Marlin 94 in .44-40 in the classifieds

[jdad]

Just an fyi,
Your rifle was put together using a musket receiver, in the mid 1920's. The sling eye "notch", in the receiver is the dead giveaway, of a musket receiver. The "star" dates it to the 1924/26 era. The holes, in the top of receiver, are factory. They're for a Hepburn sight. The tang sight holes are factory also.

[jdad]

Based on the factory records there were only 150 Model 1894 "muskets" actually made. IIRC most were for the Bureau County Prison. Marlin didn't waste a thing and did a parts cleanup, with the remaining inventory, around the time they went bankrupt (again), in 1924.

MM93 hopefully will chime in and correct anything I missed.

[marlinman93]

Good info jdad. Only thing I would add is that all the musket receivers that were reworked to rifles were also restamped with a new serial number, so besides the groove from the old swivel base, the font size on the serial numbers was much larger than earlier Marlins, or later.
I've never observed a blued receiver on any of the reworked musket/rifles, so this is either something new or refinished.

[jdad]

Here's what an 1889 musket looks like....basically the same as the 1894.

http://merzantique.com/item/extremely-s ... -89-musket

**

[cubrock]

Just an fyi,
Your rifle was put together using a musket receiver, in the mid 1920's. The sling eye "notch", in the receiver is the dead giveaway, of a musket receiver. The "star" dates it to the 1924/26 era. The holes, in the top of receiver, are factory. They're for a Hepburn sight. The tang sight holes are factory also.

Thanks for the info jdad and others. I have seen a few other rifles like mine with the sling eye notch and the large font, low serial numbers. I didn't know it was because they were from a parts clean up.

I had completely forgotten about the Hepburn sight and really appreciate the reminder. I had an 1895 factory drilled and tapped for the Hepburn, but had never seen a 94 this way. I really appreciate that pointer.

What is your opinion on the nickel receiver? I assumed it was a refinish, as the polish under it is, at best, not up to what I consider Marlin quality and, at worse, indicates a refinish with some light pitting under the nickel. However, the markings aren't soft in the least. I know the factory sent out a few guns with a nickel receiver like this, but I would have assumed the polish underneath would be better than what I see on my gun. Is it possible the clean-up receiver just wasn't up to snuff finish wise and they nickeled it and sent it out anyway?

Thanks again!

[jdad]

I would be pretty confident that the nickel finish is not factory. The custom shop had closed around WW1 and the rollstamps, on the tang, would be a lot more "crisp".

[cubrock]

jdad,

Thanks! I didn't think it was, but since I missed the d/t on the receiver, I wanted a more expert opinion.

[Hobie]

Discussions are supposed to take place in the general discussion forum so that they will not die at the hands of the automatic pruner...

[J Miller]

jdad,

Now that we have a discussion of the rifle going, you need to import the pics into this thread so when the add falls off the classifieds we can still know what is being discussed.

Nice rifle. It makes me wish I was better funded.

Joe

[jdad]

I had nothing to do with putting this in "general discussion". I and others did not follow Hobie's "classified" rules, so he put it here......we screwed up.[.

[ollogger]

jdad,



Nice rifle. It makes me wish I was better funded.

Joe

Joe you dont know how I wish I was better funded

ollogger

[Boreman]

Cubrock,
Based on my reading of this post and your ad in the classified,the Marlin appears to be a very shootable rifle,correct ??? Does the musket frame have suffecient strength to handle jacketd bullet reloads as listed in most of the current reloading guides ?

[Streetstar]

The curiosity was killing me so i had to flip over to the classifieds to check this out ------

That little 94 is a pretty joker !

looks like a neat shooter for sure

[jdad]

Cubrock,
Based on my reading of this post and your ad in the classified,the Marlin appears to be a very shootable rifle,correct ??? Does the musket frame have suffecient strength to handle jacketd bullet reloads as listed in most of the current reloading guides ?

The only thing that makes the "musket" frame different, from the standard frame, is that it had the sling eye built in.