Just purchased a Marlin .45/70 and am trying to get familiar with it.
Have been practising loading it (with dummy rounds) and ran into minor problem. The first round goes in through the loading gate just fine. But the second round, if I push it all the way in, will move backwards very slightly, effectively blocking the loading gate. It appears that the magazine tube spring is exerting enough pressure on the loaded rounds to make them move rearwards just a tiny bit, but enough to jam the loading gate.
I've developed a work-around to prevent this. Load the first round as normal. Then load the second (and succeeding rounds) but don't push them all the way into the magazine tube. Leave just enough of the cartridge out to keep the loading gate depressed. Then the last round is pushed all the way in.
Has anyone else encountered this in the .45/70? I don't recall the same thing ever happening with my Marling 1895 .44.
Have been practising loading it (with dummy rounds) and ran into minor problem. The first round goes in through the loading gate just fine. But the second round, if I push it all the way in, will move backwards very slightly, effectively blocking the loading gate. It appears that the magazine tube spring is exerting enough pressure on the loaded rounds to make them move rearwards just a tiny bit, but enough to jam the loading gate.
I've developed a work-around to prevent this. Load the first round as normal. Then load the second (and succeeding rounds) but don't push them all the way into the magazine tube. Leave just enough of the cartridge out to keep the loading gate depressed. Then the last round is pushed all the way in.
Has anyone else encountered this in the .45/70? I don't recall the same thing ever happening with my Marling 1895 .44.
