My Marlin jammed today ....... I guess it was my turn.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:51 pm

I went to the range today and took the 1894 CBC. Shot a nice one hole 5 shot group, then tried to adjust the sights. It's shooting about 3/4" left.
Reloaded, fired one shot, then it jammed. The lever was full down, the carrier was free to a certain point, but it would not go all the way down. The lever would move maybe a 1/4" back and forth, but otherwise was jammed tight.
It still had three live rounds in the magazine and with the octagon barrel set up I didn't want to try to get the magazine plug out, I was and am afraid of bending the tube.
So I took the lever screw out, then pulled the lever out and every thing freed up.
I cleared the ammo from it. Put it back together and and it worked fine. Then I loaded it and fired two more groups. Again it worked fine.
But by then my concentration was shot and I did not get the sights moved. I decided to quit before I messed something up.

Here is what I noticed. As I was loading it just prior to the jam I had trouble getting the rounds into the loading gate. After about the third round I realized the lever wasn't all the way up. When I closed it the rounds loaded in fine. I levered the first round it and fired it. Then it jammed on the second round. I'm wondering if I got something out of kilter when I loaded it with the action not fully closed.

Any thoughts?

I figure someone will say it's "THE DREADED MARLIN JAM". It's not, no rounds went under the carrier.

Joe

meanc · Post by **meanc** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:15 pm

Well J,

Every Marlin, except my 336RC mfg 1953, has done it. from my 30as, 336a, 1894c, and 1894.

After every incident I did exactly as you did. Then I got home and cleaned all the internal parts, took some 400grit wet sand and lighlty polished and and re-assembled it.

Before I went back out to the range I worked the lever back and forth about 500 times. Then I cycle it with a full mag of ammo about 20times. If it cycles more than 200 rounds without a hitch I've left it at that.

The 1894c and the 336a never made it past 150rds.

The 30as and 1894 have both made it well past 400 cycled rounds so far.

Needless to say, I no longer own the 336a or the 1894c.

Good luck with whatever it is though, as I have no idea what else to do.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:55 pm

The only comment I can make is that I've NEVER had happen with either a model 1894 or 94 WINCHESTER!

I've had them jam, but there was always an apparent cause. YMMV.

And it's not just limited to Marlins. As I've had my son's Rossi .357 Mdl 92 clone do similar things. Jam or spit two, or stovepipe, and no good reason to explain it. Frustrating. I hope you figure it out.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:56 pm

To misquote Johnny Cochran...

No Marlin, No Jam!

+1 for the 1892...

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:26 pm

O.I.,
They all can jam. Just brag out loud in front of an audience that yours never jams and guess what ... it will.

Griff,
My ahem ..... Win 94 AE Trapper .45 hasn't jammed either. Well, since I've said this before I'm safe.

meanc,
I checked today after posting this, and this Marlin has less than a hundred rounds through it. I've never had the trigger plate (lower tang in Winchester lingo) out of it, and have never cleaned that area. All I've done is take the bolt out once or twice and cleaned those parts.

I guarantee you it will come apart this week end for a really good cleaning and polishing of anything that looks contrary to what I think it should be.

As far as what hung up, my theory is that I got something out of sequence when I tried to load it with the action not fully closed. I'm probably wrong, but it's never done anything wrong before this point.

We'll see I guess.

Joe

marlinman93 · Post by **marlinman93** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:28 pm

Just clean it well, oil it with some Kroil, and check that loading gate screw to ensure it's snug. Should be good to go Joe!

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:36 am

mm93,

Don't have any Kroil, but I have Marvel oil, LSA oil, Penzoil light duty oil. Rem Lube, PCL lube, ummm lets see ......... I've probably forgot some.

At any rate I will clean and lube, and check the loading gate screw.

Joe

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:09 pm

Just got finished cleaning my Marlin 1894CBC.
I found lots of grease inside. Some was mine, some was from before I got it.
I found considerable kernals of extruded powder, had to be AA5744. Filthiest powder I've ever used. When this pound is gone, I'll never touch it again.

So I scrubbed it till it shined inside. Cleaned the carrier rocker plunger really good. Gave it a drop of oil.
Then scrubbed everything else. After that a drop of oil here and there and we're back together.

Looked everything over and did not see anything that looked out of place.
What gets me is that for something so simple it can be so frustrating.

What I did enjoy though, is that the Marlins are much simpler inside than either the Win 92 or 94. That is a big plus. A lot less stuff to break, and a lot less springs and small parts.

I'm going to call Marlin tomorrow for an owners manual, I didn't get one when I bought this rifle, and while I got them on the phone I'll see I can get ahold of a tech. Maybe they can shed some light on this weird jam.

Joe

meanc · Post by **meanc** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:46 pm

Now all you got to do is keep the mag tube filled and just cycle till your arm gets tired.

Hopefully it'll work out the bugs in the process...or just present a more visible explanation the next time it jams.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:23 pm

I called Marlin. They were no help at all. All the service department guy would say is send it in. Send it in. He wouldn't give me any information at all.

Considering how many people have had this problem it can't be unknown.

Oh well, I'll keep shooting it. Maybe all it needed was a good cleaning and oiling.

Joe

Leverdude · Post by **Leverdude** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:18 pm

Joe,
Just a note. You said something about the Marlin jam & a round under the carrier. Thats not right.
What happens with the jam is the lifter lets in a second round or just gets stuck under the rim of the next one not letting the lifter move up & jaming up the works good.

You already noticed how simple they are. Pull your bolt & put the lever back.
If you cycle it like that you can look inside & see hou it works.
When you open the lever it lifts the lifter just a tad, enough to let the round slip out onto it but block the rim of the one after. In normal operation the carrier stays there until the lever gets fully forward, then it slips into the rocker thing & raises up on the backstroke. The jam happens when the lifter dont stop that second one. Once the lever engages that rocker the lifter needs to lift or its just plain stuck.
I bet you got the rim stuck under the lifter somehow.

Marlin calls it "letting in two" but I'm not suprised they dont want to tell you how to fix it.
I'v heard of guys bending the lifter a little to fix it & theres a post describing how to avoid it happening in the Marlin Owners site. Leverguns had one too but I dont imagine its available.

Personally if it dont happen again I probably wouldn't worry about it. Loading it part way open likely got things a little askew.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:36 pm

Leverdude,

What happens with the jam is the lifter lets in a second round or just gets stuck under the rim of the next one not letting the lifter move up & jaming up the works good.

That's not how it jammed.

I went to the range today and took the 1894 CBC. Shot a nice one hole 5 shot group, then tried to adjust the sights. It's shooting about 3/4" left.
Reloaded, fired one shot, then it jammed. The lever was full down, the carrier was free to a certain point, but it would not go all the way down. The lever would move maybe a 1/4" back and forth, but otherwise was jammed tight.
It still had three live rounds in the magazine and with the octagon barrel set up I didn't want to try to get the magazine plug out, I was and am afraid of bending the tube.
So I took the lever screw out, then pulled the lever out and every thing freed up.
I cleared the ammo from it. Put it back together and and it worked fine. Then I loaded it and fired two more groups. Again it worked fine.

I should have worded that differently. The carrier was free to move fully up and mostly down, but not all the way down.

What ever it did, it did not let in two. When it jammed I was trying to chamber a round. The carrier was up, the bolt was pushing the cartridge towards the chamber, but it just would not move. The whole shebang was jammed up tight. I rolled the rifle over and shook the round out and the next round in line was still in the magazine tube with the tab on the carrier holding it there.

I'll try removing the bolt and watching the lever/carrier do it's thing. I didn't think of that. Well, one can't think of everything can one?

Thanks, Joe

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:38 pm

Loading it part way open likely got things a little askew.

That was my first thought. I've never had that happen before. And then right after that, the jam. If one did not cause the other, then it was a heck of coincidence.

Joe

Leverdude · Post by **Leverdude** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:59 pm

OK I got you Joe. Your wording was fine. I started to just explain the nature of the "jam" & kept going, forgetting the conditions of your perticular problem. My bad.

Thinking on it harder it sounds like your lever was stuck in the rocker. Once the lifter lifts all the way the lever should slip over the rocker & the front edge of the lever pushes the lifter down past the round its been holding in the tube.

If the lever was out of battery then the lifter was lifted slightly when you loaded it. Maybe you torqued it just enuff that it got jammed up somehow & pulling the lever let everything fall back in place.

Cant think of anything else that would hold it up like that unless the lever failed to slip by the rocker.

I'll try removing the bolt and watching the lever/carrier do it's thing. I didn't think of that. Well, one can't think of everything can one?

Nope, thats why this & other places like it are gold mines!

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:11 pm

Joe,
Have you checked through the various tips and techniques listed on Marauder's Gun Tuning site? LOTS of info there on the Marlin 1894 for the CAS crowd which puts their guns through SEVERE service.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:00 pm

Joe,
Have you checked through the various tips and techniques listed on Marauder's Gun Tuning site? LOTS of info there on the Marlin 1894 for the CAS crowd which puts their guns through SEVERE service.

Griff, checked out the site. Not much there that looked appropriate to my rifle except possibly polishing the extractor. Will double check it and consider doing that.

Thanks,

Joe