Marlin 1894 SBL .357 Magnum Lever Action Rifle - 8 Rounds, 16.1" Barrel, Laminate Stock, Stainless/Silver

The action on this Marlin is very smooth. Very satisfied with this rifle!

Smooth as silk. It truly is. I own two of these one in .357 and one in .44 mag. I prefer the recent marlins over the henrys. The gun feels very solid and well built. There is no hangups in the action what so ever even right out of the box. It is definitely smoother than my 1895GBL. This Is a great little rifle. I had my barrel threaded 1/2x28 and run a 6" can on it. Shooting 158 grain .38 specials will still be subsonic but barley and is a BLAST to shoot. Deadly accurate with those 158gr and still puts a nice wallop on the steel. FYI almost everything lighter than 158 grain will be supersonic unless you hand load yourself.

LOVE this rifle! Shooting .38 is like a pellet gun, shooting .357 is magical. Marlin done did good with this one!! Yet to go the range without someone commenting on and wanting to shoot it.

This was my first Lever gun, I have learned quite a bit from fully cleaning it. It has been a great shooter, out of the box is was smooth and shot dead on with the irons. I did end up changing the loading gate to an Aluminum after market and also a quick detach lever loop screw. This thing is a beauty no doubt, and the only problem is, I now want more lever guns. I went with this over a ruger 77 357 for my preferred carbine, prior to switching out the loading gate it was quite a pain to load, but now it's much nicer (ty rangerpoint cnc). This guy fits behind a seat or in a trunk with ease, glad I got a good "Remlin" QC batch.

Of all the Marlin rifles I have owned, pre and post freedom group, this is by far the most nice. The fit and finish of the rifle I recieved is flawless and is a real beauty. I was concerned about the cycling as the last 2 Marlins I purchased had rough cycling and needed work to smooth out however the rifle I recieved was extremely smooth out of the box. Every ammo in .357 mag cycled through with ease but I have not tried .38 special yet. The loading gate was not terribly stiff life my other Marlins in tge beginning. 357 out of a 16 inch barrel sure does pack some punch and the XS ghost ring sights are dead accurate. Trigger is crisp and is just fine for my uses. The weight of this firearm absorbs the recoil of even the hottest .357 round and the length us very handy. Although pricey I would highly recommend this rifle.

Like most, I had been waiting for this to come out for awhile. The entire process from Buds was top notch, the 1894csbl on the other hand had only one issue with the rifle. The lever mechanism is extremely ruff and notchy and this isn’t entirely do to the gun being new and in need of the break in period, right out of the box the lever loop would not cycle. It was a constant fight to cycle the loop and sometimes (though I just stopped doing it after the 3rd try) had to rapidly man handle the lever loop for it to open and cycle. Other then this 1 thing the gun is ok otherwise, instead of resending back to buds and Buds and or Marlin fixing the issue while I wait forever and a day. I’m just going to send mine to Boomstick Arms for an Action Job and to butter up my Marlin. This hasn’t ruined my thoughts about the ReMlin’s. Lol I just happened to get a poor QC one, my last Marlin I bought from Buds was the 1895sbl that had zero defect issues. It’s just bum luck I got a ReMlin, life goes on. I was going to do a Action Job on the rifle anyways Buds get a 5 star, the ReMlin gets 4 star.

Love this lever action. Short and accurate. I’ve been waiting 8 for this to return to production!

I was very excited to finally get this rifle, but it’s been nothing but trouble. First, the rifle came with a cross threaded stainless screw on the barrel band, which proceeded to break off at the head when I gently tried to back it out. Because of the design of the barrel band, and the way the screw broke off, I had to take it to my gunsmith to get it out. When he finally got the screw out and took the band and tube off, the dovetailed mount for the tube just fell out of its notch in the barrel! This is poor QC plain and simple. Afterward, first trip to the range, rounds would not load through the gate into the tube without significant effort...so, back to gunsmith. Turns out there were tooling burrs all around the inside of the receiver near the mag tube hole. So...I paid $980 for a new rifle, had to take it twice to my gunsmith (another $100), and I still have a rifle that rattles when it’s moved because the dovetailed mag tube mount is so loose. If you thought Marlin had finally gotten a handle on their QC, think again. Biggest mistake I’ve ever made in 40 yrs of purchases. Never again Marlin. Oh, almost forgot. Once I did finally get to shoot it,after about 25 rounds every screw on the gun was working itself loose. Barrel band, front sight, pic rail, loading gate, etc., etc.

Waited forever for this gun to come available and when it did I jump on it quickly and thanks to buds it went smooth nothing but good things to say keep up the good customer service