maintenance in the field

[CharlesHarris]

I have several of the Marlin lever-actions, both made before the Remington takeover a few years ago. They are of machined steel parts, no castings. Wood to metal fit is not in the class of old world craftsmanship, but is good by machine fitted standards. They are rugged, reliable and accurate.

I have no personal experience with the current production Rossi's, but older ones I tried operated roughly and seemed not as well made as my Marlins. My friend Giorgio in Italy is an active Cowboy Action competitor and has six Marlins. He also sold off his Rossi and several Uberti's, but kept one original Winchester 1892 in .44-40, if that is an indication. He fires thousands of rounds yearly, so reliability and durabiliity are important to him.

My .357 and .45 revolvers I use mostly are both Rugers, are also rugged, reliable and accurate, if not the most finely finished.

All are "agricultural-utilitarian" International Harvester, John Deere, Jeep or Ford pickup truck quality rather than BMW, Rolls Royce or Range Rover, but they work well.

[Midnitemo]

i'm a bit torn...i like the marlins , my previous club had one as a loaner...i know there are a lot of bolt on goodies and upgrades available and scoping one is much easier but i like the simplicity of the opentop designs like the winchester&rossi , it's a lot easier to dig out a stoppage than on a marlin as the access is so much better....in an ideal world i'd have longer barrelled marlin in 30.30 or 45.70 with a scope on top and a pistol calibre open top variant on iron sights.....dream on hey!

---

i've always liked beautiful well made thing's but function win's out over form every time....thats why i ride a bmw motorcycle....ugly but very efficient, robust and capable.

[Mortblanc]

I can only say that of the 7,500,000 Winchester 1894 models built 1/3 of them were NOT defective.

The design is now 120 years old and used world wide. Many have ben passed down through families for three/four generations and they are still doing yeoman service.

Anything can break, and it is unfortunate if one does, but they are not and never have been produced as a defective item from the factory.

[Midnitemo]

i think timelord is on about the AE series not all the winchesters...my friends winchester dates from 1920 , its chambered in 44.40 it was used in a state penetentiary originally(stamped) and brought over to the uk during ww2 by an american officer, this gun shoots beautifully the action is slick and the build is sturdy to say the least...this gun bears little resemblance to the modern AE series.....vintage or older winchesters rock.

[CharlesHarris]

The problem is in adapting the AE series, which was designed for .30-30 length cartridges, so shorter overall length revolver cartridges, such as .45 Colt and .357, because the modifications necessary to the lifter for feeding of the short rounds, results in a thin section with sharp corner, causing a stress riser, so that the part if more prone to breakage. The 94, in its original calibers, and the short-action 92, in its original calibers, are totally reliable.

The so-called "Marlin jam" is caused entirely by use of handloaded ammunition which is either too short, so that more than onbe catridge can exit the magazine tube onto the lifter at once, or too long, such that the bullet nose jams against the barrel hood, so that the lift cannot rise to align the cartridge with the chamber. Clearing the jam requires careful insertion of a narrow punch or screwdriver blade to push the second too-short cartridge, back under the cartridge stop; or in the case of a too-long cartridge, removing the lever pivot screw and withdrawing the lever, bolt and extractor, so that the offending cartridge may be manipulated free.

Effective mitigation action is to avoid (in .38/.357) cartridges shorter than 1.4" overall, or longer than 1.6" overall, keeping within the length parameters of factory ammunition, and for handloads, to also secure crimp bullets to prevent their being telescoped more deeply into the magazine tube under compression of the magazine spring.

The Winchester type design is not immune from these types of jams either, but its open-top design makes it easier to diagnose the problem and to remove the offending cartridge.