Marlin 1894 Loading Gate Issue

[nebraska_farmer]

Evening everyone, I recently purchased my first lever gun, a new Marlin 1894 in .357 magnum. Overall it's a great rifle, with exception of the stiff loading gate (it was so bad I couldn't load the rounds without a tool). I ordered a third party loading gate from a reputable manufacturer (ranger point). Now getting the rounds in to the tube is more manageable, however I noticed I'm unable to "stage" the rounds, instead they pop out and I have to use two hands to load the tube. Any suggestions on how to improve this? Thanks.

 

[greyling22]

Staging is a bit tricky. I cannot tell because of the gloves, but are you getting the case far enough inside the gun before releasing? Have you trimmed your mag spring yet? if you take the cap off the end of the tube up by the muzzle, you only need about 4" of spring sticking out. The rest can go bye-bye. But it appears you have a octagon cowboy gun (nice!), and generally those have longer barrels and suffer less from overstrong mag springs. But every spring in a marlin is way too strong. you can clip, bend, and polish your way into a much better gun. Taking metal off the nose of the hammer so you aren't over-cocking the gun helps too.

you can learn a lot about slicking up a lever gun here https://marauder.homestead.com/files/TUNING_M_1894.htm a slick gun is a whole different animal than a factory one.

 

[Pat Riot]

In the video it appears that you aren’t pushing the round in far enough. The way I used to load my Marlin and still load my Winchester’s is push a round in right handed, hold before fully inserting with left hand, use another round to push the first round but, as before don’t fully insert it, repeat until last round and send the last round home (fully push it in) with my pinky finger or a dowel rod, should you wish to use one.

 

[troy fairweather]

In the video it appears that you aren’t pushing the round in far enough. The way I used to load my Marlin and still load my Winchester’s is push a round in right handed, hold before fully inserting with left hand, use another round to push the first round but, as before don’t fully insert it, repeat until last round and send the last round home (fully push it in) with my pinky finger or a dowel rod, should you wish to use one.

i thought the same, not pushing the case in all the way.

 

[Tommygunn]

Agree with above --not pushing it in.

In addition, you might try holding the gun in your left hand around the receiver so your finger can hold the round, and use the nose of the next round to push it the rest of the way.

 

[LRDGCO]

Looks rather loose. Did you stone the edges of the Marlin gate before giving up? Radiusing the edges will do wonders. You can also take a little tension out of the gate spring by not tightening the retaining screw to full Monte.

That aftermarket gate looks too loosey-goosey to me.

 

[Dibbs]

How many rounds are you loading? You want to avoid "cramming a couple more in".
That will have a detrimental effect on proper feeding. It might just be you have to remove the gloves.
Seems as if the round isn't making it past the gate.

 

[DPris]

Generally, you can lighten the gate tension somewhat & hone around the rough inside port edges, then just load the gun.

I have never, in 40 years of levergunning, gotten that staging silliness to work reliably.
Denis

 

[Pat Riot]

Generally, you can lighten the gate tension somewhat & hone around the rough inside port edges, then just load the gun.

I have never, in 40 years of levergunning, gotten that staging silliness to work reliably.
Denis

Practice, practice, practice.

 

[Thomas Mayberry]

I assume you want to push the round in with another round. I hold the receiver in my left hand with my thumb by the loading gate. Once the round is mostly in the tube I hold it in place with my thumb and feed the next round "nose to tail". Otherwise you just need to fully insert each round as you load.

 

[Dr T]

As Tommygun noted, I use a cartridge to push to push the rounds in all the way on most of my leverguns. It saves the fingertips from pinching. Ironically, the only one where I don't have to do this is a 336 BL.

 

[nebraska_farmer]

To be clear, I was attempting to push the rounds in but not all the way, essentially the same way this guy is loading his (at the 1:30 mark). What you're seeing in my video is me doing the same procedure as him, yet my rounds pop out every time forcing me to load the thing two handed.

Not a huge deal, I was just hoping to stage the rounds in the tube as seen below.

 

[troy fairweather]

Seems like each lever gun has its special spot where the case will stay. Mine hold about 1/2 inch from the rim.

 

[greyling22]

All 3 of my marlins, a browning and a rossi load like that. The Navy lighting is more of a struggle and they cannot be staged.
Try asking in the 1894 forum on marlinowners. They're smart.

 

[LRDGCO]

Reinstall the Marlin gate. Take some tension out of the spring.