New to the old ones

[roger rabbit]

This might be a dumb question concerning a 1914 vintage Win. 1894 that I recently received.  Required complete disassembly for much cleaning of the action and barrel.  Got it all cleaned up, lubed & reassembled.  It was then that I first noted the considerable amount of free movement in the trigger (after installing the hammer).   Like a two-stage trigger without any spring tension in the "first stage."  Thought maybe there was something wrong at first but after checking others of similar age, they were just like mine.  Just curious as to the reason or purpose, if any, for this.  Anyone fill me in?

[marlinman93]

The reason for this slop in the trigger is the trigger does not engage the notch in the hammer directly. It engages the sear which in turn engages the hammer notch. The extra pieces to do one function require this rifle to have this trigger play.
 The old Marlin lever actions used the trigger directly against the hammer, and thus had no extra trigger play.
 Hope this helps.

[roger rabbit]

Thanks for explaining this.  I thought maybe there was some deliberate old reason for the play but apparently not.  Simply a result of the design.