Marlin 1894 Action Job "Do's and Dont's"

[4given]

I'm going to take my Marlin 1894SC into a local smith for an action job. I don't really need a "full race" Cowboy action shooting job but I would like it to be smooth, quick and reliable for range, field or defense purposes.

For those of you that are familiar with such things, what specifically would you have done or not have done?

Thanks!

[Brian T]

I dont think a trigger job is worth the time/money expenditure, but if you do, the Wild West Guns Happy Trigger would be my choice of places to start. I like an aluminum or stainless follower in all my tube fed guns. WWG makes a kit that includes they trigger, their follower, and their upgraded ejector.

I like to smooth out the action on my Marlins. Its been a while, but I believe there are 7 hiches in the opening of a Marlin action, and about the same closed. I like them to be smoothed out to the the point you dont feel them.

ETA: All of this stuff can be done at home

[4given]

I dont think a trigger job is worth the time/money expenditure, but if you do, the Wild West Guns Happy Trigger would be my choice of places to start. I like an aluminum or stainless follower in all my tube fed guns. WWG makes a kit that includes they trigger, their follower, and their upgraded ejector.

I like to smooth out the action on my Marlins. Its been a while, but I believe there are 7 hiches in the opening of a Marlin action, and about the same closed. I like them to be smoothed out to the the point you dont feel them.

ETA: All of this stuff can be done at home

Thanks for the input. I would like them to be smoothed out to the the point you don't feel them too. I might try doing it myself but I have looked and looked for a you tube video on how to smooth the action but have come up empty.

[Brian T]

Thanks for the input. I would like them to be smoothed out to the the point you don't feel them too. I might try doing it myself but I have looked and looked for a you tube video on how to smooth the action but have come up empty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnK2WwUnHfk

[Greg]

Every Marlin I’ve owned got a lot smoother by shooting them a bunch.

How many rounds have you run through yours?

[Lester Polfus]

I dropped in a Wolff hammer spring, sat in my easy chair and re-watched the last season of Longmire while working the action over and over. That slicked it up pretty good.

[4given]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnK2WwUnHfk

This is for a Marlin 336. Enough similarities I suppose?

[4given]

Every Marlin I’ve owned got a lot smoother by shooting them a bunch.

How many rounds have you run through yours?

Not many. It has not been shot much at all.

[4given]

I dropped in a Wolff hammer spring, sat in my easy chair and re-watched the last season of Longmire while working the action over and over. That slicked it up pretty good.

That is several hours worth!!!

[Lester Polfus]

That is several hours worth!!!

In all seriousness, it did smooth it up quite a bit. People talk about "how much smoother the old ones are" that's because if you pick up an old Winchester 94 or something, it's been cycled a whole bunch of times.

[whomever]

The triggers and actions have always been OK for me. I do work on the loading gate and port until I can easily unload it through the loading port; I hate to have to cycle rounds through the action to unload.

[OlongJohnson]

Marlins, even older ones, can be amazingly rough on the inside, even when they are beautifully finished on the outside.

I'm not really a fan of using gun parts to deburr and knock the roughness off other gun parts in a completely uncontrolled manner, without any checking or observation of the initial condition and what's really going on along the way. Also, there are a lot of little things that can be addressed that are never going to be addressed by just working the action, like breaking the edges of the loading port so it doesn't shave your thumb skin, inspecting all the parts to see how they were dropped and damaged before assembly at the factory and correcting as necessary, etc.

I do think it's worth shimming the lever at the pivot point.

[4given]

After watching a bunch of youtube videos I have decided to do the action job myself. I have done quite a bit of work on my handguns, bolt rifles, AR's and Ruger 10/22's so I am now confident I can work on a Marlin 1894.

Besides polishing all the recommended surfaces, I will install a Pioneer Gun Works Marlin One Piece Firing Pin Kit. These kits come with a one piece firing pin, light hammer spring, and a light lever plunger spring. I ordered a stainless steel follower and a leather lever wrap from them too. http://www.pioneergunworks.com/marlin-rifle-parts

I also ordered a Wild West Guns Happy Trigger for it. https://www.wildwestguns.com/product/trigger-happy-kit/

I'm probably going overboard but this should be a fun project while we are mostly stuck at home for a while longer. Thanks everyone for your input!

[4given]

After watching a bunch of youtube videos I have decided to do the action job myself. I have done quite a bit of work on my handguns, bolt rifles, AR's and Ruger 10/22's so I am now confident I can work on a Marlin 1894.

Besides polishing all the recommended surfaces, I will install a Pioneer Gun Works Marlin One Piece Firing Pin Kit. These kits come with a one piece firing pin, light hammer spring, and a light lever plunger spring. I ordered a stainless steel follower and a leather lever wrap from them too. http://www.pioneergunworks.com/marlin-rifle-parts

I also ordered a Wild West Guns Happy Trigger for it. https://www.wildwestguns.com/product/trigger-happy-kit/

I'm probably going overboard but this should be a fun project while we are mostly stuck at home for a while longer. Thanks everyone for your input!


I have her all disassembled and everything polished that needs polished. Still waiting on my Happy Trigger. Should be here today they tell me. I notice the bottom of the carrier has the dreaded Marlin Jam "notch" worn into it and some other fairly significant wear. See picture:


https://i.imgur.com/eaGrJDi.jpg

I figure while it is out I am going to file it down enough to JB weld in a piece of high carbon steel Jigsaw blade like this fella did:


https://www.marlinowners.com/forum/jams-all-kinds/24519-different-way-fix-marlin-jam.html

Should be fun to do and hopefully keep me from ever having any more wear in this area.

[4given]

Finished the carrier mod last night. Turned out decent I think for the first one I have done. It should work I think. I guess we will see as soon as I get the rifle back together. still waiting on the Happy Trigger. Tracking says it is out for delivery!

https://i.imgur.com/7Eqr1SY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MxtH7Gh.jpg