I just finished helping a friend sight in an 1894 Marlin in .44 mag. She had acquired this rifle as the result of a divorce and did not know exactly how to sight in a scope. As noted above the rifle was made in 1970 and showed the wear of its years. Other than the wear it was basically sound. Earlier in the year I bought a new 1894 also in .44 mag. It was interesting to note the cosmetic differences. Her rifle had no checkering and the forearm was attached in a different way. The forearm was a little loose and I guess the new attachment way was an attempt to avoid this. The sights on my 07 model were superior and had a hooded front sight as to the open one on the 70 model. Her rifle was some sort of commemorative model (had a medallion in stock) and had a scabbard ring. The main difference I quickly noted was that this rifle would group any load I put through it. I shot up several kinds of 'left over' loads that I had around just to get the gun 'on paper' and while each would group in a different place, they all grouped. It didn't take long before we had the gun shooting her hunt round right where she wanted it. My 07 rifle, on the other hand, while it will shoot accurately, is very picky about what it will group well with. While my gun will feed semi wadcutters well her gun made me feed them one at a time.
RJ
