Which Cowboy action rifle?

[Tony-c]

cough Marlin cough

:)

certainly from my experience its the only full bore lever gun I would want to use for competitions etc.

[ovenpaa]

Tony-c would you say that about a new Marlin rifle?

[mag41uk]

I think it depends on what you want to do with it.
For competition a Marlin or Winchester, but as said above only get a Winchester in 44.
The parts for 357 Winchesters are impossible to get and one club member has had his deactivated!
I had a Trails end in 44 and its was a nice gun. Sold it and bought a 44 Marlin that I put around 50k thru it.
Sold that and bought a little used stainless 44 Marlin old model. I also have a 41 mag Marlin.
If you want to scope a lever action a Marlin or Winchester is the way to go.
I also had a Uberti 1866 Yellowboy carbine in 45colt, to match the Ruger Vaquero that I also had for cowboy action shooting.
They were both lovely guns.
An underlever that I would like to see is a Browning made 1892.

[CDM5]

New Marlins are hit & miss. Mine is 2012/13 made and is great, just look it over carefully.

[greenshoots]

i have a marlin 444 and a 1876 45/75 by chapparal fit and finish has to be marlin

greenshoots

[ovenpaa]

Well I am now the proud owner of a .357 Mag Marlin 1894C which has been slicked, the previous owner purchased it new from Roger a couple of years ago and he has never actually shot it. The operation is very nice and it is well finished without any glaring gaps or sharp edges so all in all I am pleased.

Does anyone know a reference source for Marlins serials, it would be interesting to see when and where it was built.

[Tony-c]

how does the serial start, they used letters on real old ones, then the start of the number related to year, you took the numbers away from 2000, so one that starts 14 was 1986

will look in my book with regards to new ones

[ovenpaa]

MR561**B

[mag41uk]

Good choice David!
In some respects the 357 is better for proper long range shooting.
The 100/200/300 yard gallery rifle event has people using 358 pointy rifle bullets.
No pointy bullets around for the 44 but I have used silhouette bullets.

[Dougan]

Well I am now the proud owner of a .357 Mag Marlin 1894C which has been slicked

Nice one

That was quick work from the OP...As I was reading through, I was going to recommend a Marlin - It sounds as if you got one from before the problems with build quality started, which is ideal (and hard to find) - though I do know that you can still get good new ones from companies like South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies, who rather than sell them 'out of the box', do what they consider essential tuning before sale...I think there's a waiting list for these at the moment.

Welcome to lever action shooting - I look forward to any improvement projects it may inspire...there's a definite market out there for fitted adjustable cheek pieces...