Marlin 1893 38-55 @ auction...........

[Knarley]

This coming weekend I'll be looking at an 1893 38-55. The description in the paper has me a bit confused tho.............

Marlin Safety Model 1893 38-55
Lever Action, Octagon Barrel
S/N 1248xx

I have read that the 1893 was in production from 1893 - 1936
Am wondering about the "Safety"

In average condition, used but not abused...What would the price range be?........... A BP 38-55 would be way cool!

Thanks,
Knarley

[BK7saum]

I would imagine that the "safety" is the marlin "safety steel" that was developed for smokeless powder. I've seen .22 Marlins with "safety steel" along the top of the receiver.

As to price, I would not know.

Brad

[pietro]

.

FWIW, the top surface of the Marlin's at that time were inscribed: "Marlin Safety"

http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/15606/15604422_5.jpg?v=8CFDDECB2AE7F90


.

[enfield]

I believe the Marlin Safety refers to the interrupted firing pin that required the lever to be up and the block to push the 2 piece firing pin into proper position, my 1889 , 1894 's have it.

[bigted]

I believe the Marlin Safety refers to the interrupted firing pin that required the lever to be up and the block to push the 2 piece firing pin into proper position, my 1889 , 1894 's have it.

that makes sense as mine also has the "MARLIN SAFETY" across the top of the receiver and it is a "93" as well. my barrel is stamped "special smokless steel" to indicate the steel is to accommodate the smokless powder loads ... making it safe for all powders to be shot in it.

I still love shooting the BP loads thru mine and I feel great satisfaction in shooting it this way even tho it is manufactured late enough to be specifically for smokeless loads.

the "93"'s are great for this BP shooting as they field strip so easily for a thorough cleaning from the breech.

I mounted an early Lyman peep to the side of mine [of approximately the same time period] as I dearly love the rifle but need sights that are eye friendly to an ol geezer. mine is wounded but "fixed" at the wrist wood and has a vintage screw thru the wrist wood to hold the stock together plus whatever glue they used. it is a 1 of a kind and safe and solid to shoot so I just have a ball with it.

I also shoot unique loads in it as well as IMR3031 loads and it handles everything with ease. my barrel was pitted to bad for use so I had it re-lined as well with the exact dimensions it came with and now this ol rifle will keep going until my grand babies are grown and gone I would imagine.

I gave $450.00 around 6 years ago for mine and it was in kinda poor shape ... the re-line job cost me $250.00 total so I am still in it real solid I figure and my love affair with it is enhanced not diminished for the repairs done to it.

good luck with your new addition and pictures are always welcome.

[Knarley]

Well, I haven't seen it yet, could just as well be a junker too. I don't like auctions, every one thinks that it's the last gun in the word. If it's worth $300.00 they will pay $750.00 for it.

Time will tell...............

[bigted]

I totally agree with you there. I wait till I can get my rifle at the price I want to pay. I may bid on several before I get the lucky win.

[Knarley]

Auction starts @ 9, I'll be there @ 8. Suppozed to rain tomorrow, wish me luck

[bigted]

good luck Knarley ... hope lady luck shines on ya in the rain.

[Knarley]

Well,
We stood in the drizzle, and the wind. A couple bouts of rain, and some thunder. This is the first auction I've ever been to that they did the firearms LAST! Good lord the junk for sale.
Finally, after 3 hrs of 60 degree wind they got to the guns. Most went for what I'd call a fair price, more on the full retail end tho. Got to the Marlin and at least I got to bid on it...once.
I almost had it, but................it went for $200.00 more than I wanted to bid. I went higher than I planned, but the guy who bought it didn't seem to be slowing down, time to bail.......
Perhaps next time.
The gun WAS in nice shape, good looking bore, pretty nice wood. Smokeless steel octagon barrel. Had been used, but taken care of. I hope it went to a good home.

Knarley

[BrentD]

Knarley, what was the final hammer price on the gun? I'm curious given the wide range of values that I hear about on the net.

[6pt-sika]

For what it's worth back about 2005-2006 I started accumulating 1893's . The first I got was a very nice full octagon circa 1906 in 25-36 that had factory swivels , paid $800 for that one . Next was a also 1906 in 32-40 that was half octagon half round in very nice shape for $1250 . That was followed by a circa 1910 in 30-30 full octagon but in about 90-95% that one set me back $1100 . After that I got a circa 1894 in 38-55 full octagon with a half mag in good shootable shape but the finish was worn for about $700 . And the worst in the bunch was the last a circa 1906 in 32 HPS , gun had a round barrel the bore was frosted , the butt was replaced and I paid $700 just because I couldn't find any other 32 Specials and I wanted one in an 1893 !

I have since sold or traded them all off and I got a decent profit on them all when it was said and done .

[OverMax]

Better off going to estate sales then farm auctions I think. Farm auctioneers always hold the best for last. As a bidder at those types of auctions one best beware of bidding shills in their audience.

[Knarley]

Knarley, what was the final hammer price on the gun? I'm curious given the wide range of values that I hear about on the net.

It went for $1125.00 which isn't too bad a price, but it was more than I had in my pocket. The guy who bought it , bought most of the guns there. Must have been a dealer.
I was looking to use the gun as a shooter, not an investment, so would only go so far.

Knarley

[country gent]

I go to local auction house and "examine" rifles for the auctioneer with my hawkeye bore scope at times. Even he is amazed at the prices firearms bring on the block at times. Hes a decent Guy and friend of the family. Hes told me that at some autions a simple statement of being examined with a bore scope when bidding slows will bring another round of bids even though he dosnt give what was seen just examined. Id hate to have to buy a firearm at an auction.

[6pt-sika]

It went for $1125.00 which isn't too bad a price, but it was more than I had in my pocket. The guy who bought it , bought most of the guns there. Must have been a dealer.
I was looking to use the gun as a shooter, not an investment, so would only go so far.

Knarley


I bought all the ones I had to shoot with the possibility of maybe selling for a profit later and it worked quite nicely .

[Knarley]

I bought all the ones I had to shoot with the possibility of maybe selling for a profit later and it worked quite nicely .

There wasn't gonna be much meat left on the bone at that price, like I said, that other guy showed no signs of slowing down.

[BrentD]

There wasn't gonna be much meat left on the bone at that price, like I said, that other guy showed no signs of slowing down.

Unless it had a pistol grip and a custom order long barrel and other super desirable features, I would agree he paid top of the market prices, given what I have seen.

[Knarley]

Unless it had a pistol grip and a custom order long barrel and other super desirable features, I would agree he paid top of the market prices, given what I have seen.

No on the pistol grip,it did have a long barrel, I didn't measure tho. The rear sigh flipped up & down, would not stay in position, and had the white diamond, but no sighting notch. The front sight was also a flipper, but it looked like a hooded post. Had some striping in the stock, the usual dents and dings, and a small crack by the receiver. the fore stock was checkered with the usual dents and dings. The gun was mostly silver, I don't think it had a case colored receiver. The bore looked good, but really needed a scrubbing.
I HAD planned on maybe $600.00, but when I looked at it, figured $900.00, chased it to $1000.00 & bailed.
I have another major purchase coming up shortly..........decided to keep the bank roll intact till then..
Knarley

[BrentD]

I think you made the right choise Knarley. A long barrel would have been 28" or longer. The sights might have been worth a little if in good condition, but sounds like the rear one was not. I'd have pitched out at about the same point I think, maybe even a little earlier.

[Geezer in NH]

When in the gun shop biz When I went to local auctions I ALWAYS opened the bid high it drove off the bidders with no *(^^S. MY bid was fair so I could make 30% after selling. Most times I won it without any cross bids.

[Knarley]

If they jump off the cliff right off the bat, I'm a spectator.
They wanted to start the bidding @ $2000.00 ya could have heard a pin drop, tried $1500.00, nope, tried a grand, got a bid @ $500.00 then it was off to the races!!
I've seen way too many guns go way too high. I was just looking for a new toy, heck, I didn't even cry my self to sleep over it :wink:

Knarley

[TXGunNut]

Keep looking, Knarley. I've seen pretty nice 93's go for much more but I think you made the right call. Auctions are lots of fun but some folks get caught up in all the excitement, sometimes I just shake my head. Other times I raise my hand , lol.

[Geezer in NH]

Blame dealers for driving prices up. HOW??? As a former dealer I bid guns to where I could make a profit. At many local auctions other bidders did not like me as they were trying to STEAL the item to bad folks money is money. Don't like how much I bid and you wanted the item so bad why did you stop bidding? To me you just wanted to CHEAT the widow. How's That Huh????????

[6pt-sika]

Blame dealers for driving prices up. HOW??? As a former dealer I bid guns to where I could make a profit. At many local auctions other bidders did not like me as they were trying to STEAL the item to bad folks money is money. Don't like how much I bid and you wanted the item so bad why did you stop bidding? To me you just wanted to CHEAT the widow. How's That Huh????????

We have a shop and I sell on the internet a good deal . I make more money selling other folks guns for them then I do buying and selling !

[Buckshot]

.............You have to let people know what you're interested in looking for. Visit all the places around you that sell guns and let them know you're interested in "Old Guns". People these days are really idiotic about guns. There was an old pistol shooter at our range and all he shot was pistols. He had some nice ones too. Mostly old Smiths. He passed away and his wife (who had no love for guns) didn't know what to do with them and was going to wrap them up in rags and put them in her trash cans, a few each week! Luckily her daughter said that he'd shot with some guys at the range so she contacted one (a friend of mine). He went over to her place an appraised them for her at realistic prices and they all sold in a couple days.

A son of a former city councilman here in town had his father pass away. His dad had a Wesson 'pistol pack'. One of those brief case deals with a Dan Wesson revolver with like 5 different barrels. He didn't know what to do with it so he took it to the local PD. An officer bought it for $450. Best thing was the old guy was also a boolit caster and had had 3 wooden boxes full of moulds. He was going to toss'em out but a friend of mine who knew I was into casting said he'd take them. There were NEI, Saeco, Lyman, RCBS, and Raphine moulds in the boxes. I picked out what I wanted and sold the balance here on the board, netting several hundred bucks.

Letting people know what you're interested in will really help. Sometimes it's trash but sometimes not. I bought this Miroku M92 in 45 Colt .............

http://www.fototime.com/745969169444B08/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/DA71F46E61B6784/standard.jpg

For $350 because it was missing the buttplate! A gunshop was closing as the owner was moving to Reno Nevada and he had a few guns he couldn't sell, but he had a note from me so called me up. I was able to buy a 1893 Marlin 30-30 with a trashed bore for $200 and a new Rossi M92 Carbine 38/357 for $375. The M93 Marlin I ended turning into a so called "Light weight rifle"...................

http://www.fototime.com/72A8FA97FC3CDA9/standard.jpg

By buying a NOS Marlin barrel from Numrich for $35, and $45 for a new buttstock.

If you let folks know what you're interested in, keep your ear to the ground you can sometimes come up with some treasures. My best deal was this 1893 Marlin.......

http://www.fototime.com/47DD87E404FADAE/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/AD326EF2BBA0D5F/standard.jpg

It's chambered 38-55, has a half round, half octagon 26" bbl and a half magazine, along with the Marlin "S" type buttplate. I had an O1 FFL at the time, and while at work I'd called around to some of the smaller advertisers in the Shotgun News (this was about 10 years ago), just killing time while at work. I got a call back from a place in upper New York State who had this rifle. It was mine for $450 + shipping if I was interested. But sometimes you'll have to deal with folks who have old uncle Festus's pistol and they want a fortune for it because it's old. It turnes out to be an old worn out H&R is 32 S&W long and the cylinder spins and won't lock up and such. But sometimes you do turn up a gem. People do the darndest things with guns these days so you just have to keep your ear to the ground.

...............Buckshot