Well, I got myself a .444...and a bayonet? (finished, page 3)

[BigBoreOffroad]

Now, for those of you who weren't fans of my last build were I turned a brand new 336 into an 'evil black Marlin', you might want to stay away from this as well...

But seriously. Who wants to see a Marlin 444 with a USMC Ka-Bar Bayonet hanging off of it? I did, so I went and did it.


Well this is how it started.



Plain Jane, NIB Marlin Model 444 and a OKC KaBar Bayonet.

Well, first before anything starts, I needed to have a plan. The bayonet itself, the ring on the handle is 7/8" in diameter. Much larger then the barrel diameter on the Marlin, but not by much. Having a big ol Bore really helps when you need to fill a gap. I thought about soldering a sleeve on the barrel, but thought it would look stupid. Just a bulge in the barrel, with no real purpose. I decided against it and hit the drawing board.

Then I had to tackle the idea of the Bayonet Lug itself. Luckily that was the easiest part. Here in CT, you can't have a bayonet lug on a post ban AR15 if you have a pistol grip and the ability to have a detachable box magazine, so once in a while we will get a customer in who purchased a brand new upper for his AR15 and needs it to become CT compliant. Well, recently we had such an occurrence, but this time instead of just grinding it off, I would use a very thin blade hack saw and cut it off neatly and save it. Well, this is what I got.



A perfect little AR15 Bayonet lug cut from the front sight. It was just the right size. I milled some square edges and it came out perfect. It is seen there with the Magazine Cap.

Well, it was about this time, since I had ARs on my mind, that I remembered I had a Smith Enterprize Vortex Flash Suppressor just hangin around. Since I couldn't put that on an AR either, I threw it into a parts box and left it sit for about a year until just last week. I took a dial caliper to it and it was just the right size. Just under 7/8" in diameter. Perfect for threading onto the barrel.

Here it is.



But once again, another problem. It was for a .223. The caliber I want it for is for one that is twice the size quite literally. So after some measuring and some research, I figured out what I needed to do.



Those are the 1/2-28 threads that I needed to get rid of, so I simply did.



I got rid of those threads and opened it up to accept a 5/8-24 Tap. The size I needed for this to fit onto my barrel without the threads cutting into my bore of the 444.

So I got myself a Tap and some cutting oil and did it.



Then I chucked it up again and ran a drill bit through and opened up the entire Vortex itself.



I opened it to about .460" for clearance.

So now with the Vortex Flash Suppressor completely modified, I had to fit it to the Marlin, but first, I needed to get a bayonet lug onto the Marlin before I could make any more drastic measurements.

I'll admit openly I am not a very good welder and I don't even have access to one at my shop, so I ended up soldering the Bayonet Lug onto the 444's Magazine Cap. I removed all the blue from the cap and most of the paint from the lug and made myself a bootleg holding jig to solder. It ended up working out pretty well. I used a wide Flat Jaw vice grip to hold the two pieces together, while holding the vice grips in another vice.



Finished product after stick soldering with oxy-acetylene.



Well, I cleaned it up a bit and filed some of the excess solder off of the new Marlin Bayonet Lug and put it on the gun to make some measurements.



I was extremely pleased on how streamline it turned out to be. I know the idea of a Bayonet on a Marlin is absurd, but I didn't want to ruin the lines of the gun.

Well, after I got my measurements, I took the barrel off the gun and threw the barrel in the lathe to cut the 5/8-24 thread at the end of the barrel.

I ended up cutting just an inch and a half of the barrel off, just so the bayonet would sit on the Vortex in the perfect place.






Well, after all the fitting and reassembly, I finally got it all together.

Without the Bayonet.



With the Bayonet.




Yes, I am aware there aren't any sights on it, I have a set of Brockman's Winged Peep sights that are going to go on it Thursday. I also plan on Parkerizing this with a bead blast finish.

Make it look like a Military Marlin. I usually get my balls busted for doing stuff like this, but at least I can say now my Marlin can take a Standard Issue Bayonet. Good for fending off those darn Zombies.

More to come this week.

-Phil

[MudMan]

If you need a bayonet after unloading a 444, it's time to RUN, forget the knife thingy! (but it is kinda cool... don't tell anyone I said that)

[Leverdude]

Now you got a gun you can hunt with even if Obama gets a second term. I think its a cool Idea.

[MudMan]

Now you got a gun you can hunt with even if Obama gets a second term. I think its a cool Idea.

Nice shot, Leverdude. But man you have to be able to run to get them with the "spear".

[BigBoreOffroad]

Now you got a gun you can hunt with even if Obama gets a second term. I think its a cool Idea.

Nice shot, Leverdude. But man you have to be able to run to get them with the "spear".

Trying to justify a means for this build is useless and futile.

I did it because I could.

[FWiedner]

Very creative. You can probably manage a straight thrust, but I have my doubts about your mag tube surviving a slash that encounters bone or armored protective gear.

I'm absolutely certain that you could start a trend among the hog hunting gang.

[rripper]

That's a cool idea. If not functional, at least a great, one of a kind conversation piece.

[white fox]

Pig Stickin......Nice....Very Nice.
I would have cried if I were to cut a new Marlin.

[375Win]

An awesome project !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,

Carl

[Halwg]

Everyone thinks it's cool but me...I think it's an it's an outlandish defacing of a perfectly good 444 Marlin. But that's my opinion and it's your gun, and you can do whatever you please with it. At least we still have those freedoms in America.