I recently purchased a Marlin 1894 CSBL https://www.marlinfirearms.com/lever...odel-1894-csbl from Sportsman's Warehouse in Rock Springs, WY. The list price was $999. However, SW was having a loyalty program 10% discount which reduced my cost to $900. This is competitive with online prices.
Given many horror stories about "Remlin" QC/QA, I inspected the rifle as thoroughly as possible prior to purchase. I didn't notice any fit/finish issues - e.g. buggered screw heads, improperly clocked barrel, etc. It all looked good.
Weight out of the box was 6.75 lbs.
Here's a photo of the receiver showing the XS rail system. I don't plan to use optics on this gun and decided to remove the rail.
Removing the rail was a simple job. When attaching the XS sight directly to the receiver, I found the OE screw was too long. I bought a 8-40 x .25" replacement screw at my local Ace Hardware and all was good. This gun is much more comfortable to carry at the natural balance point without the rail. I have some 8-40 cap screws on order from Brownells to plug the holes in the receiver.
The trigger is surprisingly decent.
I fired approximately 100 rounds of my 130 grain Bayou Bullet .38 special hand loads and some "vintage" Federal 125 grain .357 magnum JHP. I had no malfunctions of any sort. The .357 loads fed noticeably smoother than the .38 special loads. Ejection pattern was consistent at 3 o'clock about 2 feet out. Recoil with my .38 special hand loads is minimal. The factory .357 loads are easily managed. Here is a representative group with the Federal factory 125 grain JHP .357 at 25 yards:
Eliminating the rail dropped the rear sight by about 1/10". This makes a 50 yard zero problematic. I called XS https://www.xssights.com/ this morning and spoke with Jared. He's sending me a new front sight that's 100/1000" shorter than factory OEM, at no charge. This should allow me to zero my 158 grain .357 loads at 50 yards. My experience with XS CS was excellent.
In summary, I'm pleased with this little rifle. I'm not sure quite what it's for, except fun. That's more than enough for me. From the Big Empty, ELN.