Our family does a lot of camping and hiking, and while 4-legged predators are not prolific where we live, we try to get out west at least once a year. We practice careful food storage and have never had a problem with bears or other critters, but I also never want to be in the position that something is chewing on me and I’m wishing I had a gun. I’ve always believed that a carry gun should be handy and compact…small enough to not interfere with what you’re doing so that you’re not inclined to take it off or leave it behind. When I was picking a backpacking gun, I applied this concept to my selection and ended up with the 2 ¾” Model 69. That gun got me back into .44 Magnum after a 10+ year hiatus, and of course the natural progression of things led to me wanting a camp rifle in the same caliber to go with it.

I have a good friend and shooting mentor who is getting older and has started thinning his collection. He knows I’m a sucker for Marlin lever actions, and he had this 16” 1894P that had been doing duty as one of his home defense guns, and he brought it out for me to shoot one time when I was over at his place for something else. I told him on the spot that if he ever wanted to sell it, he had a buyer. He called me up earlier this summer and asked if I still wanted that gun. Of course I said yes, so we made a deal and it came home with me. I’ve tweaked a few things to make it my own:



It’s a JM gun, but did come from the factory with a safety, which he had removed years earlier and the parts were long gone, so there was a gaping hole in the side of the receiver. I patched this up with a safety delete kit from Beartooth Mercantile. The end result looks factory and if I hadn’t installed it myself I’d never notice it.

He had modified the buckhorn sights to work with his favorite load, which apparently was quite a bit different from mine. I wasn’t able to get enough elevation to zero it at 50 yards, and I like aperture sights, so I ordered a skinner peep. Along with a properly fitted front post it allowed me to get my zero set, and also provides faster target acquisition and more sight radius which is welcome with the short barrel.



The gun was experiencing some intermittent double-feed “Marlin Jams”. I fixed that problem on my .357 by replacing the lifter, but that was back when you could buy parts. That’s no longer the case. I put the lifter in a vice and very gingerly bent it a few degrees. Thankfully I managed not to break it and it resolved the jamming issue. I also radiused the edge of the cam on the lever a bit to hopefully prevent it from recurring.

The leather wrap on the lever was my buddy’s touch, as was the Enfield sling, and both of those are staying. I love the Enfield sling…it’s lightweight, simple, easy to adjust, and robust. I like it so much in fact that I bought a bunch more for most of my other leverguns and bolt-action .22s. Sarco sells a nice quality reproduction for $7, which is perfect for my purposes.

My son and I have shot it quite a bit trying to find a load that it likes. There’s a pretty drastic difference in point of impact and group size between different bullet weight and materials. We finally settled on a good plinking load that the Model 69 also likes, and while it’s no target rifle, I can consistently hit the 8” plate at 100 yards with it standing unsupported.

The value of these things keeps going up…it’s to the point that you almost feel bad taking it out of the house. That’s not going to be the case with this one. My buddy bought it to use and shoot, and I’m going to do the same. On our next trip to the mountains it’ll be coming along to do duty by the campfire.

Anybody else have a “working” levergun? I’d love to see some pics and read some stories!

I really like that short barrel. What’s the tube capacity? I have a couple of standard marlin44s and a couple of browning 92s. I need to make some changes to the sights and sling similar to yours.

The 1894P's were great...except for the P.

Could/should have sold tons of them without and would have taken less work.

Yeah, I like the barrel length too. This is my first 16" Marlin. The others are all 18" or 20". It is a nicely balanced and handy little guy, and the tube holds 8. Recoil is noticeably stouter than my other 1894s, but still quite a bit less than my .30-30 or 45-70, which is no surprise.


It is more ammo sensitive than my .357 and my .45 Colt...I'm not sure if that has more to do with the wider range of loads in the .44, or possibly the way the mag tube is dovetailed to the barrel rather than banded like my other two 1894s. I'm inclined to think it's more the latter, as I experienced some windage drift in the groups as well as group size deviation, which makes me suspect barrel harmonics. It shoots my 210gr powdercoated cast handloads to point of aim, though, and groups about 2" at 50 yards, which I'm happy with for what it is. In contrast, though, my 18" .45 Colt can hold under an inch at the same distance.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
The 1894P's where great...except for the P.

Could/should have sold tons of them without and would have taken less work.

Agreed...I'd prefer not to have the porting, but it isn't a deal breaker. I'm not sure why they felt the need to do that.

I bought a Guide Gun back then and immediately sent it be chopped short to lose the porting. I think they learned their lesson and started making them that way.

I always kept an eye out for an 1894P but wasn't willing the pay the added premium everyone wanted. (of course that was probably 50-60% of what they're bringing now lol)

Thankfully my guide gun was made after they stopped porting them. It's a Remlin but it's given me no reason to complain.

Very nice!

I recently got a 16.5” Henry and love the barrel length. I have a 20” Marlin that I like a lot too, but the 16.5” barrel is sweet. I like the sight you have on yours. I’ve been looking to replace the buckhorn sight on the Henry and might go that route.

The buckhorns are quick and give you that classic look. I find the skinners to be easier to get precise hits with on paper...but I've always preferred aperture sights. I've used the Williams WGRS sight in the past as well. The Williams offers more adjustability, but the Skinners are much better made and the set screws seem very solid. I've had the Williams sights get bumped and knocked loose before, which ruined my zero, and that was just going from my safe to the range.

The one issue I've had with the Skinners is that the aperture likes to unscrew itself under recoil. I noticed in my pic above that it's starting to do it again. I need to break out the loctite. Even if it were to fall out, though, the sight is still usable...it's just a larger peep.

Got a 20” Rossi R92 squirreled away in the camper. It’s one of the newer models that were marketed as walnut stocked and deep blued (or something like that).
It’s a 44 mag and feeds 240 JSPs like nobody’s business. The tube holds 9 or 10, and my wife likes it, so good to go for the camping gun. I have an 870 in there also but it’s too much for her.
My brother and I split the camper between our two families, and it seems like either a pump or lever action is fairly easy for everybody to handle.

I had all but decided to go with a Rossi when the Marlin came along. I've always been a Marlin guy, but that 92 action is slick!