everything" smoothed up.

I have done several and used 2,000 grit sandpaper, "fine" diamond files, and hard Arkansas stones on all sliding surfaces. If it moves or slides or rotates, it gets smoothed and polished.
POLISHED is the key word, and was mentioned in an earlier post. You don't want to grind away metal and change profiles & clearances, you simply smooth & polish surfaces.
Lots of manufacturing "roughness" ...... use a magnifying glass to see the before & after changes, quite remarkable.

Cheers,

Carl

[.45colt]

Hang on tight to that Marlin Jack. the Cowboy models are as good as gold in value now. I can hardly beleave what some are selling for. I think they are way underrated.

[Chas.]

Check this out, by our very own Eli Chaps.

http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/polis ... b-how.html

[FatJackDurham]

Hang on tight to that Marlin Jack. the Cowboy models are as good as gold in value now. I can hardly beleave what some are selling for. I think they are way underrated.

I agree! I bought for Cowboy action such as gong matches and longer range shoots, however, the gun is a fantastic hunting rifle that can easily take large game. It is solid an well balanced. I paid $800 and even though that is about retail, I feel it was a very safe buy.

[FatJackDurham]

Check this out, by our very own Eli Chaps.

http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/polis ... b-how.html

Chas and Eli - Thanks! That is exactly the post I was looking for!

[Grizz]

When you disassemble look for holes that were not cleaned up correctly. My GS trigger guard plate had been assembled on a buggered hole and sat a couple thousandths OFF of the mating surface of the receiver, and was polished to "fit" on the outside. After truing the top of the guard I had to pare down the bottom of the receiver to match. This was years and years ago. It's something to look for.

It took me a long time to get the action slicked because I only polished one spot, reassembled, reassessed, and disassembled each time. I was trying to preclude introducing two variables in the process.

About the nub on the bottom of the bolt that contacts the hammer. I have seen them ground off but I think that is a big mistake. It appears to me to be a BIG SAFETY DEVICE. If you study the action you will see that that cam RESETS the sear to hammer engagement as the bolt is closed. That is by design.

Also, I left parts out as I worked on other parts. You can cycle the lifter by hand and look for hangups. You can cycle the bolt with the breech block and hammer out and find spots that need attention that way.

Eventually you can get the gun to resemble the action of a 1940s stock Marlin.

Best,

[Pitchy]

Get her to work like this with loaded ammo and bolt facing up.

video

[FatJackDurham]

About the nub on the bottom of the bolt that contacts the hammer. I have seen them ground off but I think that is a big mistake. It appears to me to be a BIG SAFETY DEVICE. If you study the action you will see that that cam RESETS the sear to hammer engagement as the bolt is closed. That is by design.

Also, I left parts out as I worked on other parts. You can cycle the lifter by hand and look for hangups. You can cycle the bolt with the breech block and hammer out and find spots that need attention that way.

Eventually you can get the gun to resemble the action of a 1940s stock Marlin.

Best,

Were the 1940's Marlins considered the best?

I was in a store and cycled a Stainless Steel model and the action was noticeably smoother than the one I have. I don't know if it had been worked, or if the production line for the SS models is different.

Thanks for all the hints and advice.

[Pitchy]

Just to add that mine is a 02 model and was a little sticky.
After going compleatly through it as i said which is what the article also said it is glass smooth.
Very easy to work on and smooth up.

[FatJackDurham]

I finished loading samples to test, so I lightly slicked up the Marlin by polishing the lever, hammer and bolt where I saw wear.

Then, I noticed that the bolt was torn up along the side. It looked like there is some kind of coating or plating on the bolt. It got pretty badly scraped up somehow. Since I didnt take it apart when I bought it, I dont know if I did it or if it was like that from the guy I bought it from.

This is the second gun I have bought used that had some sort of damage like that to the bolt. THe other was my Henry Pump.

It was easy enough to fix, though. I just polished it down till I couldn't feel it with some wet or dry.

Anyway, after cleaning out everything, and polishing and oiling it, it cycles much more smoothly. Its not as smooth as my Rossi 92, but its much better.

Now, I hope for warm enough weather to shoot the heck out of it this weekend.

[Grizz]

I wouldn't say the 40s guns were the best but they are very noticeably slick and well fitted.

Was the galling on the bolt in the ejector spring groove? It's possible it was assembled wrong.
Something to watch out for. And if so, I would examine the ejector spring for damage.
Otherwise I wonder what that might be?

Grizz

[FatJackDurham]

I wouldn't say the 40s guns were the best but they are very noticeably slick and well fitted.

Was the galling on the bolt in the ejector spring groove? It's possible it was assembled wrong.
Something to watch out for. And if so, I would examine the ejector spring for damage.
Otherwise I wonder what that might be?

Grizz

No, it was down under the other side. Some grit or metal flake must have gotten in there.