shdwlkr said:
big bores came out in 1978/1979
angle eject came out in 1983/1984
angle eject for big bores came out in 1985
rebounding hammer on model 94 1990
I just got off the phone with winchester hopes this clears up the issue
A very interesting question. My .307 Angle Eject Big Bore rifle is the second generation rifle, Pre Safety, with in-line screw holes for the forward scope mount base. This rifle has the low stock comb and the rebounding hammer.
My father had two early first generation Big Bore rifles with the angled screw holes for the forward scope mount base. He let the .307 get away from him but still has the .356. His .356 does not have the rebound hammer.
I went back and looked at what may be the first road test of the Angle Eject rifles written by Edward A. Matunas for the November 1983 issue of the American Rifleman. There was no mention of the rebounding hammer.
Next I looked at the Rick Jamison write up for the November 1983 issue of Shooting Times magazine. Again, while there is a mention of how excessively heavy the trigger pull was, there is no mention of the rebounding hammer.
Layne Simpson followed up with a review of the .307 Angle Eject rifle in the 1984 Edition of the Gun Digest and again there is no mention of the rebounding hammer.
The rifles pictured in all three of these articles appear to have the angled screws for the forward scope mount base Very difficult to tell about the rifle that Simpson tested.
Ken Waters in his first .307 Pet Loads article made no mention of the rebounding hammer.
It may be that none of the writers wanted to mention the change to the rebound hammer when it came about. In 1990 we begin seeing mention of the rebounding hammer but no one was making a big deal of it. With the advent of the cross bolt safety, Big Time gun writers such as Al Miller of Rifle magazine began attempting to justify the need for the abomination. Only after the rather vocal negative reaction from us, the consumers, did the mainstream gun writers join the chorus for the removal of this unnecessary and sometimes dangerous safety device.
There is little doubt that Marlin began to make its first serious challenge to Winchester with the advent of the rebounding hammer and then, the addition of the cross bolt safety with the large divot in the right side receiver wall.
Marlin was very astute in leaving the half cock safety notch and in keeping the cross bolt safety as unobtrusive as possible. Marlin then took the brilliant step of starting the Marlin Talk Board as a method of sampling the pulse of the consumer and in generating a cult following for their products. Marlin management was far and away more professional and aware of the consumers wants than the ignorant and arrogant Winchester management of the same time frame.
