I've had my Marlin 1895 gunsmithed to allow me to empty its magazine without cycling its cartridges through the action.

I've just had my Rossi Model 92 returned by the premier "Bubba" of all time. After I invest in having it become what it is supposed to be, I should be able to unload its magazine the same way.

In both lever actions how do I unload the chamber while keeping cartridges in their tubular magazines? For me, this situation has never occurred - that is, when I unload my 1895, I unload it completely. And the 92 has not been fired. It is a "blank slate" for me.

On a Marlin of course all you need to do to empty the magazine is push down on the loading gate allowing the cartridges to slide out to unload the magazine. I've never been able to do that on a Winchester 94 because the cartridge in the magazine is too far back behind the loading gate. I assume the 92's are the same way so it may not be possible.

On either if I want to empty the chamber but leave the magazine full I eject the cartridge which picks up the next round but I stop before it gets to the chamber. Then I just shake this next round out. This of course means you have two rounds to put back into the magazine but it does work. This is the only way I know.

You can push the rim forward and back into the tube while ejecting the round in the chamber, this brings the follower up witb no round and you have a full magazine. If the round does slip past and get on the follower, the above meathod of letting it fall out before chambering works. Then you can top off as desired. Again this works on a marlin. I have not tried it on a winchester.

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:
On a Marlin of course all you need to do to empty the magazine is push down on the loading gate allowing the cartridges to slide out to unload the magazine. I've never been able to do that on a Winchester 94 because the cartridge in the magazine is too far back behind the loading gate. I assume the 92's are the same way so it may not be possible.

On either if I want to empty the chamber but leave the magazine full I eject the cartridge which picks up the next round but I stop before it gets to the chamber. Then I just shake this next round out. This of course means you have two rounds to put back into the magazine but it does work. This is the only way I know.

It should work fine on a Winchester. I've never had a Winchester with a loading gate that I couldn't open once there are cartridges in the magazine. Makes me think a lot of folks have damaged rifles because I've had experience with most vintages of them and they all work the same. Pre-WWII in .25-35 up to a new 94AE. My model 92, an old 71 and a newer Browning 71 can all be "topped off".

To unload a Winchester I've always worked the lever slowly so that the round is ejected but the follower doesn't raise the next round up. It might take a try or two to get right at first but it works. When you close the bolt the round will be pushed back into the magazine. I dont use my Marlins much so I dont know it that will work with them or not.

^
I'll have to try that method with my Henry.

BH63

Very carefully, it can be down, have lifter come up just so far and you can pick it out with your finger. you can also chamber the round then extract it with lifting the lifter and pick it out..Little tricky sometimes but works on most guns at least. sometimes you have to push the lifter down with your finger..

On a Win the action has a magazine stop to hold the cartridge to be fed in place to be lifted, so holding the loading gate open won't allow you to empty it. Once you load a round in a Win completely it wont come out, if its not inserted totally it will pop back out.