Marlin 1894 manufacturing defect? (Not a Remlin)

[Paulmarty]

Hi all,

I have a Marlin 1894 in 45 Colt that I just got around to shooting, and after cleaning the bore I noticed what looks like a raised ridge in the bottom part of the barrel, towards the muzzle end. This also happens to be right around where the barrel band is located, where both the barrel and magazine tube have a groove cut into them so that a screw can pass through from one side to the other to hold the band on. Does anyone else's Marlin have this issue? This one was made before Marlin was bought out by Remington, so I didn't really expect to see any issues with it. The only reason I noticed now was because I was paying much closer attention to the bore after putting black powder rounds through it. Can/should anything be done about this? I doubt the new Marlin company will take the rifle back or do a decent job of fixing the problem.

[Pettifogger]

If it shoots OK don't worry about it.  You would be surprised at the number of CAS rifles with bulges in the barrel caused by squib loads and they continue to shoot just fine.

[Blackfoot]

Pettifogger speaks the truth.  If it shoots ok don't worry about it.  Lots of CAS rifles being shot with "rings" in the barrel, I shot a Marlin for a long time that had 2 bulge rings in it.  It worked great.

Blackfoot

[rifle]

I don't thunk yer lookin a this right....the replies.

A bulge goes in the other direction compared to a ridge that  is caused by intruding into the bore making a "Raised" ring(partial)  compared to a bulge making a wide part in the bore.

The pic shows a raised ring (partial) in the bore and a ring in a barrel is a raised ring outside the bore(makes a wide spot).


The pic shows a defect that would size some of the bullet smaller when it passes over it and thus cause gas at the muzzle to erupt from the decreased diameter to part of the bullet. That would make the gun shoot like it has a bad crown. Not as well as it could.

A ring in a barrel doesn't decrease any of the size of the bullet as it passes over it but just lets some gas escape due to the seal of the bullet in the barrel being opened fer a mili-second as the bullet passes the wide spot in the barrel bore.

Anywhoooooo....the pic doesn't show a bulge or ring it shows a raised spot inside the bore. A raised ring in the bore can and will always decrease  the accuracy of the gun to some degree. The raised ring inside the barrel needs removed or the barrel cut back and recrowned and the band and magazine tube re-fit together.


Lapping the raised place out of the barrel would be the way to go as long as the "lap" was a tight fit in the bore.
Naturally the lap being forced thru would lap the raised area away but would push the lap hard into the barrel on the opposite side of the bore and cause a slight bulge there inside the barrel.
The slight bulge opposite the raised spot wouldn't harm the accuracy much at all since the wide spot opposite the raised spot would be minimal and only blow a lil gas. The lap would work on the raised spot with more force than it would work at making a widened spot opposite it.

Anywhoooo....if the raised spot in the barrel doesn't seem to cause much of a problem it can just be left alone. Maybe be minimized with some of those bore lapping bullets they sell fer lappin barrels.

Lapping by hand with a rod and a tight lap makes fer some work since a tight lap is difficult to move in the barrel. It can be set upon a milling machine table and vise to move the lap back and forth with the handle that moves the table back and forth side to side.

The so-called diamond heavy lap compound being grey would smooth the lil raised spot out of the barrel but...the lap made of lead needs bumped up continuously so it isn't loose. Loose makes fer rounded land edges and such.

It's hard to imagine how the screw holding the band would make a raised spot in the bore. The way fer the screw should only very slightly notch the barrel so the screw can't slide to and fro.

Someone must have struck that area with something to make way fer the screw instead of using a file the proper way.

I've gotten those raised areas out of pistol barrels using a wood rod split a lil to set a small piece of file in it to be kinda like a rifling broach. It is tedious and takes awhile especially if the raised area is to the groove and the land on each side.

In the rifle bore that raised area propably can't be reached with a tool like that.
A rifling broach (button) could be tapped thru the barrel and that would get rid of the raised spot. Marlin may be able to do that with one of thier rifling buttons if the rifling was done with a button.

Lapping compound (even the heavy removers) are to smooth and polish so lapping out a raised area would take a good long while.

[Paulmarty]

Thanks for the replies all. It is definitely a raised area inside of the barrel and not any type of bulge. The accuracy of the rifle isn't suffering from it at all. I'm more worried about the integrity of the barrel. I don't have a set of calipers, but this location on the barrel appears to be mighty thin due to how deep they cut the notch out. I'll be taking the rifle to a gunsmith to have him examine it more closely and tell me what he thinks the best course of action is.