I have been looking at a very nice, used, 1894 Special Edition, and wonder what anyone knows or thinks of it.

It has nicely checkored wood, dark, with great grain. The barrel is ported, with which I have had no experience. One fellow tells me that makes horrid back blast with the short barrel, another says it is really a nice feature. The blue finish is nearly 100%. Over all, if the sticker didn't say "Used", I would have thought it new.

The thing is short at both ends, and seems so toy-lilke I wonder if one would actually get any practical use from such a weapon. It is marked $430, which is $50 more than a new "Plain Jane" 16" sitting next to it.

Any thoughts welcome,
Fred

Is this a 357 or a 44? I'm not a fan of ported rifles, but some folks are. I have heard horror stories about the blast being ferocious, but if you wear good hearing protection I wouldn't worry about it. The 357 kicks very little, even to a novice shooter, but the 44 can get your attention with heavy loads. It's not brutal, but a long session off a benchrest can certainly pound you after a while. Offhand, only the real heavy calibers are painful, but then I weigh 150 pounds soaking wet, some folks absolutely love that recoil! :rolleyes: In the condition it's in, with nice wood and all, it might well be worth the extra fifty bucks if you're willing to baby it a little. Otherwise, save the fifty and you can abuse the plain Jane gun without losing any sleep over it.

Papajohn the Puny Pendulum Pounder

I have a 1894P Marlin its a 44 cal, ported 16.5" barrel. The stock is a little short, so I put a recoil pad on it. Porting makes it noisy, but so does a short barrel. I like the gun and its size. They are no longer in production, and it took me some time to find one. I put receiver sights on it and was surprised at the kick it has on the bench. I bought it a year ago from a local store who had bought it from the owner who never fired it. May have been a gift, payment on a debt, who knows. I ended up paying $425, no papers, no box, but it was obvious it had no use either.
Jim

Fred
If you don't hook up on those two 1894 p models get back to me as I would try to buy them.
Jim

I've got an 1894P (16.5" barrel & ported) in .44 mag. It also has a nice recoil pad and a Sightron red dot. It is very comfortable to shoot. Until this year I had only shot it at the range, so I had hearing protection. I deer hunted with it this fall for the first time, and when a 6-pointer happened by I really thought twice about pulling the trigger (thinking the blast w/o earplugs would wreck me for sure). But it wasn't bad at all. I can't say enough good things about this rifle. It's fun at the range and very handy in the woods & brush.