1889 Marlin

[sharps4590]

I don't believe this particular rifle has been used for anything in several decades. You know how, after setting in a closet, under a bed, in the rafters or wherever, the grooves become filled with dust, it mixes with whatever oil or moisture might be in the bore and after decades, it petrifies....or nearly so. That's what the gunk in this bore appears to be and what the resultant pits are from...with the always probability of mercuric priming.. Even with the bore, it's growing on me but, I have an ineradicable fondness for old rifles, foreign and domestic.

Still...I find the ejection....amusing if nothing else.

[Battis]

Once you get used to the ejecting, it's nice. When I shoot my Winchester Self Loaders, I'm more interested in where the brass lands than how the bullets group on the target. Those suckers toss the brass. But the Marlin drops them at my feet in nice little groups.
Have you tried hot water down the bore, in case BP was used and not cleaned properly?

[sharps4590]

Which would be the biggest reason I am not much of an auto loader shooter. I hate chasing and losing brass. My 92's fling brass pretty good as well but at least it's straight up. My '86 does the same thing just not as high.

No Battis, I haven't tried hot water. Sounds like a project for tomorrow. Thanks for the tip...never occurred to me.

[carolina sorillo]

HA, the only self loading rifle I own is a Marlin Model 60! I don't mind losing .22 brass.

When I was shooting BP in SASS my BP "solvent" was hot tap water. I rinsed with hot water ran a dry paper towel down the bore followed by a Ballistol patch. Sounds like yours may need a brush between hot water baths. But it does clean BP fouling well and the hot water will evaporate pretty quick, instead of sitting in/on the gun to cause rust.

CS

[sharps4590]

I have an M-1 carbine and an SKS but they haven't been fired in....25 years? I have three 22 semi-auto's but they rarely see use. I inherited all three of them.

Yes sir, I've been using boiling water to clean my muzzleloaders and percussion revolvers since about '75 or '76. Haven't found anything better. I was just recently turned on to Ballistol. That's pretty good stuff!!

[sharps4590]

I have an M-1 carbine and an SKS but they haven't been fired in....25 years? I have three 22 semi-auto's but they rarely see use. I inherited all three of them.

Yes sir, I've been using boiling water to clean my muzzleloaders and percussion revolvers since about '75 or '76. Haven't found anything better. I was just recently turned on to Ballistol. That's pretty good stuff!!

[sharps4590]

Welp, I believe I have the bore as clean as it's going to get. It's pitted, surprise, surprise. Shot about 75 jacketed bullets through it, cleaned it as best I could then lead lapped it and cleaned it again. It shot the jacketed bullets fairly well....at 25 yards. Of 5 fired it always seemed to throw at least one, usually two with the other 3 cutting a nice little cloverleaf. The two outliers could be me, I haven't broke out the rests yet. Perhaps today. Haven't tried cast yet, maybe this week.

[Battis]

Glad it works well. And you gotta admit, it's a fun, easy caliber to shoot. I had a "modern" 1894 Winchester 30-30 that I gave to my son. I don't hunt, and it wasn't a target rifle.
I've read that the .32 WSL is the most useless cartridge ever developed - too small for big game, too big for small game. I also read that same cliched description about the 32-20. But, like I said, I don't hunt, and they're great plinkers.

[sharps4590]

I've been shooting a 32-20 since the mid-80's and it's been one of my favorite cartridges, revolver and rifle, ever since. On the farm I carried an old Colt Army Special in 32-20 for....15 years(?). It killed a lot of stuff in that time. I had a '92 that I had re-lined and it was a shooter. My oldest son took it and left me withou a rifle in that cartridge...soooo...I waited and finally found this Marlin I was willing to pay for.

I did put the rifle on bags and with jacketed bullets at 25 yards it was one, elongated hole at 25 yards and sub 2 inch at 50 for 6 rounds. First three were under an inch. Tried cast and the first shot at 50 wasn't even on an approximately 12 X 12 inch target. Moved the target to 25 and it shot a 4+ inch group. So much for a cast bullet shooter.

I don't have any way to post pictures on this board but could e-mail them if there's any interest and someone wanted to post them.

[Battis]

Here's a few pics from Sharps4590 of his 1889 Marlin .32. Lookin' good...

[prs]

I expected it to look rougher than that. Nice! If the bore is rough, you could powder coat your cast lead bullets before sizing them. That would prevent leading.

I put a dose of Ballistol right into my pot of scalding water for BP firearms cleaning. Flash dries, but does not flash rust.

prs

[sharps4590]

Thank you prs. I wasn't displeased with the outside appearance at all. The rifle is 127 years old and came out of Montana so I expect it saw plenty use in its day. I really can't complain about the bore much, given its age and the use of mercuric priming and more than likely BP. I've decided to just stick with jacketed bullets. They shoot fine and I don't powder coat and I'm not interested in adding another step to my handloading at my age. I do swage jacketed bullets and along with casting that's enough.

[Don McDowell]

I have an 89 in 38-40, the bore looked horrible, but after a lot of cleaning with Montana Extreme Cowboy blend it lost a lot of what looked like pitting, but was actually lead and fouling hunks. Interesting enough it shoots some commercially cast coated bullets well and those seem to have helped remove a lot of the tarnish in the bore.
I also find it interesting that when shooting bullets cast from an original Ideal loading tool it will give you problems with the Marlin jam occasionally, but using bullets cast from the rcbs 180 gr mould it doesn't, and it doesn't happen shooting the coated bullets either. I think it has a lot to do with the nose shape.

[sharps4590]

Don, do you think the Montana Extreme got out...leading, that over 100 rounds of jacketed bullets and lead lapping didn't? That's not a smart aleck question, I'm game to try anything to improve the bore...almost.

[Don McDowell]

That Cowboy blend stuff works really good. The only thing better is pure gum spirits of turpentine. imho
Friend of mine has a 93 takedown in 38-55 bore has looked like 37 miles of bad road since he got it several years ago, he's done the lapping, the JB paste etc.. After a match last month we were sitting at camp, and he was crabbing about it fouling out again. I asked him if I could try cleaning it, went to work on it with the Cowboy blend , and their Accuracy oil, after about a dozen patches I handed it back to him, he exclaimed that's the best that barrel has ever looked. I have to wonder what it might of looked like if we would of had a jag that fit the bore instead of a 32 caliber...