I have a new 1894 Marlin 44 magnum. As it has come from the factory with a hard trigger , off the scale with my RCBS trigger pull gage. Also it has creep. Now the only trigger kits I have found is the Cowboy Action 2 to 3 pound $84.95 kit from Midway and Brownells.
This is a hunting rifle, not a cowboy action gun. I don't see how the new trigger sear kit could be adjustable.
Anyone have any suggestions?Any experience with the cowboy action kit.

This is some stuff I gave on a previous post in the leverguns section, it may help you. The happy trigger is supposed to be easy to install.
I do believe you can reduce your groups by lightening the trigger, it is an awful fact that some marlins do have a real bad trigger. I have recently purchased a 336A 32 special, that had around a 10# pull, it is now down to 2.5 lbs. I am a tool and die maker and have a working knowledge of trigger sears and causes of hard pull on the marlins. #1 is the hammer spring, remove the stock and look at the retainer and see if the rifle has a second notch for this retainer if so put it in the rearward notch and try it. If it does not have this notch, remove the hammer and rotate the guide rod to the upper position in the hammer, with a lead pencil mark the guide rod and leave 1/32 to 1/16 of excess between that mark and the hammer, now grind off the excess making sure you have that excess or the hammer spring will prevent you from cocking the gun. This will relieve the hammer spring tension and give you a lighter trigger pull. While you have all this out of the way you can also lighten the trigger spring by gently bending it up until you feel it give if you go to far you can bend it back. Now if you feel confident in your self to do this remove the lower half and the trigger from it. Look at the sear engagement and reduce the width by at least half, this will reduce the amount to pressure needed to pull it away from the hammer. These mods will greatly reduce the trigger pull, if for some reason the gun does not fire you can use a #10 washer to shim the tension up even back to the original amt. My 32 did not like this at first and I tracked that down to the two piece firing pin which I jig welded into a one piece. Now it goes bang every time with a real light trigger and reduced hammer spring. NOW FOR THE NOT FAINT OF HEART, REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF SEAR ENGAGEMENT ON THE SEAR AND THE HAMMER. THIS GETS RID OF THE CREEP, A LITTLE TOO MUCH AND YOU'LL BE RECUTTING THE SEAR, DON'T DO THIS IF YOU FEEL YOU ARE NOT CAPABLE. YOU CAN GET A VERY HAIR TRIGGER WITH THIS MODIFICATION. ANOTHER MOD IS MARK AND MEASURE THE AMOUNT OF OVERTRAVEL YOU HAVE WHEN COCKING THE GUN AND MARK THE HAMMER, WHILE YOU HAVE IT OUT GRIND A BUNCH OF THE EXCESS OFF. (I do this with a die grinder while the gun is together, this mod makes the rifle easier to cycle the action) While you have the gun apart stone and polish every wear surface that you can spot, plus these ones. The area between the trigger and the lever where the lever lock detent rides when opening and closing the lever, the carrier where it rubs against the next cartridge to go in, all the screws where the hammer, lever, and carrier ride on. The trigger pin, lightly grease all with a graphite lube such as recommended for locks. All of these mods just make that old marlin a real pleasure to shoot. All the stoning makes the action slick and easier to cycle.If for some reason you feel uncomfortable doing these mods the trigger can be lightened by buying the happy trigger from wildwestguns.com they also have a one piece firing pin and ejector. You can also get a spring kit for the marlin leverguns that greatly reduces the amount of hammer pull and in turn the amount of pressure needed to pull the trigger. Now that I have put in my $10 worth, guess I should tell you I like making some of these old marlins into shooters, and they are a pleasure to shoot once you get a decent trigger pull and action job on them. Hope I have helped. Swany

Wow, great information, and good post! Many thanks.

God bless,

__________________
Marshall
Romans 1:16



Beartooth: A Bullet Worth Waiting For!

Swany,

Any pictures to go with this?

__________________
MikeG

Swany gave some good information in his post. You can also go to www.marauder13.homestead.com/irons.html and read several of our articles on tuning the Marlin lever actions.

Hey Swany,

In the front part of your post (great help by the way) you talked about a second notch for the hammer spring retainer. My Guide Gun has only one notch. Would it be a prudent thing to do to cut a new notch further back to relieve the hammer spring tension like you suggest? That seemed like the most logical thing to do short of putting a less stiff hammer spring in its place.

I think it would be a simple task to use a dremel tool with a grinder blade to cut a second notch, the dremel blade is the same thickness as the notch, the question is - how far back? The hammer spring retainer lever itself does not protrude a great distance past the guide hole in the retainer arm. There appears to be sufficient length to the lever to allow for an equal spacing of - 1st notch, space, 2nd notch - and still have the spring retainer lever work as intended. The width of the space would be the same width as the notches. Is that enough to make a difference? Too much? In those guns with 2 notches, how far apart are the notches center-to-center? I don't have a feel for how long the hammer spring is when not under compression. It's a pretty stout spring and I didn't want to take it apart for fear of not getting it back together.

I looked closely at the clearance between the hammer and the hammer spring when in the cocked position. It's a very close fit. I don't think I could provide any relief on the front of the assembly to reduce hammer spring tension and NOT interfere with the cocking so I'm steered back to the retainer notch.

Thanks for your help.

You don't have a lot of room to cut a second notch, so I'd say your idea of leaving a space as wide as the front notch is about right. I haven't seen a rifle with a 2nd notch yet, although I know they're out there.

Get the spring out by tipping the Hammer Spring Adjusting Plate (retainer) out sideways at the top. Put it back on by tipping the Plate ahead at the top, then push on the bottom with a screwdriver until it drops into the notch. That could get tricky with a second notch when you need it in the front notch.

It takes a fairly good spring to drive the 2 piece firing pin, so I'd be cautious about making any irreversible changes to the spring and hammer. Misfires are a real problem if you go too far.

Reduce the load on the trigger spring first. Remove the trigger guard plate so you can get at it and bend back the right arm of the spring until you've got a 1 lb. uncocked trigger pull. You can check it with the plate out of the gun. That seems more than enough to reset the trigger, but taking a pound off here means you don't have to work on the rest of the system as much.

Check the sear and see if it's square with the hammer. A lot of them aren't. If the blue is worn off one side where it holds the hammer and not on the other, it's not square. Stone it square without changing the front to back angle. That can take a pound off the pull.

Proceed with extreme caution when you're modifying the firing mechanism.

Bye
Jack

Thanks, I'll let you know how I make out. I might not get to it right away but I'm sure I'll try it.

Flashhole, The second notch was discontinued and is on a lot of the 336s from the 50s however my 336CB in 38-55 does have it now. The second notch can be cut farther back and then the spring can be shimmed for more tension with the #10 washers, this is what I done on my 336CB the CBs generally come with an exceptable hunting trigger and for that purpose I would leave it as is. Mine does double duty, targets and hunting so I put in 2 extra washers for the hunting season. Take care and have fun. Swany

Hey flash, have you done anything with this. It looks like this is my accuracy problem with the 1894 project gun. Sure would like to know if anyone had tried this for the first time or anyone that installed a conversion for the first time.

I haven't done it.....yet. I wanted to get more familiar with the gun and the existing trigger. I even removed the scope so now it's 100% factory. I shoot it about once a week and I am now convinced I could do better with a trigger mod and some high visibility sights. I'm hitting 5" shoot-n-see targets with open sights in a standing position from 50 yards but I think I can do better. I have had the gun apart twice studying it. I don't own a dremel tool but might be able to borrow one from work. There is a huge amount of info in Swany's post and I haven't fully digested all of it. I got side tracked working up some loads for a new gun but I should have more time to look into it.

Guys,

After reading this thread, I cut a second notch in my 1894 Marlin for the hammer spring retainer. I used a dremel grinding stone (thin disc) to hog out a notch. I left about 3/32" between the two notches. My notch was pretty rounded at the bottom, and so I was leary the retainer clip might slip out. I used the corner on a rasp to cut out a hard corner to make sure it didnt slip. Once reassembled, the trigger pull was considerably lighter. I took it to the range, and shot about 200 rounds altogether. I did have one misfire (could just have been a primer failure). I dont have a trigger pull gage, but it is notably better. I didnt make any other mods to the trigger assembly.

Good luck,

Shane

I bought the cowboy trigger kit and the one piece firing pin. It went in real easy. No cutting, grinding, or fuss. I ended up with about a two pound trigger. The kit also comes with a lighter spring that holds the lever closed. I didn't like this because the lever would pop open if I didn't maintain pressure on it. The cowboy guys probably want it for rapid fire. You don't need it on a hunting gun.
Now my question. I have a Browning BLR with a long heavy trigger pull. How do I modify it? Is there a similar kit out there for the Browning?

This is great. Got pictures?? I may try this. I usually understand pictures more. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Thanks and God bless.

Tom

BTT for some good info.

Stupid question.

With this work on a 1894 in .357 ??

I havn't tore it down yet but don't see why it wouldn't, the guts should still be the same just to a smaller scale, right/

__________________
Yes, I know it's cocked, It's got bullets too.

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Done a lot of my work on a .357CB Marlin 94. Yes

Yup, sure does.
http://www.marauder.homestead.com/irons.html

I have asked about a trigger job info on the 336 series of rifles on anothe thread with no replies so I will try this one .will what has been recomended for the 1894 rifles work on the 336 rifles? Thanks BillyCraig

Yes and no. As far as having to polish the sharp edge of the lever to avoid the "Marlin Jam", the 336 differs from the 1894, round bolt vs. square bolt, respectively, and needs no honing or polishing. The Marlin "Magic Spring" by Seven does smooth up the action, although not as noticably in a 336 compared to the 1894, but I do recommend it.

The only other DIY items might be to take some 900 grit or higher wet/dry sandpaper and gently smooth the parts where there is noticable wear, like on the hammer and where ever else the blueing seems to be wearing off. If a little polishing and the Magic Spring do not get the trigger where you want it then a new one from Wild West triggers is next.

Hope this helps, and remember to polish a little at a time, wipe the part clean before reinstalling it and go slow.