So I sold my Marlin 375 and bought a brand spankin' new Marlin 1895G in 45-70. Arrived with a non-folding, folding rear sight and a plug screw that was horribly cross threaded. Marlin sent me a new rear sight, so that fixed that, it folds out of the way now. I drilled and re-tapped the plug screw (8-40, if anyone needs to know) and THAT turned out perfectly, although I don't know why E-Z-Outs have the name that they do, they should be called; "Screw You, I'ma 'bout to break" outs, but that's another story.

So I finally get her to the range and the trigger that I sorta thought felt rough, really felt bad while trying to sight her in. Trigger Happy trigger set on the way from Brownells. Okay, I understand that Remlin can't be bothered with fitting or QA or non-value-added tripe such as any of that, but...

Now to my latest problem: With Winchester 325 Gr Ballistic Silvertips, or Privi-Partisan 405's, I can't seem to get a smooth cycle on this thing, the round starts into the chamber mouth and the rear starts up against the bolt face, and then everything just kind of grinds to an abrupt halt. If I cycle it what I think of as "hard and fast", either round will go most times.

It puts a sharp cut line in the brass just below the crimp, about a quarter to 3/8" down, about 3/8" wide. Man... this gun's been a challenge!

Okay, so I guess I'll consider this a project gun, can anyone suggest what might be going on with the feed cycle and tell me if it's something I can tweak on? A reference, You Tube, anything? In spite of all, more than anything, I'd like to get her running right and shoot her, she's accurate enough to like.

I bought an AIG dvd that explains alot about how the whole mechanism of parts affect one another. Its a dis-assembly dvd but as he takes it apart and back together explains the function of each part.

It sounds like Remington still hasn't gotten their shit together on the Marlin lever guns.

My 1895 GBL has worked pretty well.  It was a bit rough at first but cycled her several hundred times and oiled her up.  Seems to have helped.

I've heard several 'smiths say that it takes them five times as long to bring a new Remlin into line as it used to take them to slick-up a J.M.

I just picked a new one from buds on friday, it seems rough but I've cycled it about 100 times so far and it's smoothing out ltitle by little and yes the trigger is horrible. As far as feeding goes I've only tried the Hornady 325 grain so far and it's been good, but the ejector spring is a little weak. Looks like a wild west trigger and ejector will be ordered shortly.

 

I know, and it shot nice (and worked in every other aspect) but I didn't want to handload for it and you just can't find ammo NOT at collector prices. That is until right after I sold it, of friggin' course!

And I'm not sending it back to the clowns that couldn't build it right in the first place! I did learn of a Marlin Owners forum that has some viable solutions to the feeding problem. That is my last hurdle. They are claiming (and I suspected) that the extractor is too tight, not allowing the rim to slide up the breech face.

I had similar issues with the action on my 1894 in 44 Mag.  My wife picked it up for my back in August.  It went back to Marlin after its first range outing.  

Even before taking it to the range, the action would bind and not fully close (without any ammo being cycled through the action).  The lever had to be worked just right before the bolt would fully lock up and the lever would fully seat/close.  At the range, the action would sometimes completely bind up while loading a fresh round.  Ejection wasn't that great either.  To Marlin's credit, they made returning the rifle very easy.  Paid for shipping both ways and had FEDEX pick it up/drop it off.  

The rifle now works much smoother but I have not placed my full trust in the rifle yet.  I bought the rifle as a handy camp/self defense rifle...plus I enjoy lever guns (grew up deer hunting w/ an old Marlin 30-30).  At this point, I'm tempted to sell my 1894 and invest the $ in good glass.  I've got a stamped Romanian AK that covers the camp/self defense duties....it cost much less and is dead reliable.  I should have left well enough alone I suppose.  Good luck.

Hmm, I'm not sure, I think the issues can appear similar, but have different root causes. I am thinking that the 45-70, being so much longer then your .44, I am almost guessing that you are more likely to have issues then I am, just based off of the geometry. I am going to lightly tweak the extractor spring, polish the bolt face and underside of the extractor claw tip,  break the sharp edge on the bottom 1/3rd of the chamber mouth and cycle this some more, see what happens. I bet I can whip this, it's a shame that I have to finish their work for them.

That's a damned shame.  I hate futzing with guns. I'm fortunate in that my JM 1895CB has been dead nutz reliable.

do a Google search for "Marlin Jam" and you will find how to tweak the extractor for smoother feeding.

My 2013 4570 had to have it done but a few minutes of working on the extractor and polishing the bolt face and it has been problem free since.

Co-worker also bought a 45-70 Marlin in 2014 and I had to do it to his also in order to feed well.

Sorry to hear about your selling the 375 and then getting a lemon 45-70.    In general, the rifle sized Marlins feed better than the 1894.    But, stuff happens.

I would take it apart and clean it up good. then check for rough edges inside.   That may cure the problem.  

The feed issue may be due to the timing of the action.   The carrier pushes the round up to line up with the chamber and if it is too "late" or "early"  it will jam.    Join up over at Marlin Owners for more info.

Any lever gun can be fussy about what it will feed.   You may end up using a certain bullet shape.

I would suggest getting into handloading.   You dont have to spend a fortune to get good ammo.

I had a stainless Guide Gun in .45-70.  Wouldn't reliably cycle factory Remington 405 gr. or Hornady 325 gr. loads.  I cycled the action hundreds of times, cleaned and lubed everything, even made dummy rounds and cycled those until the rims started to wear off the case heads.  Nothing helped.  Trigger was terrible.  At 100 yards with a Leopold IER 2.5X it was a 4 minute rifle. I did take a few deer with it, and found that it destroyed way too much meat.  I know this is a popular rifle on this site for some reason, but mine was a turd.  I was glad to get rid of it.  

I really liked the idea of the rifle/caliber/IER scope combo, too, it handled pretty well, but in reality, it just sucked.  

Really?  I found with mine shooting 405 flat nose it damaged WAY less than a comparable hit from my .270 or .223.

Did Marlin have their shit together making Marlins?

Folks always think the 45-70 will ruin a lot of meat, but like you said it's just the opposite. With a 45-70, you can "eat right up to the bullet hole".

I was working a gunshop not far from the old marlin plant at the time of he move and we had more than a few soon to be ex marlin employies drop in .

They were big time pissed !

Keep in mind that these were the same guys who were packing up the machines and tooling to send to Remington . I can't believe they were real careful .

You just know whatever beancounter MBA who thought they could just buy and move the Marlin operation gave himself a big fat bonus for being so smart

There's a rumor that Remington essentially had to re-learn how to make the Marlins, as prints and tooling were lost or destroyed.

I don't have the guide gun but did purchase an 1895 Marlin (22" barrel) in 45-70 back in early 1970's. Have shot and reloaded many times without any problems. I still use and have some Remington 300 JHP which is accurate for hunting out to 125 yards. Kicks like a mule but functions flawlessly.  Hogs and deer just drop flat. Shot a shoulder off once but other than that the meat is usually not ruined.  If loaded to 2,000+ fps, better brace yourself and hit your target on the first shot. A repeat shot takes mental toughness after that initial blow.