Winchester 94 and Marlin 336...some questions.

[B. Miville]

Hey folks,

Ok, so some of you may remember seing me post here I have a Winchester 94 in .45 Colt.  Last night I bought a Marlin 336 off of my Cousin's husband.  It used to be his fathers, but he does not hunt and wanted to use the money to fund another gun purchase and felt better selling me the Marlin knowing I would use it deer hunting....which I indeed plan to!  But now that I have both side by side to make comparisons I have a question about the Winchester, and also a one about the Marlin.  Ok, off we go....

Ok, one thing I always liked about the Marlin's (besides the pistol grip....the Winchester's straight lever has always been a tad akward in my hands, but nothing can be done about that) is the rock solid lever.  My Winchester, since the day I bought it in like new condition from a guy at work, has had a rattle to it.  Now I have the Marlin I almost long for that kind of "anti rattle" in the Winchester.  I never paid much mind to it until now.  But here I am wondering if I can eliminate that "rattle" somehow.  I am guessing with a shim of some sort, but do any Winchester owners ever fix this problem, and if so what thickness washer would I use?

Ok, now on to the Marlin question.  It has no swivel studs on it.  So I will be getting the simple replacement mid band with the stud already on it.  But the question is about the rear stud.  The buttstock has this inlaind white circle/spacer with black dot in the center.  Is this supposed to be where the stud goes?  Normally I have seen (and once installed a rear stud on a Remington 870 wood stock) closer to the buttplate, about a couple inches away.  This inlaid circle/spacer is a good 4 inches up from the buttplate.  So can anyone clarify what if this is indeed where it is meant to go?

Thanks,
Brian

[Slufoot]

Hey Brian, Merry Christmas!
PLEASE do not install the rear stud in the Marlin Bullseye!
 Quote "The buttstock has this inlaind white circle/spacer with black dot in the center." End Quote
This is what's known as the Marlin Bullseye and when you see it you know it is a Walnut stock. Marlin put these in all there walnut stocked rifles for several years but I have heard that they have recently discontinued them.
You are correct in that the rear stud should be about 2" from the butt plate.

GOOD SHOOTING!
Slufoot

[B. Miville]

Merry Christmas to you too Slufoot!

Thanks for the info.  I knew something was not right with the placement.  Good to know about the Walnut....even though it is used the woods is great shape.  Only the grip cap is banged up and I am thinking of just replacing it.  e-gun parts has them for about $8.  Sounds fair to me.    I only wish the stocks were checkered, but the wood is too nice for me to want to replace them over this minor quibble.

Brian

[Rangr44]

Brian - FWIW, I've converted straight-grip Winchester 94's to pistol grip style.

It's not difficult, but there a quick/easy way, and another that involves a tad more work & $$$.

The E-Z  way would be to buy a curved lever and a PG buttstock, and just swap them with your straight-grip parts.
The only caveat with this method is that a small valley will be left under the closed lever's loop, where it now curves away from the straight lower tang - BUT it's mostly hidden by the wooden sides of the PG.

The slightly more expensive & harder conversion would be to also but/install a curved lower tang (Legacy Model, Model 94, whatever) - which would "disappear" the valley.

I got my PG stocks as NOS at a gunshow's stock dealer, but they're available online also - I decided on a stock off a commemorative, since it was semi-fancy wood.

.

[B. Miville]

Hey Rangr44, thanks for the tip.  It is something to seriously consider.  For me, with the straight grip, the way I hold the gun my fingers bunch up tight in the back of the lever.  Since the 94 needs the lever squeezed pretty good to fire it can be uncomfortable.  The curved grips seem to help alleviate this problem a good deal.

Also ran into a problem with the Marlin today.  I pulled the three rear most filler screws on the top of the receiver, but ran into huge problems with the front one.  It is stuck solid even after soaking with penetrating oil overnight, adding a little bit of heat, tapping lightly, trying the "screw it in a bit then try and screw it out" method...nothing. I managed to break two of my good hollow ground bits trying to screw it out, the slot in the screw is now all buggered, but thankfully since I was using the proper screw driver bits I can see the threads on either side of the enlarged slot are still intact.  Thus I am going to have to visit the smithy and have them do it. I was wise enough to at least stop before doing any kind of really irreparable damage.  So hopefully the absolute worse all they have to do is chuck it in a drill press, drill out the screw and chase the threads with the proper tap.  I was tempted to buy an E-Z out and try that before resorting to a smithy, but then I realized it was probably going to be cheaper....and in the end more safe....to have the pro's with the proper tools to do it.

Brian

[WyrTwister]

Hey folks,

Ok, so some of you may remember seing me post here I have a Winchester 94 in .45 Colt.  Last night I bought a Marlin 336 off of my Cousin's husband.  It used to be his fathers, but he does not hunt and wanted to use the money to fund another gun purchase and felt better selling me the Marlin knowing I would use it deer hunting....which I indeed plan to!  But now that I have both side by side to make comparisons I have a question about the Winchester, and also a one about the Marlin.  Ok, off we go....

Ok, one thing I always liked about the Marlin's (besides the pistol grip....the Winchester's straight lever has always been a tad akward in my hands, but nothing can be done about that) is the rock solid lever.  My Winchester, since the day I bought it in like new condition from a guy at work, has had a rattle to it.  Now I have the Marlin I almost long for that kind of "anti rattle" in the Winchester.  I never paid much mind to it until now.  But here I am wondering if I can eliminate that "rattle" somehow.  I am guessing with a shim of some sort, but do any Winchester owners ever fix this problem, and if so what thickness washer would I use?

Ok, now on to the Marlin question.  It has no swivel studs on it.  So I will be getting the simple replacement mid band with the stud already on it.  But the question is about the rear stud.  The buttstock has this inlaind white circle/spacer with black dot in the center.  Is this supposed to be where the stud goes?  Normally I have seen (and once installed a rear stud on a Remington 870 wood stock) closer to the buttplate, about a couple inches away.  This inlaid circle/spacer is a good 4 inches up from the buttplate.  So can anyone clarify what if this is indeed where it is meant to go?

Thanks,
Brian

     The bottom / lever of a Winny M94 is loose .  That is just the way it is .

God bless
Wyr
Happy New Year