One of my Marlins is a picky eater, the other eats anything.

[lazarus870]

Is this just something I'll need to accept?

My 1894 Cowboy Limited has been worked over by a local gunsmith and it is smooth as butter, will feed anything in any which way seemingly.

My 1894C which went to the same smith was a bit of a rescue because it had been screwed up by the previous owner. Took it to get fixed up to the same 'smith but it was hanging up badly on all rounds. Second trip in, it works flawlessly with .357 (UNLESS I purposely try to feed it at an awkward angle or purposely go super slow) and will lock up badly with .38.
If I work it briskly with 357 it's fine.
My Cowboy doesn't care, it'll eat .38's and it'll feed anything as slow as you wanna cycle it.

Is this just something I gotta accept, that some are just pickier than others?
I don't shoot 38 and only shoot 357 anyway.

It's just interesting they're the same model gun and one will feed much better than the other.

[GunnyMack]

Could be just a simple matter of wrong/ odd angles on lifter. Could replace the fussy lifter and have your smith shape and polish it the same as your cowboy gun.

My Henry isn't fond of slow in vertical but works fine slow at horizontal. Don't have a lot of ammo thru it yet so still feeling it out through its break in.

[lazarus870]

Could be just a simple matter of wrong/ odd angles on lifter. Could replace the fussy lifter and have your smith shape and polish it the same as your cowboy gun.

My Henry isn't fond of slow in vertical but works fine slow at horizontal. Don't have a lot of ammo thru it yet so still feeling it out through its break in.

That's a very good point. My Marlin also doesn't mind slow and horizontal with .357 but even quick and horizontal with .38 will jam it. Slow and vertical/awkward angle will sometimes lock it up with .357.

[1894cfan]

Got a suggestion, try getting a box of .38 cowboy loads, the one with a round flat nose type bullet and try running a few through yours. My 94c gets picky with a fair amount of .38 loads but works with cowboy loads and speer 135gr golddots. HTH

[buckeyeshooter]

Is this just something I'll need to accept?

My 1894 Cowboy Limited has been worked over by a local gunsmith and it is smooth as butter, will feed anything in any which way seemingly.

My 1894C which went to the same smith was a bit of a rescue because it had been screwed up by the previous owner. Took it to get fixed up to the same 'smith but it was hanging up badly on all rounds. Second trip in, it works flawlessly with .357 (UNLESS I purposely try to feed it at an awkward angle or purposely go super slow) and will lock up badly with .38.
If I work it briskly with 357 it's fine.
My Cowboy doesn't care, it'll eat .38's and it'll feed anything as slow as you wanna cycle it.

Is this just something I gotta accept, that some are just pickier than others?
I don't shoot 38 and only shoot 357 anyway.

It's just interesting they're the same model gun and one will feed much better than the other.

I am positive you could get it reworked to feed everything. My 1894 in 44 mag. will feed magnum cases with no problem. But gets picky on 44 special cases. Solution, seat the 44 special bullets out a bit farther or use magnum cases. As I load my own, I can work around this.

[AJMD429]

I am positive you could get it reworked to feed everything.

Yep....look at the guys modifying 1894's to feed 45 ACP even.....just depends on how much gunsmithing you want to have done...

[J Miller]

I read an article back in the mid 2000's that said Marlin had specially tuned the 1894 Cowboys in .357 / .38 to feed shorter rounds. I no longer have any of my gun mags so I cannot verify this.

What I do know is that the 1894S I had was not fond of any cartridges that had a sharp shoulder on the bullet, or that the case mouth was a sharp roll crimp such as the old Speer 160 gr half jacket SP.
Normal jacketed bullets and most lead bullets would feed through it with ease if the COAL was was in the area of 1.60".

My 2005 vintage 1894 Cowboy Limited in .45 Colt will feed anything, short or long. Then again the larger caliber rifles don't seem to be as finicky as the .357 Mags are.

Joe

[buckeyeshooter]

I read an article back in the mid 2000's that said Marlin had specially tuned the 1894 Cowboys in .357 / .38 to feed shorter rounds. I no longer have any of my gun mags so I cannot verify this.

What I do know is that the 1894S I had was not fond of any cartridges that had a sharp shoulder on the bullet, or that the case mouth was a sharp roll crimp such as the old Speer 160 gr half jacket SP.
Normal jacketed bullets and most lead bullets would feed through it with ease if the COAL was was in the area of 1.60".

My 2005 vintage 1894 Cowboy Limited in .45 Colt will feed anything, short or long. Then again the larger caliber rifles don't seem to be as finicky as the .357 Mags are.

Joe

Well, Remlin is not even heat treating carriers these days. I am positive there is no extra fitting for improved feed.