by Jim Taylor

Back in the mid- 80’s I was at an NRA Show in Reno, Nevada and saw the then-new Model 1894CL that Marlin was bringing back. I was immediately struck with it. I like big-bore rifles but I also have a place in my heart (and on the ranch) for some of the older caliber’s. Nostalgia I guess. I mean, why choose a .32-20 when there are caliber’s that will do the same job and not have the shortcomings this one does?

Never being given to large doses of common sense I got one as soon as I could. In fact, I ordered it direct from Marlin for test purposes for some magazine articles and never sent it back. Oh of course they made me send them money so I could keep it, but I figured the trade was worth it.

The .32-20CL is not a carbine. It is a rifle with a half-magazine. I kind of like the longer barrel for what I have used the gun for. My only plans are to someday have a full-length magazine tube installed. While I am at it I think I will have the wood slimmed to the shape of the old Marlin rifles. Keith DeHart does such a nice job of this and after all the years of banging around the little levergun is ready for a refinishing job.

When I got the rifle I checked it as closely as I could at the time against the original 1894’s. It was close. One thing I absolutely hated was the stupid cross-pin safety system under the hammer! Before you get on my case about it I realize that some people have had "accidents" and that this is one way for the company not to get sued to oblivion. When I was growing up I was responsible for my own negligence. We were taught that if we screwed up we did not blame it on others. Today you can hardly buy a gun with the darn thing being a billboard of warning signs. What crap! If a person buys a gun and then stupidly shoots themselves in the foot with it they should not be allowed to say, "I did not know it was dangerous!" Enough preaching. Sorry.

The early Marlins had neither the "cross-bolt" safety nor the lever safety - the little pin that activates the trigger block so the trigger cannot be pulled unless the lever is mashed against the stock hard. The bolt on the Marlin 1894 is in two pieces, one of them spring-loaded in a down position. The firing pin is in two pieces. This keeps the firing pin near the hammer from striking the forward pin and firing the cartridge unless the lever is all the way up.

(For those of you who do not know this, the first notch on the hammer is not a safety. It just keeps the hammer from resting on the firing pin which in turn would be resting on the cartridge. It is a half-cock notch, not a safety notch. It can be broken.)

The rifling in the 1894CL is cut-rifling, not micro-groove. Apparently Marlin was listening to us cast bullet shooters and decided to go back to the old rifling. This gun is just absolutely made for cast bullets. And while I have shot jacketed bullets in mine it usually is cast bullets that are running in it.

The 1894 CL was made in .32-20, .25-20 and .218 Bee. I opted for the .32-20 caliber. Don’t ask me why, I just kind of like it. And yes, I understand the brass is weak. When the .32-20 was introduced somewhere around 1882 it was strictly a low-pressure blackpowder round. The case walls are very thin. (You can dent a cartridge case by dropping it on a concrete floor.) Because chamber dimensions have been set for over 100 years there is no way thicker brass can be made in this caliber.

Another side subject. Cowboy Action Shooters rate the .32-20 as a pistol cartridge along with the .38-40 and .44-40. These all were rifle cartridges first. Not handgun cartridges. Colt decided they could be used in their sixshooters and later produced the handguns to shoot them. But they are rifle cartridges first.

The .32-20 today is a pretty anemic thing. No factory loads I tested cracked 1200 fps and most do not come near it. Years ago the standard loads were around that with some High Velocity loads offered that ran well over that. The standard loading pressure for the .32-20 has long been 16,000 CUP. The old High Velocity loads were loaded to 26,000 CUP. They had warnings on them not to use them in the 1873 Winchester. And while they were safe in the Colt SAA I believe they were not recommended for the DA revolvers that were made in this caliber.

The bullets available to the handloader for the .32-20 run from light to heavy. Especially if you are a bullet caster. Molds can be had for weights up to 140 gr. if you so desire. The standard jacketed bullet weight is 100 gr. and Speer makes a nice accurate bullet that works well on coyotes, foxes, groundhogs and other small varmints. When driven around 1600 - 1800 fps it is a pretty deadly varmint load if kept within reasonable range. My standard bullets are the old Lyman #3118 which casts 120 gr., the LBT 115 gr., the LBT 140 gr., the Lee 95 gr. roundnose, and the Speer 100 gr. JHP. Of these I use the first and the last most - the Lyman 120 gr. cast and the Speer 100 gr. JHP.

I have tried a number of powders and have settled with Bullseye, Unique, 2400, H-110 and WW-296 for all my loads. Truth be told I usually use Bullseye for the light loads - up to 1200 fps - and H-110 or 296 for the rest. They work well, are accurate, and I have now used them for years. My standard fun load is the Lyman bullet with 4 gr. of Bullseye. I can get thousands of loads from a one-pound can. It is fun to shoot and runs around 1200 fps out of the rifle. For High velocity I use 14.0 gr. H-110 or WW-296 with the Speer 100 gr. JHP. These are close to 2100 fps and make great varmint controllers. Case life is very short. I fire once, reload the cases and fire once more with these hot loads. They then go into the "Light Load" boxes where they stay. I have had cases pull in half on the 3rd hot loading. Remember, these are very thin-walled cases. And a chamber that is slightly oversized along with a rifle that may have a little slop in the action - as little as .015" - can stretch these thin cases to the breaking point.