Old Marlin still working hard

[BrentD]

Here is the results of a 4.5 day hunt for antelope with a vintage Marlin. We passed up a couple hundred mature bucks over that time and never found one that we considered truly trophy class, so with time running out and a storm moving in, I settled for this nice meat buck. The bullet was a 250 gr Lyman Flat nosed bullet cast 40:1 and pushed with 46 gr of Swiss 3 fg. Range was 165 yds.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessie/PPB/Marlin/Antelope%202016%20Marlin%2093%2038-55%20small.jpg

[shoot-n-lead]

Good job!

[richhodg66]

Excellent! Like to see those old lever guns still doing what they were designed to do.

[Spruce]

Nice job, and great shooting. Good firearms earning there keep. Thanks for pics.

[dverna]

I like guns.....I love old guns.

[Fenring]

That's cool.

[BrentD]

I like guns.....I love old guns.

this is a rather modern gun by my standards, but l like her just the same.

[white eagle]

very nice

[Beerd]

38-55?
..

[tdoyka]

very nice!!!

[BrentD]

yes, 38-55

[CITYREPO61]

Great job!

[OnHoPr]

Bravo, great nostalgia there. Glad you live in an area where you are able to make choices for looking for premium animals and being able to fill the tag anyways in the last couple of days.

[nagantguy]

very very cool, love those old vintage arms, thank you for sharing this. I was suprised however every hunting shooting rag I read says or implys strongly that speed goats only fall to jacketed bullets going about 4000 fps from stainless polymer rifles topped with 50 power glass.

[BrentD]

Bravo, great nostalgia there. Glad you live in an area where you are able to make choices for looking for premium animals and being able to fill the tag anyways in the last couple of days.

Actually, I live in Iowa. However, I am willing to risk going home empty-handed in order to find a big one. It was just that after 4 hard days of hunting and looking at at least 200 animals I was pretty confident there was not a big one out there waiting for me this time. I was lucky to get the one I did on the morning of the last day for the wind blew us to Montana.

[Texas by God]

very very cool, love those old vintage arms, thank you for sharing this. I was suprised however every hunting shooting rag I read says or implys strongly that speed goats only fall to jacketed bullets going about 4000 fps from stainless polymer rifles topped with 50 power glass.
Walk slowy directly toward them with your barrel down and you'll be suprised how close you can get. Yesterday a small buck and I shared a moment at 100 yds before he walked away. Best, Thomas.

[BrentD]

sometimes that works. I tried it last Wednesday and I couldn't close within 300, much less the 200 that I needed.

I've done it with whitetails in the middle of cornfields too, but it only works ococcasionally for me.

[dlbarr]

Nice. Like seeing things done the old way: leverguns & black powder.

[JDL]

Brent, Nice buck with an awesome rifle. Love those old Marlins. I'm curious about the lever screw?

[BrentD]

Man, I have gotten a lot of questions about that screw! Well, just so you all know, the original screw is under the buttplate with some other spare parts, so if I die and you buy it from my widow, please pay her top dollar and be assured you will have the original screw with it :) :) :)


anyway, the reason for the screw is because I shoot this rifle in the NRA CLA nationals using black powder. While I use a pull through gizmo of my own design to wipe between banks of animals, the thumb screws lets me easily pull the breech to clean from the rear whenever I wish (between animals or after the match, etc.). You can buy a thumb screw like that on ebay, which is where I got this one. It just saves me from having to carry a screwdriver around.

If you are going to shoot black powder in a lever gun, make sure it is a Marlin. SO much easier to clean.

[ammohead]

Walk slowy directly toward them with your barrel down and you'll be suprised how close you can get. Yesterday a small buck and I shared a moment at 100 yds before he walked away. Best, Thomas.

Good luck with that after opening day and they have been shot at. I too have done similar things like calling them in with a white handkerchief. But only when things are at the most normal for them. Once the human, truck, quad traffic quadruples where they live they are on to the program and curiosity is replaced with caution.

[TXGunNut]

Good job, nice old Marlin! Good shooting too, that's a pretty long shot for most folks with a scoped bolt gun.

[Texas by God]

I would love a 38-55 Marlin. Old or new. Yes, that stalking technique doesn't work with nervous she-goats around very often, either. Way to go on that buck!

[taco650]

yes, 38-55

Nice job! Love to see people still using old lever guns, inspires me to break out my 1928 vintage M-94 30-30 for deer this year LOL!

Could you shoot it with smokeless powder loads or is it too old to be rated for them?

[BrentD]

I can and do shoot it with smokeless, but I don't like to admit to it in public. About 19 grs of 4198 as I recall (don't trust that though). I shot smokeless in it for years while at the nationals, but that is so BORING.

The barrel is stamped "Special Smokeless Steel" actually.

[ascast]

Nice shot ! I would like to hear a few details about the actual killing performance. Where did you hit it? Did the bullet go in and out? Did it run? How far? Did you recover the bullet? Was it complete?

[BrentD]

Well, nice shot is sorta relative. It worked out fine, but in truth, I unintentionally spined him and simultaneously took out his dorsal aorta, so he dropped on the spot like a sack of potatoes and bled out really quick. Not what I had intended, but it accomplished the deed. No bullet recovered. It exited.

[TXGunNut]

I can and do shoot it with smokeless, but I don't like to admit to it in public. About 19 grs of 4198 as I recall (don't trust that though). I shot smokeless in it for years while at the nationals, but that is so BORING.

The barrel is stamped "Special Smokeless Steel" actually.

Agreed, wish I could have stuck around to watch the matches in Raton this summer. Probably just as well, that looked like a game I'd like to play. Not sure I'd shoot BP but pretty sure I'd want to bring an old Winchester to the line every chance I got. I have an 1892 in 32WCF getting relined.....

[BrentD]

A 92 Winchester is probably the most popular pistol cartridge rifle at the Nationals. It is a fine, if complicated rifle. I would shoot it with smokeless probably because it is hard to pull the bolt and clean from the rear.

If there is one thing I suck at, it's shooting lever guns offhand. But it sure is fun, so we do it fo 4 days before settling down with the singleshots where I can actually hit something.

[woodbutcher]

:) Nice buck there.Nicer rifle too.That deal with the white hanky is called
"Toling".
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[jaysouth]

You must be pulling our chain. Everybody knows you can't kill a 'goat' at that range with iron sights. You must use at least 12X with a super advanced state of technology bonded bullet at 4,000 fps.