New Marlin 1894C doesn't lever half the time - FIXED it.

41 Colt

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
307   0   0
Location
BC
Brand new, right out of the box, it does not lever half the time. It feels locked. I have heard of the "Marlin Jam" but thought that was a feeding issue, I'm not even feed anything through it and it's like this, and then same thing with snap caps. :mad:
 
Last edited:
Brand new, right out of the box, it does not lever half the time. It feels locked. I have heard of the "Marlin Jam" but thought that was a feeding issue, I'm not even feed anything through it and it's like this, and then same thing with snap caps. :mad:

Welcome to the new era Marlin club.

It's filled with pissed off owners like myself.

I won't go into the sorbid affair of my 336C ownership, just to say that after 7000 rounds it's f**ed.
I mean there's nothing left.

EVERY small component has failed and has been replaced, and has then failed again and again and again.

I won't get into the details.

Move on my friend.....move on ;)

Sorry to be cruel, but you need to know and of course it's just my personal opinion.
 
I've said it in other threads and I'm sorry, I feel your pain, been there.....but the NEW Marlins need to be inspected and worked before purchase.....online purchases will almost guarantee a follow-up call to Gravel Agency
 
I'm going to send them an email and ask if they have plans to "cut the crap"? That is if they still except email.....
Some of the horror stories would be bad enough if the factory was an easy shipment away but when you start exporting your product out of the Iron curtain you should at least make sure it works right out of the box!
 
While it's an additional cost, send it to Peter Riedel at Rusty Wood Trading Company, He'll slick it up, make it reliable and lighten trigger and loading gate too. And you'll be surprised it's not that expensive.

While I don't agree with Companies cutting corners, for years, people used to send 1911's to smith to make them 'combat reliable'.
 
Brand new, right out of the box, it does not lever half the time. It feels locked. I have heard of the "Marlin Jam" but thought that was a feeding issue, I'm not even feed anything through it and it's like this, and then same thing with snap caps. :mad:

Gravel is your answer but i doubt from what i ve seen in last few months you ll get it fixed ...

from 11 sent back only was poorly fixed ... the others are gone in nowhere ....
 
Well I ended up completely disassembling it. I must say for a company to proudly say made in America they should be ashamed. What I found inside the gun I would expect from a low-end Chinese product but not something made in the USA.

First of all there was a lot of tiny metal flakes I had to clean out. After that there were flakey burrs all over the place I had to pick off. Mainly on the bolt but on the inside of the receiver as well. Once I did that there were quite a few large burrs that needed filing all over the bolt and a few other places.

Once I took care of all that stuff I think I had the beginnings of the "Marlin Jam" and rounded over the sharp edge on the cam and cleaned up a light gouge on the bottom of the carrier, as well a as a few burrs.

I oilded and greased the inside of the whole thing and reassembled it. I then drew my attention to the magazine follower which appeared to somewhat block the movement of the carrier while in the down position because the radius of the edge was too sharp. The action was still a bit funny with the follower as is. I simply blended the edge of the follower into a rounded even radius across the top.

Now the gun is actually quite SLICK, cycles .38spl snap caps just fine, will go out and get some .357 snap caps tomorrow and try those but I think everything is fixed.

Pretty sad it needed this much work.
 
Last edited:
It is shameful that they are selling workmanship that poor
for prices that high. If it were a $300 gun, that would be one thing,
but not for $800 (or w/e)
On the plus side, you now have an intimate knowledge of your
gun, and a sense of pride in its "slickness"
 
I just sent my NIB Marlin 336 SS back to the EPPS for repair, as I couldn't load a round. Carrier was blocking the loading gate. Maybe it's time to forget about this great brand as well...sadly.
 
Remlin

Now the gun is actually quite SLICK, cycles .38spl snap caps just fine, will go out and get some .357 snap caps tomorrow and try those but I think everything is fixed.

Pretty sad it needed this much work.

Nice work....you have bucketloads of patience. I however do not, and my 1895 was sent back for warranty work...twice, without a thought. I'm still a little unhappy with the wood fit but at least now the thing levers, feeds and fires the way it should.
 
I just ordered a 1894CSS and right out of the box the action was so stiff I could barely cycle it. Then I realized that both the front and rear sights were canted to the right by at the very least 5-10 degrees which would make elevation adjustments impossible. To me, it looked like the whole barrel was over-torqued so both sights were mis-aligned with the rest of the gun.

After inspecting the front sight, i also found that it was loose but the screw that held it in place could not be tightened and it just rattles up there canted to the right.

I could not believe it and I'll be sending it back to the dealer on my own dime for an exchange less than 24 hours after receiving it. I just have to pray really hard for the replacement to work well.

What's more sad is that I still have a Marlin 39a Golden sent in being repaired by Gravel now...So I own 2 Marlins and I never get to shoot them.
 
I have posted before about my 1894 Cowboy with a crooked sight dovetail, rendering the rear sight useless. I tried for warranty with Gravel for over a year and got attitude from them like I was pushy for wanting my $900 gun to have a sight. With all the horror stories in the last year or so, and the numerous problem guns I have seen personally, I am just glad I didn't have any more problems. Give up on Marlin. I have.
 
I picked up a 336w a few weeks back, initially it wouldn't feed due to the burrs on the ejector and extractor, a little light filing cleaned that right up. Took it to the range and it wouldn't extract....the extractor was visibly bent out from the bolt body, pulled it off and bent it to where it should be. After about 20 round through it, the lever stopped locking up....the little spring loaded piece that holds the lever closed was jammed on a burr in its hole...removed it and cleaned up the burr, now it's running good.


For now.

It makes me sad, I love Marlins but now I don't think I can bring myself to buy another (new) one.
 
I have two Marlins with crooked sights. One is a 44 mag, and the other is a 30-30 336BL with laminate brown stocks. The 44 magnum sight is useless (rear), so I ended up buying a Williams FP. The 30-30 is still usable, but visibly crooked. It spins me up every time I look at it. My hunting partner has a 44 cowboy with the same crooked rear dove tail problem. He has a Skinner sight on his. What is really sad here is that Marlin could easily fix this problem on the factory floor by firing just one highly paid managment slug, and replacing him with two decent guys on the floor. Allowing a company with as fine a reputation as Marlin to slide, is unconscionable. My dad has an 1883 Marlin in 38-55 that is beautiful. No crooked sights on that. My 2 cents for what it's worth. Maybe they have to hire some of those guys from Japan, who make guns for Winchester.
 
Back
Top Bottom