762 shooter
01-28-2016, 07:15 PM
I am thinking of buying a shooter from my buddy. Here's the rundown.
1881 Marlin lever, 28" barrel, full magazine, heavy and tight.. 8XXX serial number puts born on date at 1884. There are no caliber markings. It has been reblued some time ago and the polishing was a little heavy handed. It might have been in bad shape and was needed. The bluing is quite nice.
I'm pretty sure it is 45 caliber. My friend is going to pin gauge the muzzle tomorrow.
The 1881 was manufactured with 45-70 and 45-85 Marlin chambers. My thinking is to chamber a 45-70 brass with a barely seated 500 grain boolit to see if I can get a sense of where the rifling starts. From what I've read the two chamberings use the same brass just different names.
Is there an easier way to determine the chamber dimensions in a Marlin lever?
I'm excited to have access to this classic as a shooter. I would think that being reblued would remove it from the collectors attention. I will probably be on the layaway plan. No pictures yet.
762
1881 Marlin lever, 28" barrel, full magazine, heavy and tight.. 8XXX serial number puts born on date at 1884. There are no caliber markings. It has been reblued some time ago and the polishing was a little heavy handed. It might have been in bad shape and was needed. The bluing is quite nice.
I'm pretty sure it is 45 caliber. My friend is going to pin gauge the muzzle tomorrow.
The 1881 was manufactured with 45-70 and 45-85 Marlin chambers. My thinking is to chamber a 45-70 brass with a barely seated 500 grain boolit to see if I can get a sense of where the rifling starts. From what I've read the two chamberings use the same brass just different names.
Is there an easier way to determine the chamber dimensions in a Marlin lever?
I'm excited to have access to this classic as a shooter. I would think that being reblued would remove it from the collectors attention. I will probably be on the layaway plan. No pictures yet.
762