[RidgerunnerAK]

I just picked up a very nice mod 92 levergun. It's not all original and has some selective restoration but didn't cost $3K either. S/N A6334. It says it has a 39 bbl - the roll stamp is vintage style - have no idea of when it was rebbl'd. Am wondering if there are any vintage tang sights available for these. My old eyes don't do well with bbl mounted rear sights these days. May look into the screw spacing on a Skinner sight as this one has 3 oddly spaced plugged holes on top of the receiver. Also has a very nice ladder type sight. The tang is drilled and there are two plugged holes in the L side of the receiver that may have held a side mount scope mount? Am also wondering if the correct muzzle on such a gun would be crowned a bit or flat; this one is flat. I'll post a few pics. It's a sweety and the .22 I've wanted for a very long time. The bore looks pristine. I hope it shoots well. If it does my golden 39A is on the block for sure. Am wondering also about loading it. The magazine tube is spring loaded. Are you supposed to just hold it while you insert shells? I can't seem to make it lock when it's pulled out. I tried rotating it a bit while out to find a detent or something but no luck. Any advice on ammo? Do they shoot standard high velocity .22's well? Do they generally cycle shorts well? My 39A doesn't cycle shorts well at all, hasn't since new in '73. The internals on this one are as tight as new and slick as anything. Just for background, I'm not a newbie to Marlins. I have two 1895's (no hammer blocks, '79 and '92 vintage) in .45-70 and my 39A. I used to have an 1895, in 1978, that someone had extended the mag to full length; that was interesting.

 

[cj57]

Who ever did the work on it, did a fine job! Both Lyman and Marbles made tang sights for the 92.I would only shoot standard velocity as the older models 91,92,97, and early 39 bolts can't handle high velocity.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

Thanks. Yes, the work is stunning really and clearly done by a real pro. Most people would think it hadn't been touched but you can see some polishing irregularities if you slant it into the light just right. The polish is too good if anything. What about the magazine?? Seems it should lock into position somehow once you have it pulled out. Does anyone even make "standard velocity" .22's anymore? I do squirrel control with CCI Quiet 22's, which are nice. I don't see the S/N on the lists I downloaded. A6334. Any idea of year of production?

 

[Schtoolee]

Those CCI Quiets will work just fine, 1100-1150fps or less. As to the mag tube, there should be a part of the inner mag tub that is ground in.
The edge of the outer tube,that is cut back, and bent in, should slip into it and hold, while loading.
It is possible that Marlin replaced the barrel with a Model 39 barrel, and refinished it, but without a bill of sale, who knows. As to date, around the 1st World War.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

The quiet .22's are too expensive to take out an shoot hundreds up and just like elsewhere there are no .22's to be had up here these days. The quiets make less noise than a short. I only have a few boxes of the Quiets but have plenty of normal HV .22 in stock. What is the issue with normal Hi-velocity ammo in these guns? Is it mechanical or do they just not shoot accurately due to twist rate or something? I can live with it not being a tack driver but don't want to damage it. CJ57 said the bolts won't handle the HV, indicating some mechanical issue. I'd like to know more precisely what the issue is so I know what I'm dealing with and appreciate any help I can get.

I found the bent in part on the outer tube but there doesn't seem to be a detent in the inner tube for it to lock into. Could be a case of a frankengun that isn't all quite right. I'll keep working on it. Hard to believe that a gun this well done would lack something like that.

Update: Looking at it with a magnifier I can see that there is a shallow surface cut on the inner mag tube to act as a stop for the outer tube but the bent in part on the outer tube is bent in a tad too far. Seems a detent cut would have worked better. If you twisted the outer tube hard enough to get it into the cut it has you'd mangle the tube. I'll have to take it apart and gently unbend the bent part a tiny tiny bit.

 

[cj57]

On older guns the bolt would crack, using high velocity ammo. due to machining. A horizontal cut across the bolt behind the locking bolt course this. In 1932 they change the way they were machine leaving out the cut, allowing the use of our velocity. The 39s with HS prefix have the improved bolts.

 

[RGR]

Aguila had some "target" L R at one time at less than a hock your first born son price. Like you say though, any 22 is rarer than finding Obama telling the truth. Target stuff was usually expensive but the Aguila was priced for a working mans budget and it shoots just fine should you ever see some, grab it.

Speaking of 22 accuracy, it varies greatly. A buddy had scored a second hand 10 22 recently, he was getting a good improved cylinder type group at 25 yards, I mean like 5 inches. Everyone knows an out of the crate 10 22 aint a match gun, but they shoot better than that and he was using CCI stingers for what ever reason.

I happend to have a mixed box of odd left over ammo in my shooting bag, everything from WW to Rem to Fed, some of it pretty grungy from age. We found 10 that the head stamps matched pretty close, and the groups shrank by half.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

I found a rimfire website that has a list of most all the .22 ammo made and compiled a list of .22 ammo from 5 makers that is in the 1000-1150 fps range. I even remembered that I have an inherited box of match .22 ammo on the shelf somewhere. I think it will take a while but I'll come up with enough ammo to make this purchase a good one. It is such a sweet little levergun. Whew. Perfect weight and buttery smooth operation.

Speaking of the .22 accuracy issue, a friend dealt with that recently with 3-4 vintage Win mod 63 semi autos he bought for his grandkids. He had stacks of bricks of all sorts of ammo and started methodically printing them all on paper. In the end he got rid of everything he had except the CCI Mini-mags, which shot the straightest in every one of the guns by a wide margin. We took everything else to a Denver gunshow where we worked at a friends table and sold them all very quickly for $35/brick.

Update: I actually have almost 5 boxes of PMC and Fiocchi match .22 ammo someone left me when they moved to Oregon. I am set for a while, at least long enough to get it sighted in. What a great surprise. Here it is next to the 1895 that was given to me many years ago by the same friend who more recently left me the .22 ammo. This one has taken moose and deer up here and has been my bear gun for 35 yrs. We have put in many hundreds of miles together I can tell you.

 

[Hornetb]

I found the bent in part on the outer tube but there doesn't seem to be a detent in the inner tube for it to lock into. Could be a case of a frankengun that isn't all quite right. I'll keep working on it. Hard to believe that a gun this well done would lack something like that.

Update: Looking at it with a magnifier I can see that there is a shallow surface cut on the inner mag tube to act as a stop for the outer tube but the bent in part on the outer tube is bent in a tad too far. Seems a detent cut would have worked better. If you twisted the outer tube hard enough to get it into the cut it has you'd mangle the tube. I'll have to take it apart and gently unbend the bent part a tiny tiny bit.

Be careful fixing that mag tube - NO TWISTING!!!!. I agree its not the best design but it works ok. You might find that the notch on the inner mag tube has polished and rounded over in the years of use so it no longer has enough depth or a sharp enough edge to catch the corresponding tab on the outer mag tube. The outer mag tube tab might also have rounded off a little in the lip so that again it wont catch the notch properly.

BUT DON'T TWIST IT!!! If you need to twist it to line anything up then something is wrong, and I suspect that the inner mag tube is for some reason rotated into the wrong position. How that would happen is beyond me because the magazine screw that holds the mag to the barrel near the muzzle sets the position for the tube. Again, it may have been modified perhaps but I doubt it. But don't twist anything. These magazines are finicky and pretty lightly built, if you twist anything and manage to kink any of the roll steel parts your mag may well be stuffed and wont work properly again. If that happens its time to find a mag tube off a 39a and adapt it because there are no parts for these original mags anywhere.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

I can line the outer tube up with the ledge cut on the inner tube but the bent in portion on the outer is bent in too much to ride over the inner tube. The ledge looks good - sharp to for the outer tube to catch on. Coulld well be that it's not the original outer tube as there's no way it will rotate on the ledge and hold. I've been playing with it while wearing a magnifier and can see what's happening in there. It just won't go. The bent in portion/tab on the outer tube does not look monkeyed with either. It's a nice clean bend and doesn't look worn. If I were even able to force it over onto the inner tube it would be so tight it would wear a notch in no time.

Update: I'm wondering if there should actually be a notch in the longitudinal slot in the inner tube for the "tab" on the outer tube to swing into to hold it??? That's what it seems it should be. That is NOT what this one has. There is just a very shallow ledge cut on the inner tube that is a small fraction of a mm and would barely be able to hold the bent tab on the outer tube even if it would slide over and onto it. Can someone tell me the exact nature of the cut that is supposed to hold the outer tube? Is there a schematic somewhere that shows it? If it is supposed to have one it certainly wouldn't be difficult to make it.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

I found a picture of a mag tube. It looks like there is a hole cut where I've put an arrow and that is where the outer tube tab locks. Mine does not have that cut through the tube. There's a shallow surface cut that does not go through the tube wall and only makes a very shallow ledge. I'm thinking this is a replacement tube of some sort that was not done quite correctly. Am I close? I can easily make that cut on my small milling machine if that is what is supposed to be there and I know pretty closely how big it should be. Otherwise I will be holding the outer tube out tube by hand while I drop cartridges into the loading port. I may have to consult Bill Brophy on this; he lives here in Fairbanks and is a friend.

 

[Schtoolee]

I couldn't find this before, here is what it should look like.

Left click to enlarge.

 

[RGR]

I had picked up my very first 97 some time back, am not certain if they are same same as the 92, but, talk about a dern nightmare design. Makes me wonder if they didnt have to fudge around some other simpler already patented design.

 

[Schtoolee]

I had picked up my very first 97 some time back, am not certain if they are same same as the 92, but, talk about a dern nightmare design. Makes me wonder if they didnt have to fudge around some other simpler already patented design.

Same design, from the 2nd variation on 1891, though most of the 39's, and all of the pumps. You would of thought, someone must of came up with the new design, long before that.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

Schtoolee: THAT's the picture I needed to see. That's what my inner tube looks like but my outer tube does not have those two cuts to make the spring loaded portion. My outer tube is clearly not original. A Frankengun it is. At least I know. I'll have to dwell on this for a bit and decide how to proceed. I don't have a good way to make those cuts, at least not in a way would make them "pretty". I can live with holding it open by hand until I figure out some reasonable way to proceed. I'll see if I can get a picture of the bent tab on mine. It's nothing like your picture. Thank you very much.

Update: This is what my 'tab' looks like. It's also a guide in the slot. Couldn't get good light on it but it's just a small dented area, professionally done, not just bashed in, that is just a tad too bent in to be able to rotate onto the ledge cut. Is this a later iteration of this system or just some gunsmith's idea of what would work? The dented area looks very 'factory' and also acts as a guide in the inner tube slot as the outer tube is pulled out. This is on the left side of the barrel. Even if I had the spring loaded portion as you show this bent tab would prevent the outer tube from rotating. All suggestions are greatly appreciated. Could be what I actually need is a small embayment cut in the inner tube slot to allow this tab to rotate just a tad out of the slot and act as a hold; that would be really easy and would not compromise the inner tube's integrity.

Hmm. Now I'm stumped. The little tab shown in my picture here also acts as a stop to follower. If I take it out much the follower will cut loose and shoot down the inner mag tube so it can't be monkeyed with. I am definitely stumped now. This tab will not allow the outer tube to rotate at all so nothing I do will allow the tube to rotate onto the little ledge cut unless I could work the inside down just enough so that it would rotate but would still keep the follower in the outer tube. That might not be impossible if the follower will rotate inside the outer tube while riding on the little tab.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

I just couldn't stand the wait on test firing this new rifle and opened the front door, put a target on the wood pile and had at it with 30ft range. I can see that the rear sight has to go. No way to lower it. I'll get a tang sight. I can't see the bbl mounted sight anyway. At least I got the windage adjusted right.

 

[DesmoEd]

that's awesome being able to shoot right out the door like that :beerglass:

You can also get a taller front sight instead of changing the rear.

As far as rear sights on a lever gun, I really like a full buckhorn. I just put one on my daughters '94AE in .357 and it excels at both quick target acquisition and pin point precision. We have a Williams peep sight on her 39a Mountie and she shoots it just as well

 

[SgtDog0311]

To the OP and all contributors, Thanks for posting this... It's an interesting thread for anyone with a 92, and from the sound of it - for anyone with a 97.

 

[RidgerunnerAK]

It is fun to shoot inside. I still have a few bullet holes in the logs from when I was building the place and target shooting inside the unfinished log structure at night. Living alone helps also. Being 64, no matter what I put on the bbl for a rear bbl sight I'd not be able to see it. I have a NOS marbles rear sight that is very nice and much lower and would likely be perfect in height so I may try it while I hunt up the proper tang sight. The only rear sights I can use well these days are receiver peeps or tang sights. The Marbles has the white diamond so might work pretty well. Turns out it's not much of an issue to hold the outer tube out while grasping it and the bbl while I load the mag tube so I can see leaving that issue well enough alone and just adjusting to it. We have a saying in Parker shotgun world when folks start monkeying with fine guns that they should always proceed with extreme caution using the proper tools and above all, "do no harm" to the gun. We're all just temporary caretakers of these treasures.

 

[SgtDog0311]

If you ever find a good sourest for standard velocity I'd sure be interested. Have shot mine very little do to the scarcity. Glad you are having fun with yours!