Have you ever seen such poor rifling?

[Sbarton]

Heck yea - give 'em a try as ask them - but don't get POd if they refuse. Typically a manufacturer's warranty ends with THAT particular Mfg. but ya never know - never hurts to ask.

I have seen a barrel this bad but its not a fair comparison as it was a CVA .45 ML rifle barrel on my first kit built ML I had. Although it looked like yours (and maybe a touch worse) it shot very well.


That might have been a better option but Henrys have had their share of problems as well - including some pretty bad bores as well but at least you would be assured of it being taken care of.

FWIW If you do ever decide on a Henry give it a very thorough inspection prior to buying - as should be done with any gun purchase.

I gave my Henry about 45 Minutes prior to buying only because of the issues I had read about.

I wouldn't get mad, I understand it's my problem! This isn't the first time I accidentally bought someone else's headache.

Man, where can a guy just buy a lever gun that shoots? Seems like an unusual amount of problems in this niche of firearms?

 

[RVTECH]

I also don't want to sell it to another unsuspecting shooter, unless it someone I just don't like!

Or You could also be completely honest about it and find a prospective owner who sees it differently and may not be concerned. A slight price adjustment from the average for this rifle might be in order but I don't think you would have any trouble selling it.

I once did this with a very inaccurate handgun (verified by 3 shooters!) and the new owner was still happy with it!

 

[Sbarton]

Some years ago I contacted Marlin about mine due to the ugly roll stamp dents into the bore. I don't remember exactly what they said, but it was a no-go, not a chance. I posted about it to on a different forum somewhere as I recall. There was even a guy who had a spare take-off barrel laying around that he sold me cheap, but the roll marks in it were just as bad so I never put it on.

For me it was a case of diminishing returns. I tinkered with it and got it shooting well enough for my purposes. I could have gone all out and put a lot of time, effort, and money into it at really made it right, but for my practical purposes it wouldn't have mattered. For precision shooting I have other rifles. For an open-sight lever gun with limited range like the 44 mag, 2-3moa was plenty good enough for me, especially since I'd typically shoot it without a scope and offhand. That, and the fact that it almost never leaves the safe. I have rifles back in there that haven't been shot in many years, and realistically I may never shoot again. As I get older I'm really starting to wonder why I still have them.

I'd be happy with 2-3 moa. That's good for silhouette and furry critters!
I'll see what I can do with this thing, I'm into it pretty deep now, it's too late to bail out!

 

[Sbarton]

Or You could also be completely honest about it and find a prospective owner who sees it differently and may not be concerned. A slight price adjustment from the average for this rifle might be in order but I don't think you would have any trouble selling it.

I once did this with a very inaccurate handgun (verified by 3 shooters!) and the new owner was still happy with it!

Yeah, if it came to that, I'd have to be truthful about it. That's just the way I am, I gotta sleep at night.
I'm getting 4"-5" groups at 50y with jacketed, so I think i can tighten that up If i smooth it out a bit.

 

[RVTECH]

FWIW I 'lapped' a T/C Renegade muzzleloader barrel that had not been cleaned in over 20 years with water based valve lapping compound and it is a tackdriver! I shoots way better than I expected it would.

In it's case however I was primarily interested in removing what rust I could as opposed to smoothing up bad rifling but it might be something to consider.

 

[RVTECH]

Interesting. You hear all the time, "just buy a jm stamped marlin".

Yea, this is kind of depressing when 'JM' stamped Marlins have always been regarded as higher quality than Remlins but there is no doubt about certain ranges of years with regard to quality affects many products and not just guns - For example like early to mid 70's era cars.

Kind of why I have always been a 'fanatic' when buying a gun - new or used.

 

[CLT65]

Yeah, if it came to that, I'd have to be truthful about it. That's just the way I am, I gotta sleep at night.
I'm getting 4"-5" groups at 50y with jacketed, so I think i can tighten that up If i smooth it out a bit.

My dad bought two Marlin 1894s used back in the late 1980s. I didn't get much chance to fiddle with the other one as it was in the Midwest. My mom has it now as my dad passed away last year, but I did play with it a bit a few years ago when I was visiting.

The bore is no better on it, and it also wasn't very accurate. I didn't do anything to the bore, but did check the mag tube for binding and it was also binding badly. I fixed that and accuracy improved significantly on it too, what little I shot it. There was a small county range a few miles down the road and I only shot a few groups at 50 yards, but it really seemed to make a big difference.

I would suggest checking for barrel binding on yours before you get too deep into it. It's just possible that as ugly as the bore is, it may not be the main problem. I went through the exact same thing you are, maybe ten years ago, even did some polishing on the bore, with little effect, though I admit I didn't get aggressive with it. It wasn't until I struggled to get the mag tube off and on again that I found the main problem. It was bound so bad that I had to beat it with a hammer to get it on again (carefully of course). This binding put so much stress on the barrel that when I relieved the binding, I had to readjust the sights because it shot to a different point of aim.

Before I started on it, it scattered the groups like yours does. 3" to 6" groups were the norm at 50 yards as I recall. It was really frustrating. I'm not a gunsmith, and can't guarantee that the mag tube is the same problem with yours like it was with mine, just throwing it out there as a place to start.

 

[Sbarton]

FWIW I 'lapped' a T/C Renegade muzzleloader barrel that had not been cleaned in over 20 years with water based valve lapping compound and it is a tackdriver! I shoots way better than I expected it would.

In it's case however I was primarily interested in removing what rust I could as opposed to smoothing up bad rifling but it might be something to consider.

That's good to hear!
I think that, along with what ctl65 said, will be my plan moving forward.
I've read in a number of place about the barrel binding on the mag tube.
Ctl65, was it the barrel band screw that was the culprit? Or a part of the actual tube impinging on the barrel?

 

[Sbarton]

Yea, this is kind of depressing when 'JM' stamped Marlins have always been regarded as higher quality than Remlins but there is no doubt about certain ranges of years with regard to quality affects many products and not just guns - For example like early to mid 70's era cars.

Kind of why I have always been a 'fanatic' when buying a gun - new or used.

I should have known better. I couldn't find what i was looking for locally, so i bought a couple lever guns off gunbroker.

The other one I bought, a marlin 39a from 1954, turned out to be great. It's a keeper, I'll leave it to my kid when I'm gone.

 

[po18guy]

By the 70s, lever actions were waning and Marlin was struggling. The bad bore is a sign of cost cutting. A slightly dull boring bit, chips clogging the drill, too fast or slow of a bore speed, and maybe lack of lube. The bullet touches the high spots, and for this reason quite a few rust-piited bores shoot surprisingly well when cleaned up. I think the bore polish will help a lot, as it is done in the direction of bullet travel. It will both smooth and level the high spots as well as leave a very slight radius from the pits to the high spots. Would not matter as much with jacketed bullets, but lead is shaved off by any sharp transitions from pit-to-bore.

 

[RVTECH]

The other one I bought, a marlin 39a from 1954, turned out to be great.

Good deal!

I have a '83 39A which was the last year before the crossbolt and it's excellent with tight fit up, action and excellent accuracy.

 

[dangerranger60]

My own experience with Marlins Micro Groove barrels and cast bullets has not been good. As a matter of fact Marlin knew this so when Cowboy Action Shooting started ramping up, Marlin started turning out their pistol caliber lever guns with Ballard rifling.
There are some things you can do to make this better. If you cast your own bullets use the hardest alloy you can make. Size your bullets for a tight bullet to bore fit, or only use jacketed bullets.
My gun would shoot jacketed bullets into 1.5 to 2" at 100 yds. But the best I could do with cast was 3.5 to 5".
By hand lapping out the tight spots, then fire lapping the bore, it tightened up some. but when I switched to hard cast lead with a Gas Check that were sized to fit the bore, it got down to where it would shoot as well with jacketed as lead cast!
It was a process, but worth it in the end. I shoot mine a lot. And I would miss it if it did not shoot! Mine is in 45 colt, and I carry it as a woods walking gun. What I like most is that with light 160 gr bullets and a light load of powder it shoots rabbits , or with 325 gr lead I can load it up to the lower end of 45-70 power! Those would stop about anything I would ever want to shoot! Good luck, DR

PS Mine left the factory in '78. DR

 

[CLT65]

My own experience with Marlins Micro Groove barrels and cast bullets has not been good. As a matter of fact Marlin knew this so when Cowboy Action Shooting started ramping up, Marlin started turning out their pistol caliber lever guns with Ballard rifling.
There are some things you can do to make this better. If you cast your own bullets use the hardest alloy you can make. Size your bullets for a tight bullet to bore fit, or only use jacketed bullets.
My gun would shoot jacketed bullets into 1.5 to 2" at 100 yds. But the best I could do with cast was 3.5 to 5".
By hand lapping out the tight spots, then fire lapping the bore, it tightened up some. but when I switched to hard cast lead with a Gas Check that were sized to fit the bore, it got down to where it would shoot as well with jacketed as lead cast!
It was a process, but worth it in the end. I shoot mine a lot. And I would miss it if it did not shoot! Mine is in 45 colt, and I carry it as a woods walking gun. What I like most is that with light 160 gr bullets and a light load of powder it shoots rabbits , or with 325 gr lead I can load it up to the lower end of 45-70 power! Those would stop about anything I would ever want to shoot! Good luck, DR

PS Mine left the factory in '78. DR

This is most likely why mine works best with gas-check bullets. It really doesn't care for plain-base cast bullets, and there's probably no way around that, with the micro-groove rifling.

 

[Sbarton]

My own experience with Marlins Micro Groove barrels and cast bullets has not been good. As a matter of fact Marlin knew this so when Cowboy Action Shooting started ramping up, Marlin started turning out their pistol caliber lever guns with Ballard rifling.
There are some things you can do to make this better. If you cast your own bullets use the hardest alloy you can make. Size your bullets for a tight bullet to bore fit, or only use jacketed bullets.
My gun would shoot jacketed bullets into 1.5 to 2" at 100 yds. But the best I could do with cast was 3.5 to 5".
By hand lapping out the tight spots, then fire lapping the bore, it tightened up some. but when I switched to hard cast lead with a Gas Check that were sized to fit the bore, it got down to where it would shoot as well with jacketed as lead cast!
It was a process, but worth it in the end. I shoot mine a lot. And I would miss it if it did not shoot! Mine is in 45 colt, and I carry it as a woods walking gun. What I like most is that with light 160 gr bullets and a light load of powder it shoots rabbits , or with 325 gr lead I can load it up to the lower end of 45-70 power! Those would stop about anything I would ever want to shoot! Good luck, DR

PS Mine left the factory in '78. DR

That's good to hear! I'm hoping for a similar outcome.
I stripped the barrel band and mag tube off just tonight, I'll take it to the range tomorrow to see how it shoots without.
Yeah, It was a toss up for me between 44 mag and 45 colt. I was leaning toward the 45, but a guy I shoot with warned me away, said he had trouble getting his 45 lever gun to shoot well. So I bought this gun! Oh the irony!

 

[Ramjet57]

I had a marlin 22 in the late 70s the $49 kmart special, it never shot right,
One day i was shooting from shade to sunlight back to shade and then i saw the bullets in flight, they were spiraling, never trusted marlin again.

 

[CV-66]

Marlin 94, 44 mag. Made in 1983, jm stamp, micro groove.
Looks like it was cut with a back hoe!
What'd y'all think? Any ideas?
It shoots as bad as it looks too!
Cast lead bullets go all over the place, jacketed kinda group, more like a shotgun pattern though.


View attachment 1042670View attachment 1042668 View attachment 1042669View attachment 1042672View attachment 1042671

wow, nice photos - what did you use to capture this fine detail and angle?

 

[Certaindeaf]

My own experience with Marlins Micro Groove barrels and cast bullets has not been good. As a matter of fact Marlin knew this so when Cowboy Action Shooting started ramping up, Marlin started turning out their pistol caliber lever guns with Ballard rifling.
There are some things you can do to make this better. If you cast your own bullets use the hardest alloy you can make. Size your bullets for a tight bullet to bore fit, or only use jacketed bullets.
My gun would shoot jacketed bullets into 1.5 to 2" at 100 yds. But the best I could do with cast was 3.5 to 5".
By hand lapping out the tight spots, then fire lapping the bore, it tightened up some. but when I switched to hard cast lead with a Gas Check that were sized to fit the bore, it got down to where it would shoot as well with jacketed as lead cast!
It was a process, but worth it in the end. I shoot mine a lot. And I would miss it if it did not shoot! Mine is in 45 colt, and I carry it as a woods walking gun. What I like most is that with light 160 gr bullets and a light load of powder it shoots rabbits , or with 325 gr lead I can load it up to the lower end of 45-70 power! Those would stop about anything I would ever want to shoot! Good luck, DR

PS Mine left the factory in '78. DR

The model 60 .22 lr had micro groove rifling and is legendary for its accuracy.. shooting dead soft pure lead bullets.

 

[Pepe-lepew]

USGI M1 barrels look about the same new. The way I tell barrel wear at the muzzle is if the tooling marks are still visible.

 

[Sawtooth58]

There's a bit of copper in there, but there was also a bunch of lead, the bore slugged at .431, so it leads up pretty badly, gotta find some bigger bullets.

Trust me, you don't want it!
I may see if i can get a new barrel from ruger, but that's a big question mark right now. I don't think it can be sleeved, it's pretty thin at the muzzle, but i may check around with some gunsmiths, see what they say.

I bet if you had some 240gr .431 JSP's that Everglades has "occasionally" it would shoot decent groups. Changed my 94 to a moa rifle. It was shooting 5"
My 6" Anaconda likes the much better than a .429 as well

 

[Sawtooth58]

I wouldn't get mad, I understand it's my problem! This isn't the first time I accidentally bought someone else's headache.

Man, where can a guy just buy a lever gun that shoots? Seems like an unusual amount of problems in this niche of firearms?

Not at all!! I have many Marlins and Brownings….ALL shoot MOA or Sub MOA.
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