Marlin 1894 in 256 Win. Mag.

[Hashknife Hartley]

After I got my Hawkeye Single Shot pistol, I thought it'd be neat to have a lever action rifle in .256 Mag. Finally, after looking at a lot of overpriced Winchester '92's and Marlin 1894CL's in 25-20, my cousin gave me a Marlin 1894 Cowboy Competition rifle, originally in .38 Special that he'd been given (he still has half interest in it). The rifle had a slightly bulged barrel and I talked him into letting me get it converted to the new cartridge; cheap rifle so far. I had the barrel relined in .25 caliber, and chambered for .256 Mag, and my cousin threw in some dollars for the conversion, which ran about $400, and I just got it back. Here's a couple of pics of it:

While waiting for it to get done, I watched Gunbroker and the like and found a deal on some 80 gr jacketed, flat nosed bullets for 25-20's and got 450 for $25.

Also, traded some 32 H&R Mag brass for some .256 brass (formed from .357 Mag) and got a bullet mold for a 80 gr gas checked lead bullet, so I'm in business for feeding it. Had the dies as I was wanting to shoot my Hawkeye, and found them locally for $10.
It feeds the cast bullet loads just fine, so ought to do good with the jacketed ones. Haven't shot it yet, but will here shortly. Not many of these around; probably with good reason, I'm the only one dumb enough to want one.
HH

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Congratulations on your project. For some reason I have seen a bunch of info and guns in this caliber lately. There was an article in a recent 'Shooting Times' about the cartridge. And I know two guys at the range where I shoot that are shooting it. One of them has a AR type rifle that chambers it. He can use pointed bullets. The other guy has a Marlin Model 62 Levermatic I think and he sometimes uses the pointed bullets single shot. I think the flat nose bullets are hard to come by. 8) 8)

...Jimbo

 

[Hashknife Hartley]

Thanks for the info jimbo, I'll have to look up that Shooting Times article. I've seen M-1 Carbines converted to the round as well, they call it a Ferret I think. There appears to have been quite a few Contender barrels made in it as well. Neat little cartridge and just right for javelina hogs and other small game.
HH

 

[buckeyeshooter]

nice rifle for the conversion, my guess is it will shoot very nicely!

 

[Colonel Daddy]

No problem with pointed bullets in the Marlin 62 levermatic as it has a box magazine.
At one time Universal Firearms made their M1 Carbines in this calibre.
That 1894 Marlin Cowboy in .256 Win Mag should make a fine little rifle.

 

[cubrock]

That is really cool!

 

[Hashknife Hartley]

Yeah, I think the Cowboy Competition rifle in .38 Special has the right looks, with the case hardened receiver and 20" octogon barrel, just needs to be in a better cartridge then the .38 Special. I guess for the Cowboy Action gamer it's OK, but I like my Cowboy Action guns in either .44 or .45, so no use having it rebarreled in .38 Special again. I had one of the Levermatics in .22 long rifle as a kid, when they first came out and never did like the looks too much, so it was never in contention or consideration. Would have liked the Winchester '92 action, but couldn't come up with one price wise that I wanted to put the extra $'s in. I think it'll be a fun shooter. Thanks for all the interest and positive comments; much appreciated.
HH

 

[Lee Martin]

Neat conversion. I've been shooting 256 in a converted Blackhawk for years now. The round has lots of "zap" and setback hasn't been a problem. The only downside is case life. Even with tight chambers I get shoulder splitting after 3 or 4 reloads (and I start with virgin Starline brass and annealing hasn't helped).

 

[Hashknife Hartley]

Small world Lee, I was just thinking as I was writing the above response that a Blackhawk in .256 Mag would be a nice companion; but probably pretty expensive to build. I was wondering if one of the 8 shot .327's had enough cylinder room to hold the eight .357 sized rims; that would be a neat one.
HH

 

[ar15ed]

that is cool! a very interesting project!

 

[Lee Martin]

Small world Lee, I was just thinking as I was writing the above response that a Blackhawk in .256 Mag would be a nice companion; but probably pretty expensive to build. I was wondering if one of the 8 shot .327's had enough cylinder room to hold the eight .357 sized rims; that would be a neat one.
HH

Not sure if it can be done on an 8 shot 327. I've never mic'd one of those. Mine is done as a 6-shot on a full size Blackhawk: