That's the thing I hate the most about it. It still will allow the hammer to drop, and all you get is click. Then you tend to look at it and wonder if it was a misfire until you figure it out. When it happened to me at the range, I waited a few seconds, jacked out the shell and was looking at the primer when the light bulb went on and I realised what had happened. Now if a grizzly was about to gnaw on my ass I would tend to jack in a new shell and click again and the safety probably wouldn't even occur to me. If it was a straight trigger lock, then you would know instantly that it is the safety from 50 years of running pump shotguns
Anyone replace the crossbolt safety in a Marlin lever
- Thread starter dogzilla
- Start date
Claven2, I understand your point. However when I hunt my finger does not go near the trigger first, it rests on the safety first and that's on the trigger finger side so it's a natural place to position. Perhaps just a difference in technique but that's what I do so again, I don't see the need for the safety to be altered. Not trying to be disrespectful, just mentioning a difference and my preference.
To each their own, but I wonder how people handled these guns safely before the lawyer-inspired cross bolt was added?
Hunter1970
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- in the shadows behind you
One of the first things I did when I bought my guide gun was to delete the crossbolt. Redundant lawyer-fied junk in one man's opinion...
I have an 1895 as well. I believe the crossbolt safety is a "lawyer safety", whose only purpose is to prevent lawsuits against Marlin. You still have the half-#### which is just as safe as the crossbolt. When I first got it, I used the O-ring trick, which works very well. As a matter of fact, I now use it on a Remington Genesis muzzle-loader that has both, and whose safety can't be easily removed. On the 1895, I then ordered the replacement kit from Beartooth Mercantile. takes just a few minutes to replace, and it's done. I also have a Rossi and the original owner removed the top safety (which is required to import them into the U.S., AFAIK) and replaced it with a peep sight. I am 100% confident in my half-#### safeties, combined with good muzzle control.
- Location
- Manitoulin Island
Big difference I see here is between people who have used old style lever guns for years and newcomers. Doing hunter safety courses I find that students have a hard time lowering the hammer safely to half #### position. I emphasize not using the tip of the thumb but crossing the thumb in the groove, and releasing the trigger as soon as the hammer starts to move. Have some of them put a finger in FRONT of the hammer if they have a lot of difficulty Also drill them on not closing lever completely when unloading to utilize the pin safety under the lever. I chose to use an older Winchester in my courses because many of them will encounter these rifles in their family hunt camps. I wonder how many foot injuries or close calls have resulted from a group of hunters standing around unloading lever guns. Not personally a fan of this action type. Should have been re-designed so the bolt passed over the hammer without cocking it and the hammer was a rebounding type without half-#### that had to be manually full cocked. The additional cross-bolt safety doesn't really help much.
The thing is, for a lot of us older farts, any additional safety on a hammer gun is foreign. You pretty well have to re-program yourself to remember the damned things. I have been using hammer guns for over 30 years. That takes a lot of re-programming the old neurons, for something that does nothing to improve safety.
OLD FART!!!! Well, I remember having a Black and White TV, (no such thing as colour, my dad bought a plastic TV screen cover that had Blue on top (sky) pink in the middle (skin) and green on the bottom (grass)), remember when the Leafs WON THE CUP (not just a game), my first new vehicle had "3 in the tree" (most don't know what that is), pay phones were 10 cents, our postal code was 1 number (not 6 digits), have owned a rifle for over 45 years.............crap, now I can't remember what I was talking about.
