Possible jam/misload...

[hikingonthru]

Good afternoon. I was hoping for some help. A good buddy of mine passed a while back. In appreciation of helping his widow get his gun collection appraised, she gave me a pretty good deal on a marlin 1983 in .44 Rem Mag. He and I did a lot of shooting together and I really wanted it as a remembrance of our good times back when he was still with us.

When I cycled the lever open, an odd cartridge came out. I should have thought before I acted, but I went to cycle the lever again to see if anymore were in there. The lever stuck in the fully open positon. I look,and the lifter/Carrier (sp?) is jammed up on the face of the next cartridge in the mag tube. I look at the one that fell out and it was a .45 auto hollow point. Apparently, someone loaded the gun up with several of these.

I took the cap off the mag and took out the spring. Sure enough, I can hear more cartridges sliding in the tube. The little cap that the first cartridge butts up against won't come out of the tube. I tried using a dowel to push the carrier down and moving the cartridge forward a bit, but that thing is stuck. (Course, I am not banging too hard b/c the gun is pristine and I do not want to ding it all up - nor do I want to set off that cartridge. )

We have a lack of good gunsmiths around here. They may take 6 months to get your gun to you and it may come back with a good many more "handling marks" than you sent it to them with. If there is a way I can fix this myself, I would not mind. Once I get these rounds out, I have a place to safely test fire the weapon tied off to a bench with a trigger string to make sure it won't blow up.

Appreciate any help.

[hikingonthru]

Um...that would be Marline Model 1894.

[FatJackDurham]

Have you tried using a long dowel and driving into the receiver instead? I cant picture what you are saying, but sometimes I get the lifter in my marlin jammed on the way up and I have to remove the magazine and tap the round fully into the receiver instead of back out again

[Griff]

Whether it be a Marlin 1894 or 336 would be immaterial. Remove forearm and mag tube, that SHOULD give you access to the mag follower, with it removed you can probably get that stuck cartridge out. If not, take out the lever screw, and remove the lever, that MAY free up the lifter to where the next round can unjam. If that doesn't work, remove the bolt. Just pull the hammer to full cock and slide the bolt to the rear. THAT should allow the carrier to rise well above where it could trap a cartridge. If that doesn't work, fully diassemble it. Instructions are here: http://marauder.homestead.com/files/Marlin94.html.

[MrMurphy]

I once accidentally fed my 1894 .44 Mag a couple .45 rounds and was able to get it fixed without disassembly, though it did take some fiddling.

[hikingonthru]

Good ideas...gonna go tinker with it a bit.

[AJMD429]

Oh my goodness it is good you posted this and I came upon the post so quickly...!

That gun is permanently damaged and dangerous to fire; if you send it to me, I can use it for some junk parts, though, so I'll pay the shipping for you.

OR

You can just do what the other guys said. . .

[hikingonthru]

I actually came across an old post on this forum about a problem with .44 blazer rounds getting stuck. EXACT same scenario with lever in fully open position. I did what that shooter did. I took out the lever pivot screw (the one). It would not come out all the way b/c the lever had about 1-2 mm of torque on it when the screw was mostly out. I light tap with a punch cleared it.

Once the lever was dropped, the pressure was released and the carrier dropped away. Remove the bolt and let the lug drop. The mag spring pushed the bullets out in a neat line. Then simply shake out of the receiver. Reassemble.

I do not have a set of gunsmith screwdrivers [ ], but I learned the screwdriver on an official BSA knife (real kind, made in America) fits the Marlin screws nicely. The lever screw was a bit tight and I buggered the head a bit, but not bad. I figure a new screw is cheaper than a gunsmith fee.

On the plus side, I got some extra .45 auto rounds.

Appreciate all the advice.