[Snaveba]

I finally received my Sears Model 45. It is not a JC Higgins, just plain Sears.

It is in pretty good shape for its age. It has Ballard rifling. The wood is in good shape but the finish is worn. I plan to remove the old varnish and go back with a hand rubbed oil finished. I think the walnut has the potential to really shine.

All the numbers match, trigger plate, tang, stock and bolt. Does anyone know what the large H stamped in the trigger plate stands for? It does not have a JM proof stamp but has the P stamp that I believe is normal for Sear branded rifles. It also has what looks like a small HG stamp on the opposite side from the P proof stamp.

I will post more photos as I get it cleaned up.

 

[Dave Bulla]

I've seen tangs with an X or XX (on deluxe rifles) but never an H. I'd speculate that even though it's a Sears stamped gun, the H might stand for Higgins. Perhaps Marlins way of distinguishing parts run for Sears (i.e. Higgins) from parts run for Marlin. And yes, I realize they are probably identical receivers and bottom metal assemblies but purely for accounting purposes parts run for Sears would most likely have been segregated. Just guessing though.

By the way, I've got basically the identical rifle but marked as a Higgins and it's my favorite Marlin I own. As you mentioned, they have Ballard rifling but they also have an end cap forend which most believe (myself included) improves accuracy and the front barrel band is forward of the front sight like it should be. Plus the front sight is dovetailed directly to the barrel with no ramp. It also seems to my that while the forend has the depth profile of a perch belly forend, it's narrower side to side and has a better feel in my hand. All in all, I think this "store brand" Marlin is a better design than the "real" Marlin.

Ouch! Did I really just say that???

 

[Snaveba]

I was thinking the H stood for Higgins. I would assume the parts for the 103.450 JC Higgins and the 103.451 Sears would be the same for the most part except for the barrel roll mark, and maybe the wood (but i and foreseeing this walnut being sweet).

Now that I am getting the old finish off (denatured alcohol and acetone) when it is wet with the denatured alcohol, it really shines and has some iridescence.

I almost didn’t get the rifle. The seller and my FTL were having some issues and he almost just refused and refunded my money. I’m glad they got is worked out in the end.

 

[Dave Bulla]

You're gonna love that rifle. Mine has the 2.5X Higgins scope on it which I'm pretty positive was made by Weaver. Perfect combination.

 

[Snaveba]

Sweet. I just found a Ted Williams branded Weaver Scope on eBay that I want to get for my Ted Williams Model 100 rifle. It has a vintage scope, but not a matching scope.

 

[71Rcode]

Nice! My Sears Model 45 in .35 is a '65.

 

[Snaveba]

So I stripped the old finish off the stock and forend using alternating scrubs with denatured alcohol, acetone and a little Hexane (helps to have a job that uses lab grade reagents). I used 0000 steel wool and soft cotton rags. When was done they looked like this:

I hope I don’t get in trouble with the purests, but because I also refinish Winchesters, and love the look of a hand rubbed linseed oil finish, I used my Winchester Stock oil for the refinish. There will be numerous hand rubbed applications with about 24-48 hours of curing in between. However, here’s how they look with just the first application:

 

[Judson]

I agree — I think with a hand-rubbed oil finish that stock is going to be very sharp-looking.

 

[Dave Bulla]

Beautiful.

 

[444 Magnum]

Looking good. Are you going to replace the white spacer?

 

[Ret_Eng]

I have the same rifle made in 1964. Its my favorite 20 inch barreled carbine due to it only having one barrel band. My Marlins with no or one barrel band shoot tighter than the rest of them.

 

[Big Al1]

Great find!! It's going to look awesome with the oil finish!

 

[Snaveba]

Looking good. Are you going to replace the white spacer?

I will for sure if the rifle came with it originally. It looks like the spacer that is on the rifle was home made so that makes me wonder if they came that way when sent to Sears. I might anyway because I like the look.

 

[94win30wcf]

 

[Pereira]

Nice lookin Sears model, and I like the stock refinishing.
I have a U prefixed Sears model that is a JC Higgins, late '59 early '60.
I just pulled the butt stock, and it does have the H stamped on the tang like yours.
Curious, I have a mid 60's Westernfield 30-30, so I pulled the stock and it has a Z stamped on the tang.
Both rifles have a P proof stamp on the opposite side of the barrel from where the JM usually is.

Congrats on a fine rifle in a great cal.

RP

 

[Pereira]

Maybe this will work, tried editing and adding pic but didn't werk.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[Snaveba]

Put back together with a Williams peep sight.
I will add more hand rubbed finish over the next several weeks

 

[Snaveba]

With a low slung vintage Weaver K6 scope.

 

[Snaveba]

 

[ballistics04]

Congrats on a very nice rifle!

I have a 1962 Sears JC Higgins model 45 in 30-30.