Early 70s 444 Marlin

[btroj]

Got an early 70s 444 Marlin from my father in law last Christmas. That and his remaining loads for what was his rifle.

Tore it down completely for a good cleaning. Holy cow was the action rough. The entire action was a mass of machine marks and burrs. The lever and bolt got some stoning to clean up machine marks. The ejector slot in the bolt is rougher than a gravel road.

After cleaning things up, oiling, and reassembly it does run a bit smoother.

I hadn't seen a carrier with the cartridge lifter on the front of it before. Kinda weird.

Compared to my 4 2000s era Marlins this thing was rough. My newer levers were far smothers from the get go.

The wood on this older gun is slimmer and fits better but otherwise it isn't near as nice.

Oh, I also had forgotten how loooooooonnnnggggg the lever throw on this rifle is. Might not be longer than my 1895 but it sure feels like it.

[6pt-sika]

Strange I had in excess of two dozen of these old pre 1975 444's and none were rough .

[bikerbeans]

That 444 should have never left the factory! Send it to me for proper disposition.[smilie=1:



BB

[btroj]

I was pretty shocked at what I saw. It was everywhere too. The internal portion of the lever, the entire inside of the frame, the slot for the ejector in the bolt. The wear pattern in the bluing on the lever pretty well told me where to work.

[C. Latch]

My dad has an old .444, I think it's a '74 model, and I have a '75 30-30.

Honestly, we've never hunted with either of them; he bought his because he ran across a deal on it, and I bought mine because I wanted to have a lever gun 'just because'. They are both internally very rough; some parts look like they were machined with sandstone and a Dremel tool. However, the bearing surfaces of these various parts must be smooth, or must have been worn smooth, as both of them operate very slickly.