Went alllllllll the way out to the Wisdom gun show today. Wisdom is a really small town. In fact, it is so small….
“How small is it!?”
Its so small the “You are now entering..” and the “You are now leaving…” signs are on the same post. :::Rimshot:::
Ah, but seriously folks……..
I was there for the gun show which is pretty much the biggest function the town has during the year. In the evening they have a street dance, there’s BBQ, and you can pretty much camp in your truck by the side of the road. It’s quite nice. I hadn’t been there in a few years because, honestly, its a bit of a haul. Its in the middle of this enormous valley. An island in a sea of green hay. Seriously.
But, because of its isolation and the bucolic demographic, you get a lot of used and old guns. Me likey used and old guns. And, while I was planning on not spending more than a few bucks on some reloading gear I walked away with this:
A pre-Remington Marlin 1894 in .44 Mag. Has the crossbolt safety, unfortunately, but it also has this:
The “JM” stamp showing this gun was made before Remington bought the company and destroyed it’s reputation with crappy quality. Go look on GunBroker…the JM stamped guns bring markedly higher prices over the REM stamped guns. Price? Well Old Dude wanted $500, I wound up getting it for $400. Honestly, if it didnt have the safety I would have been okay with $500.
I have the .357 version of this gun sitting in the safe. Paid $300 for it ten years ago. I see them on GB for about $500 more than that now. :::sigh:::
Anyway, this’ll go in the safe until I pick up a Ruger .44 of some flavor to match it with.
I Sold a Glock 30 last week that had been sitting in the safe since last September, so I’m going to consider this a zero-sum game. Basically just transmuted the G30 into the 1894.
Good move. I think any parlay of a trade, sell, replacement of inventory from a handgun to a higher level of performance long gun is just about always a bonus deal. Keep eyes open and ear to the ground, warehouse america has plenty of stock and inventory to fall into the light of day.
Very nice Commander… very nice. Might I suggest that you take off the scope and get a set of Skinner Sights for this beauty? It will make the firearm much more brush friendly.
http://www.skinnersights.com/1894_marlin_33.html
The scope is already gone. I need to order some dummy screws for the holes on the top of the receiver, then its going to be a Williams peep.
Nice rifle. A real shame Marlin’s reputation got mashed up like that. A person cold do a lot worse than a 336 in 30/30 Winchester for a truck rifle.
Which is exactly why I just bought one. http://www.commanderzero.com/?p=6184
I have an old Marlin 336 in 30-30 that I bought from (showing my age) Service Merchandise in the late 1980’s. So I bought a new Marlin 1894 in .44 mag, took it out the first time, wouldn’t feed, had to send it back……. They were very gracious and polished the feed ramp and made some “adjustments” but it should not need to be done on a new rifle…… I always wanted one and got one for a good price, soooooo it now functions with no issues. Time will tell!
There is a plug for that.
https://onlineoutpost.net/product/marlin-safety-delete-plug-by-slick-magic/
Yup. Been eyeing that for a while now.
A temporary fix is to place an O-ring over the safety when it’s in the off position.
Too bad Remington’s QC has been in the toilet lately. I just got one of their little RM380’s, and it’s a keeper. All metal, 2nd strike capability, slide stays open on last round, reliable, accurate, and priced right. A Rorbaugh rebuild. Needs a better trigger, though, and I had trouble getting it back together. I guess they’re trying to redeem themselves.
I’ve heard that they have started to get their act together but Im not willing to jump back in until I’m sure all the ‘bad guns’ have worked their way out of the pipeline. Maybe a couple years and I’ll feel more confident.
If their act is together my 1894 in .357 mag missed the memo….. bought it last fall, the action worked nicely right up until you put rounds in the mag then it jammed, even before a round made it out of the magazine. Frustrating!
I’m a firearms instructor and armorer for my dept. and just attended a Remington armorer’s course for the 870. The factory rep said they had all the kinks worked out now and their quality was back up, but I’m with you, time will tell. That being said, I have a Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70 that’s post Remington manufacture and have had no issues. I did put Skinner peeps on it and love em.
I might sound young but my older buddy brought over a Remington 514 for me to take a look at. I had never worked on one so it was a fun challenge. Man that extractor is no joke to get out. I didn’t realize that Remington did not have it on their website for manuals as they do so many others. We took it to the range after cleaning it up and replacing a few springs and the extractor. It was dead on. Must have been a different Remington back then. Though, I have killed a lot of deer with my 783.
I put a Williams FP-336-TK on mine. Gives a decent zero with the capability to make adjustments as needed without having to re-zero. 966-000-062WB at Brownell’s. The biggest con to this sight is the aperture size. Seems awful large to me and I have not checked to see if they offer different sizes like the Skinner sights.