Oops, bought another one.

[L Ross]

Yeah, I thought I was selling not buying, but I made the mistake of saying I would buy a Model 14 Remngton in .38 w.c.f. if one showed up knowing I was most likely safe from having to put up or shut up. One of the shooters from our Match this past extended weekend says, mildly, almost hesitantly, "Well I did bring a .38-40 and I was thinking of selling it."

Out of the truck came a splendid example of a Marlin 1894 rifle in .38-40 in awesome condition. Still a lot of case color showing. Perfect bore, tight, and my friend says it is a great shooter. Since he is more that an accomplished rifleman I take him at his word.

I fell like the gun buying person of compromised morals that I am.

A complete disassembly later in the day with dental picks, acetone, and oil revealed the wonderful workmanship of a 1913 vintage rifle can display and enough gunk and crud to cover a paper towel. First internal cleaning since 1913 no doubt. Not a speck of rust anywhere. Out to the range where it made short work of six silhouette chickens at 80 yards. followed by a little experimentation with the elevator to learn that there is more than enough adjustment to hit a 200 reduced buffalo. I am just pleased as punch.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I had one JUST LIKE IT! Only the butt was cracked and split. Took me a lil time to find an appropriate replacement. (Close to matching.)

Original 10mm!

CW

 

[Ben]

A very beautiful rifle ! !

 

[Ben]

Here is a dandy mould for the 38/40.

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

Beautiful rifle!

 

[L Ross]

Here is a dandy mould for the 38/40.

Oooooh, I like that!

 

[fiver]

i have a soft spot for the 38-40.
got no use for one, but [shrug] that wouldn't stop me from having another either...

Magma makes a very good RNFP mold for the 38-40, crimp groove is in the right place and it makes 402 easy enough with WW alloy.
it also makes a good 40 smiff bullet.
think of a single lube groove version of the one Ben shows, with a heavier base band and slightly shorter nose.

 

[Spindrift]

Congratulations, nice catch!

 

[Bret4207]

Good for you! I love the Marlin 94's. I have a pretty rough 32-20. I'd love to send it and the 1897 22LR I got at the same time off to Turnbull, but I don't have and extra $5K laying around. The 94 has a fair barrel, I think it's a shooter but haven't done enough with it to really say. To find one as nice as yours is a real treat! Again, good on you!

 

[L Ross]

i have a soft spot for the 38-40.
got no use for one, but [shrug] that wouldn't stop me from having another either...

Magma makes a very good RNFP mold for the 38-40, crimp groove is in the right place and it makes 402 easy enough with WW alloy.
it also makes a good 40 smiff bullet.
think of a single lube groove version of the one Ben shows, with a heavier base band and slightly shorter nose.

Yeah I have that one and I have my ammo is loaded with it. There's the only fly in the ointment. I mentioned pulling the rifle down completely for a deep cleaning. Well that's because after the .22 shoot my great and talented gunsmith friend was still here mentoring a young shooter. They had some issues with called and spotted shots not corresponding at 200 yards. So we took the Malcolm Leatherwood off the Uberti Low-Wall scheutzen .22 and put a 20X Lyman Super Target Spot on it. We shot some Wolf and some Eley but the wind had gotten bad.

I wandered up to the house and stripped a handful of .38-40 rounds out of the cartridge loops from the New Service belt and shoved 6 of them into the tube planning on shooting two, having Charlie shoot two, and Jordan shoot two. I pulled the lever and locked up the Marlin tighter than a drum. These rounds go through my Winchester 92 like used goose food.

I was fortunate Charlie was there and we started tearing the Marlin down. We got the ammo out and we both agreed it must be a smidgelet too long although crimped in the Magma's crimping groove. Since it was cool outside and the wind was really blowing like stink, we adjourned inside and the Marlin got stripped completely. The Opti-Visors got deployed with the dental picks, tooth brushes, acetone, Ed's Red, and eventually light oil. When we reassembled the rifle a couple of hours later we shot it as a single shot and got the good results.

I know there is an old Lyman mould sans crimping groove design from the old black powder supports the bullet days around here somewhere. I may cast a few up and support them with 4198 or RX-7 instead of black.

Oh you history buffs will like this. Inside the action were a lot of dough nuts of oil soaked powder that resembled small dark Trail Boss. Sharp Shooter perhaps?

 

[Jeff H]

i have a soft spot for the 38-40.
got no use for one, but [shrug] that wouldn't stop me from having another either...

Magma makes a very good RNFP mold for the 38-40, crimp groove is in the right place and it makes 402 easy enough with WW alloy.
it also makes a good 40 smiff bullet.
think of a single lube groove version of the one Ben shows, with a heavier base band and slightly shorter nose.

Same situation here - cool cartridge, but don't need one....

HOWEVER, IF I were to find myself in a remote cabin, far, far away from anything not wild, and that Marlin was hanging over the mantle and there were cases, powder, lead and tools with which to feed it, I could be very happy with that arrangement.

There's a lot a fella could accomplish with one of those in the way of feeding and defending himself, not to mention entertaining himself.

EDIT: OK, I just gotta say this; speaking of "entertaining oneself," that gun is so nice that I could sit in a chair and look at it hanging on the wall and elicit a significant amount of satisfaction. If no one were around to make fun of me, I'd probably just sit there with it across my lap and doze by the fire for fun too.

 

[popper]

Picked up the Long Ranger yesterday and added a strike eagle 5-24 54mm vortex scope to the bill. Clear glass and really good price. Uses 34mm rings so got to find some steel ones. Fit/finish is good but got to figure out the hammer/trigger deal as no half cock or safety. Got a bunch of Amax's loaded I'll break it in with. Got to wash out the old bore snake as removing the bolt isn't practical and trying to hook a patch in the cleaning loop is not fun. Need to find the Barretta 12ga box to take the the SIL this week, just too heavy for me anymore. same with the ar10.

 

[smokeywolf]

A really beautiful rifle.

 

[L Ross]

i have a soft spot for the 38-40.
got no use for one, but [shrug] that wouldn't stop me from having another either...

Magma makes a very good RNFP mold for the 38-40, crimp groove is in the right place and it makes 402 easy enough with WW alloy.
it also makes a good 40 smiff bullet.
think of a single lube groove version of the one Ben shows, with a heavier base band and slightly shorter nose.

fiver, Well shoot, (pun intended), there had to be a reason that ammo was too long, had to be. Off to Lyman 46 and they say the C.O.L. should be like 1.592" MAX. Mine are 1.634". There's a discrepancy there. Pulled out the Magma mould, pulled out the Lyman 40143, huh, shoot fire, ('nother pun), those aint the Magma bullets in the offending ammo, they's 40143's. Why are they too long you may ask. Well the half wit that loaded them without wearing his cheaters crimped them in the top lube groove thinkin' they were Magmas and that was a crimp groove.

Found a few of the loaded .38-40's that ran through the Model 92 and pulled down a round. Sure as shootin', (pun #3), they are Magmas and measure 1.592" C.O.L. The Magma's have a bevel base and the Lyman's are a flat base. Easy to I.D. if you are wearing your cheaters. Poop.

 

[fiver]

it's a lot easier to read the directions on the back of a kids toy with them too.
i found that out today... none of the 10 lines were making sense,,, 9 of them weren't in English making it even harder.

i think a lot of my fondness for single lube groove, thick base band, RNFP bullets comes from their really hard to screw things up in a semi dark room when loading them, they also just work for other stuff too.
i like simple, even if it takes a lot of work to get there initially.

 

[oscarflytyer]

VERY Jealous!

 

[Missionary]

When a once in a lifetime opportunity pops up it is time to jump.