Do the Marlin Lever Actions still have problems?

[bigger hammer]

I hate all of you bastards.



I just got home from DROSing an 1894 SBL!

[bigger hammer]

Will the FFL be able to send it right back for repairs before the DROS is completed?....Or were you able to get one produced by their custom shop?
EDIT: I think you are exempt, at least you can try it out first.

No custom shop. I have a guy.

I ran a bunch of snap caps (several brands) in .44 mag and .44 Spl through it. One gun I looked at malf'd a couple of times. The one that I chose, worked fine with all the brands.

[bigger hammer]

Good that the FFL (Turner's?) had more than one, and were willing to let you examine to that degree.
The fact that you had to weed out an example is telling.
I'm still of the belief that Marlin should only sell complete firearms through their custom shop; otherwise everything else should be in a "kit" form that the end user either finishes himself, or sends off to a proper gunsmith for final fit, finish, and assembly, IMO.

It wasn't Turner's. Too many know-it-alls behind the counter, who really don't have a clue, for my taste.

I paid closest attention to function and then looked at the fit of the wood to the metal. Some of them had gaps between those parts as large as 1/8"! That's fixable but doesn't speak quality. The one I picked had both good fit and worked reliably.

[pennstater]

Thank you for sharing your experience.
Miroku will be the one I reach for if I ever want a new lever gun.

Can't dispute that splithoof, but, if you could have seen golfishs newest Rossi '92 in .357, you might rethink that. Wasn't anything wrong with that at all. Smooth, damn accurate and zero issues. Oh, and better wood than most Rossi's I've seen lately.

MLC

[bigger hammer]

Thank you for sharing your experience.
Miroku will be the one I reach for if I ever want a new lever gun.

Thank you for sharing your opinion.

I looked at over half a dozen Miroku guns before going with the SBL. There wasn't one of them that I'd want to own. One of them felt as if someone had dumped a handful of sand in the action. "Grittiest" action I've ever tried! Several of the others felt dry. Another had the dovetail for the front sight cut so that the sight was canted to the right several degrees. The store said that they were going to send that one back, after I called it to their attention. NOT ONE OF THEM had a decent wood-to-metal fit.

Talk about needing to sell "kit" guns!

[Horsewright]

I remember using a contraption that had a ratcheting puller on it for that chore...not fun. Thankfully, most of the calving happened at night on their own schedule, but once in a while we had to intervene.
Red Angus, Charolais and Guernsey are the breeds I worked around the most, and I've ridden horses for 30+, but the Kubota RTV is my favorite steed now. In it I have either a well worn Ruger GSR, or if the distant meth lab folks are about I have a Ruger Mini-30 Tac stainless. As a part timer, my other career has taken over, but it's still fun to get up to the ranch frequently where it's so quiet, especially at night. At least in the Canyon we don't get hit with the light pollution from Bakersfield or Tehachapi.
That image above reminds me very much of the large pasture across from the new veteran's cemetery along HWY 223.

Good eye on that. Right ranch wrong pasture. This one is on the other side of 58. What canyon, ya up Calinente/Twin Oaks? Both of my parents are there at the National Cemetary on the Tejon.



@ bigger hammer Congrats on the new one! Thats interesting on the Miroku guns. That has not been my experience with the two I own (Browning BLR and Browning 1895) and the others I've handled. They are done up just right. Pics when your guy gets out of jail?

@ golfish "What the hec would I want to pull a calf for? I have managed to rop a few fillies though, a couple heifers too."

Now thats some funny stuff right there.

@elk hunter. I have that holster pattern. Its from an old Al Stholman book on holster making.

[elk hunter]

@elk hunter. I have that holster pattern. Its from an old Al Stholman book on holster making.

Yes it is. I've still got some Stholman book patterns out in the shed with the box of leather working tools. When dad enlisted during WWII he was going to the Air Corp but when the Army formed the 101st AB he was alrady tired of waiting around for training and volunteered to go to the 101st. He's buried next to his mother and father at Smith Mt. Cemetery near Dinuba Ca. Grandpa was in the first WW in the Army. I will be buried next to dad, 3 Army war veterans buried together of the same family. I wish I could tell Capt. Ferry "thanks for his service to his face". Regards
elk hunter

[elk hunter]

Interesting.
I have an older Miroku, and it is tops in every regard.

So are both of mine.

[200Apples]

Horsewright, thanks again for the great and beautiful photos.

Happy Holidays, fellers.

Welcome, bigger hammer. Congrats on finding a decent 1894 SBL. The one I have looked ok at the store but when home and disassembled was a nightmare. It still functioned, though, and all I did was internal finish work, per se. The front sight is still out of time and will be corrected at some point. Thing still shoots.

The attention lately is going to my used 1895 GS. Good grief, what a fantastic carbine. Love these lever guns.

Looks like we can add a few more calguns usernames to the MLC Roster!

[golfish]

@ golfish "What the hec would I want to pull a calf for? I have managed to rop a few fillies though, a couple heifers too."

Now thats some funny stuff right there..

I was a little worried about your sense of humor....

.
Miroku will be the one I reach for if I ever want a new lever gun.

Compare the price of my Winchester 92 short rifle bought early this year to the Rossi 92 carbine that I purchased a few weeks ago. There was a $400.00 difference in price, give or take a few pennies.

When you first look at the guns you really don't see much of a difference. It's when you pick them up and look at the detail, especially when you look inside at the action of both guns. That's where the Miroku stands out and to me, that's where the extra $400.00 is at.

[golfish]

I'd like to see Standard Manufacturing start making Winchesters and Marlins; if they were anything like their SAA clones, I'd buy every model and variation.

Wouldn't that be nice I'd really like to get one of their SAA. I'm lucky that I can tell the wife that it's for our grandson along with the Winchester. I hope it works

[200Apples]

Did someone say, "SAA", "Winchester" (and Marlin), "ammo" and grandchildren?

From our lips to God's ears. May these always be so.

[bigger hammer]

@ bigger hammer Congrats on the new one! Thats interesting on the Miroku guns. That has not been my experience with the two I own (Browning BLR and Browning 1895) and the others I've handled. They are done up just right. Pics when your guy gets out of jail?

Thanks. I was quite surprised by the Miroku guns too. Pics will follow.

[bigger hammer]

Interesting.
I have an older Miroku, and it is tops in every regard.

I have an older Winchester, before Miroku came along, and "it is tops in every regard" too. Times change.

[bigger hammer]

Welcome, bigger hammer. Congrats on finding a decent 1894 SBL. The one I have looked ok at the store but when home and disassembled was a nightmare. It still functioned, though, and all I did was internal finish work, per se. The front sight is still out of time and will be corrected at some point. Thing still shoots.

Of course I have no idea of what mine looks like on the inside. But if it functions with live ammo as it did with snap caps, and there's nothing amiss on the inside, I'll be happy. After looking at the Moriku's, I made sure that the sights on this gun were on straight. LOL.

The attention lately is going to my used 1895 GS. Good grief, what a fantastic carbine. Love these lever guns.

I had a Guide Gun that I sent out for conversion to a take‒down version and some other custom features. It went out a very nice example of the breed but came back a complete horrorshow. Screw heads butchered, and many of them not even finger tight, a crooked front sight, scratches in the new hard chrome finish and worst of all, it would not feed a tube of ANY KIND of ammunition without a malf! It went back several times and they still could not get it to function. It NEVER fed 4 rounds in a row! I finally sold it back to them.