The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

The picture below is actually a 5 shot group shot at 25m with a Remlin 1894C chambered in .357 Mag shot rested with open sights on Friday as part of my load development plan. I have been shooting with TrailBoss and this particular load is with CCI small pistol primers, 4.5 grains of TB behind 158 grain RNFP's and an OAL of 1.590 inches
The Viking and I had been working through load development for this late Remington build Marlin (Hence it is known to us as the Remlin) plus a ‘proper’ Marlin 1894 with the goal being to find a load that was accurate and she was happy with and this particular load shot at the end of the day was producing some impressive groups in the Marlin which I had fitted with a telescopic sight for the load development so I shot a few strings with the Remlin this being the last. I had said to the Viking I was shooting a final group and not to call the fall of shot so she kept quiet, I shot and walked to the target and was surprised to see such a group. That is about 2 MOA horizontal which given that I was using a horizontal line below the target with no vertical indication was OK, vertical dispersion is closer to around 3/4 MOA or better which is OK as far as I am concerned however I have no real idea of just how well these things should shoot.

What I will say is the ‘Remlin’ has a less than ideal reputation in some circles yet it performs flawlessness for us every single time it is taken to the range. The Viking and I have spent a fair amount of time with the internals laid out on the bench and a selection of needle files and slips being used to carefully smooth and polish the internals, it has a one piece firing pin, has been re-sprung and the trigger is a crisp 3.5lbs and no longer flops around. Regardless of these tweaks it has always shot and fed well and I think this group is a positive result in preparation for Sundays steel plate competition.

Actually it is not quite as good as it would first appear, in fact it has one huge problem for me. I cannot drop the rear sight low enough. I have been struggling with the standard Marlin sights so I fitted a ghost sight on the back, all well and good however at about 16:00 Friday I realised that no matter how low I dropped the rear sight it was still shooting a good 8 inches high at 25 metres and I had not taken the original sights with me. Now in an ideal world I would have swapped the sights back Saturday morning and nipped over to the range to confirm zero and all would have been good however we have had a solid day in the workshop today (Saturday) so no chance to work on the Remlin so I am left with two choices, either fit the original sights in a few minutes and try and bore sight them hoping for a a sneaky sighter or two in the morning or shoot knowing I am 8 inches above point of aim.

What fun….

Can I ask how you removed the trigger flop.

I don't have any experience with Marlins but I do own a Winchester under lever in 357 that will shoot the middle out of the target rested at 25 yards using 6 o clock hold. It's fitted with a williams adjustable aperture rear sight the front sight is the original.

mr smith wrote:Can I ask how you removed the trigger flop.

I will see if I can post a picture when I get back

Wow, nice grouping! Good to hear that your Remlin is a good 'un. I believe mine is an actual Marlin pre-Cerberus takeover. The accuracy of these rifle's are overlooked, I had not too dissimilar accuracy at 25m scoped & benched during my load development. I used truncated cone 158gr bullets with CCI primers with an OAL of 1.590" and shoots well with 5.6gr of Ramshot True Blue.

What type of powder is Trail Boss? Is it a flake/disc or ball powder? I find Ramshot great as they're fine ball powder and meter very nicely in my RCBS uniflow which Bullseye and Red Dot do not.

Trailboss is best described as little Cheerios, like small flat disks with holes in the middle. I have no idea how it throws as I have a very understanding wife who deals with that sort of thing with her Chargemaster.

It was a small turnout today however I managed third despite hitting a hostage plate so losing 10 seconds. I think there is still room for improvement once the sights are sorted out. Now all I need to learn is how to load the thing a bit quicker...

EDIT - For me this particular Remlin is a superb shooter and has displayed no issues, I do still have a couple of ideas for improving it further however so far I have been absolutely delighted with its reliability and now its accuracy.

Sounds like a good day out. Its a good feeling when it all comes together.

The loading gate is a bit stuff on my rifle, I find it quicker to load a round in but not fully, so that the leading gate remains open. Give it a go, see how it feels.

Frankly the "Remlin is inferior" line of thought is complete pony. Done a lovely job of pushing up the price on older rifles. The gun I bought second hand for £350 is worth nearly a grand today because of it.

I also own one of the early "post move" rifles. I had a problem with a spit butt, rapidly replaced under warranty. I suspect anyone who owned a recent Marlin would have done the same by now with any issue they found.

Since the early days, post move, Remington have sorted out the QC and the later guns are great.

The older 1894c is no better or worse, both are just excellent.

You can get the kind of result shown here with either gun on any day of the week. (No disrespect)

I use GM3 in the .38 and Titegroup in the .44

WelshShooter wrote:The loading gate is a bit stuff on my rifle, I find it quicker to load a round in but not fully, so that the leading gate remains open. Give it a go, see how it feels.

You need to break in the spring. Get a pencil and push it in well beyond the point a cartridge would. It will ease up.