Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt stuck closed

[oldnewgunnut]

When I went to the range today I shot several rounds and then I shot one and the lever would not open. The trigger was stuck, the bolt was slightly out of battery and the lever stuck solid. Any suggestions? They were reloads. 300 grain XTP with 11 gr. of Longshot. I assume the case split or something like that. How do I get it out?

 

[troy fairweather]

try to pull the lever off, them use a cleaning rod down the bore and see if you can push the case and bolt back.

 

[the Black Spot]

^^^Yep
Lever should slide out.
You can use a wood dowel rod also

 

[Slamfire]

Lever should slide out once you take the screw out. You can lift the extractor up and over the cartridge rim with a small screwdriver. Don't forget about the locking lugs, they will have to be down I would not use a cleaning rod to knock out the case, I would find a large piece of drill rod. Avoid wood. You leave a chunk of wood down your barrel it will be hard to remove.

In fact, you might have to pull the components out of the receiver, locking lugs, trigger mechanism,etc, to get the bolt out without ruining something. If the bolt is really stuck then it is best to dissemble as much as possible before hammering on things. There are lots of video's, see what can be removed, this will be better than breaking something. There are lots of videos about disassembling a M1894. Watch them first, understand the interrelationship of the parts.

 

[Scooter22]

Avoid wood. You leave a chunk of wood down your barrel it will be hard to remove.

Yup I've seen too many threads with a hunk of mashed dowel in the barrel trying to clear a stuck bullet. Royal PITA to remove.

 

[MEHavey]

Avoid wood. You leave a chunk of wood down your barrel it will be hard to remove.

This is not a bullet.
This is a case.
You are pushing
Not hammering.
The objective is merely to [1st stage] relieve stress of having to have the extractor try to do all the work


If you find you have to hammer,
You are in a different [disassembly] game

Make it so . . . .

 

[Slamfire]

This is not a bullet.
This is a case.
You are pushing
Not hammering.
The objective is merely to [1st stage] relieve stress of having to have the extractor try to do all the work


If you find you have to hammer,
You are in a different [disassembly] game

Make it so . . . .

He may have fired such a high pressure load that the bolt is still compressed and the locking lugs are jammed in place. That would be a lot of fun to clear, glad I am not doing it. I don't know what happens when the chamber is bulged.

Regardless, sticking wood dowels down a barrel is a bad idea regardless of what you think you are fixing.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

He may have fired such a high pressure load that the bolt is still compressed and the locking lugs are jammed in place. That would be a lot of fun to clear, glad I am not doing it. I don't know what happens when the chamber is bulged.

Regardless, sticking wood dowels down a barrel is a bad idea regardless of what you think you are fixing.

That was my first thought, "wow that round must have generated some high pressures."

Please let us know how this works out.

 

[MEHavey]

While I won't say "never use a hardwood dowel. . ," I will say
"...don't even consider one if you are a gorilla with no brains."

Pushing/tapping/even gently driving a lubed pure-lead round
ball through a clean barrel as a slug has never entered the
Gorilla Regime. That said, a mechanical IQ certification has
also never been a prerequisite to get through the range gate
if my many years as a RSO has a story to tell . . . .

So get a steel rod (good luck getting 2-ft brass one) of sufficient
diameter not to flex under pressure and try that while firmly
tapping at the muzzle with a rawhide/plastic hammer and
simultaneously putting firm opening tension on the lever . . . .
After that, get a screwdriver out.

 

[Texas10mm]

https://www.grainger.com/category/r...-rod-stock?attrs=Diameter|7/16"&filters=attrs

6' brass rod.

 

[Slamfire]

While I won't say "never use a hardwood dowel. . ," I will say
"...don't even consider one if you are a gorilla with no brains."

I am guilt as charged! I have learned, I cannot resist trying. It is just better to understand your limitations and plan accordingly.

 

[Scooter22]

Problem with a wood dowel is the grain. If it's nice and straight the full length might not have a problem. But if you have some grain ending at a sharp angle at the edge like most dowel do it can break there with not hard tapping. That kind of break makes 2 opposing wedges that jam into rifling. Many times that wedge breaks off making a solid jam. Hammering only make it tighter and increases the diameter. I've read WAY to many bad stories of putting a wood dowel in a rifled barrel and getting it jammed. I'm just giving a friendly warning.

 

[TxRoadDog]

Any noticeable increase in noise or recoil? That is going to be a fun one to figure out. I hope you didn't bulge your chamber.

 

[Slamfire]

Worse case is that the rifle has to be completely disassembled and the barrel removed from the action. The OP has not told us what he has done since his first post, and the fix could be real simple, or the fix could be real complicated. That is, it's not a simple stuck case.

 

[oldnewgunnut]

Thank you all for your posts. I used a 3' long aluminum rod to get the bolt to back off. The case had split in half and the primer was out of the shell. I don't know if it was out before I used the rod on it. Half the case extracted and the other half was still in the chamber. It would not come out. I used some garden sulfur and heated it up in a coke can that I had cut the top off. I put a crease in the can and placed a cleaning patch in the barrel just ahead of where the stuck case was. I poored the liquid sulfer in the chamber and let it cool. After the sulfur cooled I took the pushed the plug that it made out and the stuck case came with it. The bolt did not move as well as before. I used 600 grit sand paper judiciously and got it to move easily in the action and I took it out to the range after measuring the size of the chamber. It did not fire because the firing pin did not strike the primer. I replaced the firing pin, firing pin spring, and the rear of the firing pin. I then took it to the range again and fired one round. The second time the firing pin did not strike the primer again. I'm thinking it is getting stuck in the bolt. I have been told that oil can get sticky and make it do that. I don't really know what to do but I sprayed it down with gumout and put some silicone based lube on it. Hope that works. One thing I noticed is that the bolt doesn't close all the way when the lever is all the way up. Any suggestions? Thanks a bunch for the help.

 

[WestKentucky]

With a popped primer and now sticky firing pin, you may have blown a primer and sent soot or unburnt powder into the bolt. Remove the bolt (not real hard) and disassemble it. Clean it inside with a pipe cleaner in a cordless drill.... just make sure to keep the drill away from the metal.

 

[338reddog]

Is is possible you bent the extractor and it’s not seating, causing bolt to not fully close? If the bolt is not fully closed I wouldn’t t shoot it.

 

[Lafitte]

I know you disn't ask but I think you should really make certain you are doing the right thing, firing a .300 grain .45 Colt cartridge in a rifle. Double check your data source. Most, if not all of the .300gr loads for .45 Colt (and .44 Mag.) are for HANDGUN only, By the time you get such a cartridge short enough to work in a lever rifle the pressure goes really HIGH.
Lafitte

 

[oldnewgunnut]

I t

I know you disn't ask but I think you should really make certain you are doing the right thing, firing a .300 grain .45 Colt cartridge in a rifle. Double check your data source. Most, if not all of the .300gr loads for .45 Colt (and .44 Mag.) are for HANDGUN only, By the time you get such a cartridge short enough to work in a lever rifle the pressure goes really HIGH.
Lafitte[/QUOTES

I tend to agree that it was overpressurred even though the rounds fed reliably. It will feed the rounds at 1.655 COL., but I think the round that caused the problem was 1.6 COL.

 

[oldnewgunnut]

A disassemble of the bolt sounds like a good idea! I am relatively new to this so I appreciate all the input.

 

[25-20 WCF]

I know you disn't ask but I think you should really make certain you are doing the right thing, firing a .300 grain .45 Colt cartridge in a rifle. Double check your data source. Most, if not all of the .300gr loads for .45 Colt (and .44 Mag.) are for HANDGUN only......

As long as the OP used the specified loa, his load is just fine. Hodgdon data shows a max load of 12.5 grains of Longshot for 29,200 CUP. BTW there is no problem firing “handgun” loads in an appropriate rifle - the M1894 safely fires .44 Magnum ammunition. I have fired a great many 300-grain “handgun” loads in my own M1894 without incident. Often, a cartridge fired in a rifle exhibits a lower chamber pressure than when it is fired in a revolver.

https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl39partial.pdf

.

 

[oldnewgunnut]

As long as the OP used the specified loa, his load is just fine. Hodgdon data shows a max load of 12.5 grains of Longshot for 29,200 CUP. BTW there is no problem firing “handgun” loads in an appropriate rifle - the M1894 safely fires .44 Magnum ammunition. I have fired a great many 300-grain “handgun” loads in my own M1894 without incident. Often, a cartridge fired in a rifle exhibits a lower chamber pressure than when it is fired in a revolver.

https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl39partial.pdf

.

Thanks for the info.

 

[oldnewgunnut]

Is is possible you bent the extractor and it’s not seating, causing bolt to not fully close? If the bolt is not fully closed I wouldn’t t shoot it.

When the lever is up the extractor is pushing against something in there but when the hammer goes down it closes. It's only about 1/32 of an inch. I fired it like that with no problems.

 

[skeeterfogger]

Thank you all for your posts. I used a 3' long aluminum rod to get the bolt to back off. The case had split in half and the primer was out of the shell. I don't know if it was out before I used the rod on it. Half the case extracted and the other half was still in the chamber. It would not come out. I used some garden sulfur and heated it up in a coke can that I had cut the top off. I put a crease in the can and placed a cleaning patch in the barrel just ahead of where the stuck case was. I poored the liquid sulfer in the chamber and let it cool. After the sulfur cooled I took the pushed the plug that it made out and the stuck case came with it. The bolt did not move as well as before. I used 600 grit sand paper judiciously and got it to move easily in the action and I took it out to the range after measuring the size of the chamber. It did not fire because the firing pin did not strike the primer. I replaced the firing pin, firing pin spring, and the rear of the firing pin. I then took it to the range again and fired one round. The second time the firing pin did not strike the primer again. I'm thinking it is getting stuck in the bolt. I have been told that oil can get sticky and make it do that. I don't really know what to do but I sprayed it down with gumout and put some silicone based lube on it. Hope that works. One thing I noticed is that the bolt doesn't close all the way when the lever is all the way up. Any suggestions? Thanks a bunch for the help.

Dooes the lever come up in the same place as before the problem? Once when I was cleaning a lever gun it slipped and the lever banged against the coffe table. Did not think it did anything, it didn't hit very hard, I thought. Out to shoot and no fire. Got to looking and when the lever was up the bolt was back a bit. The lever was touching at loop. It was at touching before but now it was a hard touch. Turned out apparently the lever hit the table hard enough and at the right angle and point that the lever had bent just a small amount. Just saying, check that the lever is not touching hard at top of and or back end of loop. If it is it's most likely is out of form in a way that the throw is not closing the bolt.

 

[Old Stumpy]

Sure sounds like the results of a double charged case. The action held with the very high pressure but stretched and deformed in the locking bolt area of the breechbolt and action mortise area. That would account for the bolt being out of battery with the lever closed, the seized lever, split case, and the sticky firing pin afterward. The severely excessive headspace now would also account for the firing pin not striking the primer well.
Time to get the headspace and the rifle overall checked out by a gunsmith.