My son and I gave it a workout yesterday with aprox. 150 full power 44 magnum loads, several 210 grains and the rest 240 grains, all JHP's. We both just loved the sights. Neither of us has shot a CF rifle in over 20 years, and that was off a bench. This session was all offhand. It's just a combination of the right weight, ergonomics, and sights that made hitting tin cans at ranges of 40-65 yds. a cinch. I think both of us were just having a really good day, too, but this rifle made it easy. The recoil wasn't bad, but you will feel it. 300 grainers would be a different story.
I did notice that after I'd shot about 80 rounds my misses were more common. No matter what I'm shooting I do the best at first and then it tapers down and that's when I stop. I told my son I doubted we'd shoot all 250 rounds I brought being that our shoulders would tell us when to stop LOL
All was not a bed of roses with the Marlin
We had constant jams with the round not being pushed all the way into the carrier. No failures to chamber, just not getting fully into the carrier. It's either a bad spring and/or follower in the magazine tube. Burrs? At home it was easy to see what was happening. Sometimes a new round doesn't even get pushed part of the way because the assemble is bound up. Several times it wouldn't even push a cartridge down to the loading gate. Great! How wonderful would that be to have 8 cartridges stuck in the magazine tube, but it has to be sent back? FWIW, it was actually worse at home with a cold barrel.
This could be dangerous. At home each time I'd load either 5 or 10 rounds and work the action. Then I would count the ejected rounds and I'd only have 7 with none showing whatsoever in the bore or in front of the loading gate. Then "click" and there's a round in front of the loading gate.
I'm sure Marlin is like Ruger shutting down for the holidays. I'll shoot them, no pun intended, an email. I'm not taking a new rifle apart. I havn't read of anyone having a problem with these new Marlins. Something's screwy with mine, though.
Anyway, even with this problem it didn't ruin the enjoyment we got from shooting it.
I'm looking forward to benching it. 1894's aren't noted for being tack drivers so we'll see what happens once it's fixed.
I did notice that after I'd shot about 80 rounds my misses were more common. No matter what I'm shooting I do the best at first and then it tapers down and that's when I stop. I told my son I doubted we'd shoot all 250 rounds I brought being that our shoulders would tell us when to stop LOL
All was not a bed of roses with the Marlin
We had constant jams with the round not being pushed all the way into the carrier. No failures to chamber, just not getting fully into the carrier. It's either a bad spring and/or follower in the magazine tube. Burrs? At home it was easy to see what was happening. Sometimes a new round doesn't even get pushed part of the way because the assemble is bound up. Several times it wouldn't even push a cartridge down to the loading gate. Great! How wonderful would that be to have 8 cartridges stuck in the magazine tube, but it has to be sent back? FWIW, it was actually worse at home with a cold barrel.This could be dangerous. At home each time I'd load either 5 or 10 rounds and work the action. Then I would count the ejected rounds and I'd only have 7 with none showing whatsoever in the bore or in front of the loading gate. Then "click" and there's a round in front of the loading gate.
I'm sure Marlin is like Ruger shutting down for the holidays. I'll shoot them, no pun intended, an email. I'm not taking a new rifle apart. I havn't read of anyone having a problem with these new Marlins. Something's screwy with mine, though.
Anyway, even with this problem it didn't ruin the enjoyment we got from shooting it.
I'm looking forward to benching it. 1894's aren't noted for being tack drivers so we'll see what happens once it's fixed.
