Rossi Rifleman

I stopped into a LGS a couple days ago that had a selection of Marlin 1895's. I recall Ranch Dog's comments about switching to the Rossi Rio Grande because he was tired of lugging a heavy 1895 classic rifle or guide gun (model G?) around the campo. I could not miss the heaviness of these models .... but I was quite surprised at the handiness of a model listed as the 1895 CB or Cowboy. I coon-fingered a 26 inch barreled model and was impressed at it's weight and handiness, even with long barrel. I also liked the slimmer handguard - more Winchester-like. Made the wheels in my head start turning ...

My experience with Marlin levers is very limited. I have friends who have older classic rifles and guide guns and seem to have a lot of secret handshakes and passwords to make these run accurately with cast boolitz. Special bell mouth dies, oversize boolitz, nose length, etc. There is also all the undercurrent about how the Remington made Marlin levers have serious quality issues, but perhaps most current production which had been moved to Kentucky or Carolina may be much better.

I can't find much info on Marlin website about these models. Ballard type rifling ? What are the chambers and bore specs ? I am really only interested in an accurate cast boolitz shooter.

Do the new Marlin 1895 chambers handle cast boolit loads with less fussing than the Rossi Rio Grande ?

I am not keenly informed about issues of quality, oversize chambers, etc. of Marlins, especially after Remington absorbed them. All of the models I looked at this week had Ilion, NY roll marked on barrels, none said Kentucky or Carolina. Are there new models coming out of a new factory in the south or are Marlins still made alongside Remington rifles.

Has anybody had direct experience with these cowboy models ? I liked the 26" barreled model, but I also think the 18.5" barrel model intrigues.

Help me understand the new Marlin 1895's ...

Arroyoshark wrote:Do the new Marlin 1895 chambers handle cast boolit loads with less fussing than the Rossi Rio Grande ?

Don't know about the new Marlins but once I stopped trying to fit a Marlin sized bullet (.460") into the Rossi, all my problems went away. Easy pezzy. I use a .458" bullet in the RG.

The specific question to ask is "has anybody slugged a Remlin's barrel and cast the chamber?" If so, how does it compare to the SAAMI spec?

I've got a buddy who has the cowboy Marlins and likes them a lot but I can't tell you what ammo he's shooting through them. He does roll his own but I don't recall if he uses cast or jacketed.

I have one of the more recent Ilion NY 1895s that seems ok so far. I need to get it out more and play with it at the range but it shows no signs of the common problems of the early remlin reports. I did see one of those guns on a local rack and I pointed it out to the dealer who removed it saying it would go back to the distributer but I later found out the in house gunsmith managed to fix the problem which was a stuck lever catch.

I purchased an 1895G back in 2015 at sportsman's warehouse.
I stopped by buds first but they only had Henry's.
The guide gun had the stuck lever catch, sent it back twice to have them fix it.
It slugs at .460.
I have since added a stainless mag follower,wild west trigger and a saddle ring safety delete.



Would I buy another remlin? probably not.
Unless they improve dramatically.

Looks great I love the safety delete.

Thank you AK.

https://beartoothmercantile-2.myshopify ... ddle-rings

Look down on the bottom left, saddle rings for the rossi lever rifles.
very tempting, may have to order a few more.

Not sure but I think I got the stainless follower for the guide gun here also.
I remember it took me a good bit of time to remove the mag tube on the guide gun, with the way it is set up.
https://beartoothmercantile-2.myshopify ... -followers

I see where bear tooth added some new products, the back and forth saddle rings.
use to be up and down only.