Old Marlin Model 1894, need info

Murrdock · July 18, 2011, 07:52 PM

My girlfriend's mother inherited an old Marlin 94 from her father when he passed away this year. It's a .38-40 with a serial number of 622. It was refurbished by the Marlin company in the 1970's and they wanted to buy it back from him because it was one of the original model 1894's supposedly. I'm not sure exactly what year it was made because the serial numbers are a little screwy when I was trying to look it up. Supposedly they restarted the serial numbers in the 1920's or something?

Also, where would be the best place to find ammo for the .38-40's, because her mother loves shooting and will go through the 50 or so rounds that came with it fairly quickly. I've only ever seen a few ancient boxes at gunshops once in a while for outrageous prices.

Any helps apprieciated.

Hawg · July 18, 2011, 08:07 PM

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.as...58188&CAT=3823

adrians · July 18, 2011, 08:26 PM

rolling your own would be fun and very satisfying.
just a thought

Murrdock · July 20, 2011, 04:17 PM

I don't have the reloading equipment (yet) to do that or I would in a heartbeat. The other problem is there are only 50 shells that came with the gun and that's not alot of brass to work with.

Also, thanks for the link Hawg, but damn, $.75+ per round is scary, but I guess it's a caliber that is getting rarer and rarer...

James K · July 20, 2011, 09:47 PM

Thanks to the Cowboy Action Shooting folks, loading data and components are again available for those old time calibers.

The .38-40 is easy to load, with no surprises if you stick to the book loads. You can load black powder, which some would recommend, or light smokeless loads. Just remember that, in spite of the name, the bullets are actually .40 caliber.

I would avoid some of the "hot" loads some people seem to like to use, even in weak guns. The old guns just weren't made for them.

Jim

July 18, 2011, 08:07 PM	#2
Hawg Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2007 Location: Mississippi Posts: 16,188	http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.as...58188&CAT=3823

July 18, 2011, 08:26 PM	#3
adrians Senior Member Join Date: August 6, 2010 Location: mountain view ,ar. Posts: 184	rolling your own would be fun and very satisfying. just a thought

July 20, 2011, 09:47 PM	#5
James K Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 17, 1999 Posts: 24,383	Thanks to the Cowboy Action Shooting folks, loading data and components are again available for those old time calibers. The .38-40 is easy to load, with no surprises if you stick to the book loads. You can load black powder, which some would recommend, or light smokeless loads. Just remember that, in spite of the name, the bullets are actually .40 caliber. I would avoid some of the "hot" loads some people seem to like to use, even in weak guns. The old guns just weren't made for them. Jim