I had Marlin 94 in 44 mag for few years but did not shoot it much because it jams on everything from factory to hand loads in 44 mag and special. Finally today I decided to do something about it after reading stuff on line at marauder.homestead.com.

I removed the lever and the lifter from the rifle and pinned it to the small box to see how this thing work. I noticed that the bottom of the lifter doesn't have the marks as described so I was playing with the engagement of those two parts to see what's happening.

I think that the theory of lifter dropping on the cam of the lever is bogus because the lifter drops on the back rounded side of the cam and not on the sharp front edge. This cam only works in the moment when lever is being opened and the second cartridge is being blocked by the lifter front. After that the lifter is pushed upwards by the spring loaded pin in the lifter riding on the edge of the lever extension and when the cartridge is lifted to the chamber's level the pin slips off the lever extension allowing the lifter to drop fully to the bottom of the receiver. This happens when the cam of the lever hits the bottom of the slopped part of the lifter and the rounded side of the cam is the point of the contact.

This changes the theory that sharp edge of the cam is the culprit; it's the out of specs cam which is too short is causing the problem; it's much more difficult to match the action on each gun than just make the part which will work on most of guns and just repair those guns which fail.

I will post some photos later of these parts.

I decided not to touch the lifter and bend it upwards after heating it; I was afraid that the heat will damage the spring of the cross pin which is essential to correct operation and rather I will add metal with my wire welder to the lever's cam.

I scribed the mark on the lever at the level of original cam to have some reference so I know how much metal was added. It worked great.

After filling to shape I fitted parts in the gun and put some 44 specials into magazine tube. No hang ups what so ever, now 44 mag. First cartridge jams and I can feel that is dragging inside the mag tube being pushed upwards by the lifter.

Ok back to filling; I removed little more of the steel and put it in again. This time 44 special and 44 mag fed perfectly. I mixed the type of the bullets and calibers and it never jammed.

I took it apart again for final polishing and bluing and tried it again; not one time it jammed, even with lead nose bullets. I think I accomplish here something


Added some white space for readability.  AeroE

Cool

Nice write-up. Thanks for the info.

Good info!

Sounds like thats what my Marlin needs.  I thought it had the double feed issue but there are no marks.  The only ammo I've tried in it is Winchester 240 gr. JSP.