marlin.45 Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Now I have always a closet lever action rifle fan and frequently frequent forums such as Lever Guns to get my occassional info 'fix'. Currently I own two and one day hope to get my hands on a pre 1900 1895/1873/1872 Winchester/Marlin/Browning if the cash cow comes to town. But for now I have to get by with my brace of Marlins. Model 39a Golden Mountie model in .22RF circa 1956. Pre-safety. Scoped. Marlin 1894 Cowboy model in .45 Colt. Octagonal 24" barrel and rear tang site. Circa 2002 The .45 is on ticket for fox and the .22 for most smaller stuff. Who has one (2,3,4....) and what do you use yours for? Pics a a few months out of date but....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno 357 Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 This was my first lever action 1894 AE 357mag Trails end 11 rounds. Now sold and now I believe broken I used to have a Hakko red dot scope mounted on it So you a big fan of the Marlin then ? The Marlins are a true AE and can take a scope but the furniture on the Winchesters are a bit better What do you think Marlin ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlin.45 Posted January 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) Jonno, The modern guns in the Marlin range do use inferior wood to that of older guns. See my image to compare between the two. Also action quality on the .22 is far better than the modern .45. The .45 might be built like a brick outhouse but the .22 action is more akin to a swiss watch in comparison. Not had a Winch to compare it to really. At least side by side but yours was better than the wood on my Marlin 1894. Marlin are also easier to clean as the firing block assembly can be removed with one screw. Then you can clean straight through the bore. Also this model Marlin has the deeper Ballard rifling, perfect for hand cast. I did dabble with fitting a scope to the .45 and picked up a scope mount last year. But changed my mind and have now gone with the Marbles rear tang site. The .22 came with a scope rail and I drilled and tapped the receiver to suit. The only problem was that the rail that came with the model 39 was a 16mm wide dovetail and scope mounts could only be found from Warne at £40 a pair Cheap compact 4x32 chinese scope from Ronnie Sunshines on EBay. Couple of shooting mates have Winchester's in .38/.357 for target shooting with the short trapper barrels. Nice compact gun but I preferred the receiver on the Marlin that seems to be and is reported to be heavier duty than the one on the Winch. Current load on the .45 is a hand cast wheel weight 310gr. lead RNFP (custom mold) over 22gr. H110. Velocity is in the region of 1300-1450fps in a 16" so what it's like in the 24"..........? Need to find a chrono to borrow. Nice bit of kick. Also use another hand cast soft lead 255gr. RNFP over 40gr. Swiss BP for the more 'traditional' load. Cheers, Paul Edited January 20, 2006 by marlin.45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) One of the lads at the club I shoot at has just acquired a Winchester .44 Magnum lever rifle, looks very similar to the ones above only it was ultra carbine; the barrel must only have been 10" or so. I will take my camera to the club this weekend in the hope that he brings it in again, then post some pics if he will allow. Looks a cracking fun piece of kit, think the intentions are to waste used shotgun shells and various other little targets on the 100m range with it. Edited January 19, 2006 by Marc M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunganick Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 what kind of groups do you manage with these? has anyone tried those 'special' bullets that were designed for tube magazine guns, i think hornady were selling them. just had a very soft b/tip type bit as far as i could tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlin.45 Posted January 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 (edited) Dunga, Current restricted range is 35-40yds but with hand cast lead bullets and iron sights 1" groups off-hand are not too difficult. I would try it on my permission but a few of these rounds would attract too much attention Need to get up to Bisley once the tang sight is on. That should be happening early next month when my colleague gets back from the US with the 8-40 tap I need.................. All bullets I manufacture are flat nose (round nose flat point RNFP) to prevent the 'possibility' of chain ignition in the mag tube. I say possibility as I have never heard of a case of it actually happening. Marc, If he manages to hit used 12g carts at 100yds I would be impressed B) Would like to see some pics though as that is an unusually short barrel. .44 Magnum factory carts are hotter than .45 Colt factory but hand loads are a whole different ball game. .45 will load up to .45-70 mid power loads easily. Attached an image below of the Marlin 39 .22RF with scope now fitted. Paul Edited January 20, 2006 by marlin.45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 my friend hand loaded a .45 for a winchester i think and when he fire it shook the roof of the range, nad he didnt fire them again B) flash want a lever action but dad wont get one cause he isnt a fan of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno 357 Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Paul Now being imported into the UK .32H&R Magnum Marlin 1894 Cowboy 20" octagonal barrel, 10 shot £650 .32-20 Marlin 1894CL 22" barrel, 6 shot £550 Jonno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlin.45 Posted January 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Good to see we can actually get some of the 'newer' cals in lever now The one I would be interested in is the .218 Bee. This closes in on .223 performance in a 92/94 frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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