If you have seen any Marlin of the late production (and I mean late...not a year ago), you want to be very careful with your money.
Quality improved for a while just to drop again over the last couple of months. It's however an interesting development to follow.
Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and you make bad decisions.
Interesting. Brian Pearce addressed this in his Rifle Mag. article and his conclusion was that the rifle he had was pretty much back to the old pre-Rem standards. (He did note that it was a preproduction one, though.) He probably wrote that article last Fall.
Upon opening the box, my overall impression was positive. The machining was good, with finished metal surfaces displaying at, clean lines. The walnut stock is relatively straight grained, which is strong and serviceable. How- ever, the checkering could be improved, and I would like to see the forearm thinned, which would generally make the rifle appear to have a better wood-to-metal fit with an overall trimmer feel. With that said, the buttstock wood-to-metal fit is better than previous production in New York and is on par with New Haven-built rifles. The 6.5-pound trigger pull was much heavier than necessary. Although the action worked relatively smoothly, a good action job would be beneficial and would cure the heavy trigger pull....
...The only small hitch occurred when loading cartridges through the loading gate, which would occasionally bind. By simply holding cartridges in line with the magazine tube, then pushing the nose directly in, cartridges loaded with ease. Keep in mind that this sample rifle is a preproduction version, and company sources assure me that this small glitch will be corrected with production versions.
The 1894CS was disassembled and studied. There are some very minor engineering changes, but the design has remained largely unchanged. Internally the machining is good and in many respects held to tighter tolerances, and is smoother than guns produced in New Haven.
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I would take one too, been thin,Ong of a 357/38 repeater.
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I've been looking at .38/.357 lever guns and this is good news! I hope they bring other 1894 models in too.
https://www.marlinfirearms.com/lever...odel-1894-csbl
This is the Trapper model. Its a 1894CSBL in 357/38. Retail is a guess at $1350.00 Canadian, even more at some retailers I spoke with. The Marlin manufacturer # is 70433.
Marlin advise these are set to start production in the next 30-60 days. They also advise September they might start trickling into our Canadian Market.
The 1895 Trapper in 45-70 is also very cool. I do not know manufacture time frame on this model, but Marlin can be reached at 1-800-544-8892.
Last edited by Thunderhog; 04-05-2018 at 02:25 PM.
https://www.marlinfirearms.com/lever-action/model-1894/model-1894-sbl
The 44special/44 magnum model looks like the above, almost indentical to the 357. This is a Marlin 1894SBL, manufacturer # 70432. Price will also be close to $1350.00 Cdn., or more, at retail, so I am told by dealers.
I have been looking for these models since they came out in 2011. Apparently very few if any made their way to the Canadian Market.
Marlin stated last week that these 44 mag models have been made and are in testing right now as proto-types. Again, September was the time frame when they were supposed to see the Canadian Distributor.
I've owned two of these in 44Mag and they were both garbage, cycled horribly and not accurate at all. They were both JM stamped guns as well, I can only imagine what Remington can do with the design.
I like guns....
Sorry to hear you had two poor quality JM Marlins. They can be hit and miss on the Remington made models, but the JM Marlins are usually pretty good. On both JM and Remington rifles I have had to polish the internals and do hammer springs, etc. in order to make them cycle flawlessly.
I have not experienced the accuracy issues you spoke of, but I certainly empathize with you!.....
Not sure what will happen now with the restructuring and bankruptcy issues. I wish Remington and Marlin well, I hope to get a 1894SBL in 44 magnum one day!...