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Practically Shooting

Marlin Suspends 1894 Production


BarryinIN

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Apparently I'm one of the last to learn this, but it seems Marlin stopped making all variations of the Model 1894 pistol caliber lever action back in August. Marlin's story is that it's only until the end of the year, and is being done to get caught up with production of other "more popular" models.

OK, big deal I thought. Gun companies make guns in cycles anyway- making one type for a few months, then another, then another, except for the big sellers that they keep cranking out.

But his came to my attention because the rumors are flying. After I saw this, I looked around a couple of forums and found people started out suspicious and are now starting to throw some serious rumors around. The initial suspicion back in August was that they were stopping to fix things because 1894 quality has taken a dive over the past couple of years. My newest 1894 is four years old so isn't that recent. It's isn't terrible, but it had a small problem or two so it is not the best example I've had of Marlin's quality either. I have no idea if mine was typical but I suppose that if it was and things have slid since, they might need to stop, get things straightened out, and start again.

Tonight I read that some people think the 1894s are gone for good! They are going nuts over not being able to find any new ones. It seems to me that the August announcement from Marlin explains that, but they think something is up even though they are aware of that announcment.

I have no idea.

But I thought I would pass it along, because if you have been offered a Marlin 1894 recently and were teetering back and forth but passed it up, you might want to know they aren't readily available right now and you may not get a better offer very soon.

And if you have one you are thinking of trading or selling, this might be a good time, since you might do a little better than you thought.

I could be very wrong, but I can't imagine them dropping this model. If I had to guess, I'd say it was Marlin's best seller- even better than their .22s. That is what makes me suspicious about the claim they stopped to make more popular models, because I doubt they have any more popular models. It seems like half the people I know own one, and it's been that way long before the cowboy shooting games took off. There were a lot of them around in the 70s, especially 1894C .357s. Even people who don't usually care for leverguns own 1894s. They were selling as well as ever here, but when Indiana allowed rifles for deer hunting a few years ago (for the first time since the 1920s) it was pistol caliber only and the hot two rifles were Ruger 77/44s and Marlin 1894s. I get a couple of offers for my .41 Mag 1894 each year at the range.

That's sort of a special situation, but I doubt they are much less in demand elsewhere.

No, I can't believe they would give up this cash cow.

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It always looked to me like the 1894 seems to sell no matter what is popular. Maybe it's a regional thing, but they have always been popular around here and I know of more people owning them than 336 .30-30s.

I can't explain the lack of .357 Rossis at all. They are getting my unexplainable temptation out (Ranch Hand) and I think I saw one in .357.

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I have a hard time taking pistol caliber carbines very serious, but want more of them anyway.

By not taking them serious, I don't mean that I don't think they can kill me dead. Its just that if I'm going to carry a rifle around it might as well shoot a rifle cartridge. My Marlin .41 Magnum is only a half pound lighter than two of my .308s. My Winchester 92 .357 is heavier than several of my rifles. The only reason to choose one is to go shoot just for fun. Which is the point. I see them as fun guns. And fun they are.

The Ruger 77/44 has made me re-think some of that. For starters, it is as handy as a 10-22 and weighs only 5.25 pounds. For comparison, the little bitty Browning .22 Auto takedown is 5.2 lbs. So the 77/44 is enough lighter than my "real caliber rifles" to make a difference.

Listen to Mister Practical here, who wants a Rossi Ranch Hand. That would give me the much desired 4-lb, 6-shot pistol as big as my S&W 76 SMG (36 rds), and won't do anything a Ruger Blackhawk or Super Blackhawk (2.5 to 3 lbs) won't do at least as well. It can go in the rack by my 15-lb .22 single shot.

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  • 4 months later...

I don't know when they started making them again, but there has been a new Marlin (Remlin) 1894 .44 Mag on the rack at the local shop for two weeks now.

I have not looked at it to see how the quality appears. At $599, I don't know that I will

That kinda took me back a bit. It's not the same, but it's not exactly apples and oranges either, and that's the fact a stainless Rossi .44 Mag was $440 in the same place. My heavy barreled, threaded muzzle, AccuTrigger Savage bolt action was only $30 more than the Marlin. A DPMS AR was less than $100 more.

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  • 2 years later...

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