Yesterday, I bought a very nice Marlin 1894CL at a pawn shop. chambered for the .32-20Win.

It‘s proof marked 1990. Is it possible?

Problem here is, to get reloading datas with available propelants. I loaded a few test rounds with 5grs Reload Swiss RS12 behind a 85grs XTP and 90grs HP bullet. RS12 is nearly identical with Vith N320. QL means, it‘s OK....
Tomorrow I will test it....

Martin

That should be a fun rifle! Enjoy.

I have the same rifle.There is a lot of data out there.Try Hodgdons reloading site or Paco Kelly.OB

Yes, I know. There‘s a lot of data for US-propelants. Here in Germany, the price for 1lbs of Hodgdon powder is about 70€.... And here, we can only store 1,5kg, max. 3kg in our rooms... So, I will use the same propelant for a few rounds....

Here a few pics. The rifle, and the first rounds, shoot off-hand @ 25m.

I have one in 25-20 from that time period, they also made them in .218. I like the configuration, I wish they came out with this style in .357 and .44.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Bore Fan:
Yesterday, I bought a very nice Marlin 1894CL at a pawn shop. chambered for the .32-20Win.

It‘s proof marked 1990. Is it possible?

Problem here is, to get reloading datas with available propelants. I loaded a few test rounds with 5grs Reload Swiss RS12 behind a 85grs XTP and 90grs HP bullet. RS12 is nearly identical with Vith N320. QL means, it‘s OK....
Tomorrow I will test it....

Martin

yes, it was a run of 500 rifles. It will be a pleasure to shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by dean119:
.... I like the configuration, I wish they came out with this style in .357 and .44.

Yes, would be cool.... But for me, cooler, a .38-40 chambering...

quote:

Originally posted by Big Bore Fan:

quote:

Originally posted by dean119:
.... I like the configuration, I wish they came out with this style in .357 and .44.

Yes, would be cool.... But for me, cooler, a .38-40 chambering...

You will have to find an early Marlin 1894 for that, you see them for sale sometimes.

Good morning from sunny England! I have a Marlin like yours, but it is a .357.

However I have two other rifles in .32-20. I use Vihtavuori powders only, and have found that 4.5 grains of N340 with a 120 grain lead bullet is very accurate and is just about at the speed of sound. I use it in a little double rifle - the right barrel is subsonic whilst the tighter left barrel is just supersonic.

A hotter loading uses Vit. N110 with the 110 grain jacketed bullet for the .30 US M1 carbine. 11.0 grains gave 1773 fps but was too hot for my old rifle, but should be great in a Marlin.

Black powder is also fun: 16.0 grains of Swiss No. 2 is a nice crisp supersonic load with the lead bullet.

Historic Bore

I have the same rifle you do and really enjoy it. My loads are all with US powders so they would not help you. However, the Speer and Hornady manuals do have some loads with Vihtavuori powders that might be available in Germany. The loads from both manuals were developed in a Marlin 1894CL.

Speer loads

Standard pressure - a 98 gr. cast bullet, starting load 3.8 gr. of 3N37 (1058 fps) with a max. of 4.3 gr. (1156 fps). They used Starline brass and CCI-400 primers.

Higher pressure - the Speer 100 gr. JHP (.312" dia.) with Winchester brass and CCI-400 primers. Starting load of 8.5 gr. of Vihtavouri N110 (1483 fps) to a max. of 10.5 gr. (1667 fps). As a comparison, Winchester 296 and Hodgdon H110 (296 and H110 are really the same powder) show a max of 13.0 gr., so N110 appears to be significantly faster than H110 so the data are not interchangeable for H110 and N110. Speer also list a load for their 100 gr. JHP with a starting load of 11.0 gr. of Vihtavouri N120 (1420 fps) and max. of 13.0 gr. (1583 fps).

Hornady load

This load is for the 85 gr. HP-XTP .312" bullet, with Remington brass and Federal 200 primers. They list a starting load of 9.4 gr. of Vihtavuori N110 (1700 fps) to a max. of 13.8 gr. (2200 fps). They list the maximum for Hodgdon H110 at 14.2 gr., again indicating the Vihtavuori N100 is a little faster burning than H110.

I don't know what uses you have planned for your rifle, but if you do not need the velocity, cutting the higher pressure loads will put less stress on the brass. Remington and Winchester brass are both quite thin and don't last long with higher pressure loads. Starline brass appears to last longer.

Hope this helps.

I agree with Dale. I should have said that I also use Starline brass, and it is excellent.

In my Marlin .357 I have three different loadings that I use for indoors (subsonic) and then for 100 and 200 yards. They all have the same sight settings, which makes life easy

No, only the mod. 92 not 94s were produced in 38-40..Early on the win. 73 also..

I have no. 178 mod. 92 rifle in 38-40, belong to my grandfather when he was a Texas Ranger in the late 1800s to early 1900s...bore is ugly, but it still shoots 2 inches at 100 yards with about any load..The 38-40 is a mislerable deer killer, don't know how he got by with it, guess he picked his shots carefully..head and neck shots probably. I had some long hard tracking jobs but fortunately we had a Yaqui that cowboyed on our Texas border ranch on the Rio grande and he could track anything. It killed fairly well at 25 yards with behind the shoulder shots, but I soon found out it best to take head shots..I also have his mod. 94 SRC trapper in 30 WCF serial no. 24XX first year of production.

Thanks to all for help.
It‘s a cool rifle. Shoot some competitions with it. 25m offhand. Today 280/300 points.
These Marlin and my Win/Miroku 1892 are now my favourite levers...

And thanks to Dale and HB from England for special help with reloading datas.

I have one I purchased new at a nearby Gander Mountain 10-12 years ago. It was on an open rack as was the case with all their long guns then, so when I put my hands on it I did not let go until we were ringing up the sale. Found a nice S&W Hand Ejector to go with it last spring.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
No, only the mod. 92 not 94s were produced in 38-40..Early on the win. 73 also..

I have no. 178 mod. 92 rifle in 38-40, belong to my grandfather when he was a Texas Ranger in the late 1800s to early 1900s...bore is ugly, but it still shoots 2 inches at 100 yards with about any load..The 38-40 is a mislerable deer killer, don't know how he got by with it, guess he picked his shots carefully..head and neck shots probably. I had some long hard tracking jobs but fortunately we had a Yaqui that cowboyed on our Texas border ranch on the Rio grande and he could track anything. It killed fairly well at 25 yards with behind the shoulder shots, but I soon found out it best to take head shots..I also have his mod. 94 SRC trapper in 30 WCF serial no. 24XX first year of production.

True, if you are referring to Winchesters, not Marlins. Remember Marlin has an 1894 too.

They have a 1895 as well but like you said,it's a Marlin ,not a Winchester. I have a 92 Win. in 25-20;sweet little rifle.I hope you enjoy your new purchase as best you can in your very restrictive country.I could elaborate but that is not necessary.

quote:

Originally posted by jkingrph:
I have one I purchased new at a nearby Gander Mountain 10-12 years ago. It was on an open rack as was the case with all their long guns then, so when I put my hands on it I did not let go until we were ringing up the sale. Found a nice S&W Hand Ejector to go with it last spring.

Good for you, sir!

I've got my Grandfather's S&W Hand Ejector; I wish I had the rifle to go with it!