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Posted: 8/5/2026 7:16:59 PM EDT
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I was noticing a frustrating thing while out shooting some rounds recently that got me to compare my older pre safety 1894 in the same caliber. I always check the chamber for a live round out of habit. On the older 1894 You can almost open the bolt all the way to check if a round is chambered and close the bolt without the next round from the tube trying to feed. on the Ruger made marlin, you open the bolt about 1/4-3/8 from closed and the next round is on the carrier wanting to be brought up and you have to completely cycle the action thus ejecting a live cartridge. Does anyone else have this issue? is it an issue or just an annoying quirk only caused by my habit? Could this be a precursor to an issue in the future? Thank you for any responses provided. |
| Mine is one of the last real JS models but it does have the button safety. I don't do what you are to check for an empty chamber, but I will pull it out this morning and let you know if it operates the way you describe or not. |
It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.
| I have been pondering this problem since it was first posted and believe the rifle in question is malfunctioning due to miss timing of the cartridge lifter. The lever is acting upon the lifter too soon and causing the early release of a cartridge from the magazine. Ask over on the Marlin forum and/or on one of the Cowboy Action Shooting forums as I have seen tutorials on how to time the lifter but am not competent to tell you myself. |
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Sorry for the delay. I checked mine this morning. To recap my 1894 is was from the last year or so of JM stamped Marlin production and Marlin factory assembly but it does have the button safety. The round in the tube starts to slide back immediately when I start to cycle the action, but I can open the chamber at least 75% of the way before the round in the tube gets to the point I can't close it again and have to follow through with chambering a new round. This is with .357 ammo, I didn't try it with shorter .38 so it could be different. So, unless they have changed something in specifications of the action when Ruger started production, yours shouldn't do what you describe. |
It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.
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