Bought on a whim in the middle of the night while on an egg-nog bender. 32-20, serial #147XXX
Not sure what I have, seems to be in good shape except for the stock which has been cleanly split then glued at some point. This is my first foray into antique Marlins.
The action works fine, no problems there.
Bore looks pretty good, a little rough in the grooves near the throat but I expect it to shoot well enough for my needs.
The metal looks to be in good shape, without a lot of dings or nicks in the octagon barrel edges.
(I have a Winchester 1873 from the same time frame and its barrel must be of softer steel because you look at it wrong and it forms a dent or takes a scratch.)
The finish is mostly gone on the receiver, with some hints of the original case hardening still peeking through the patina. The rest is half bluing, half patina. I'd say it has about 20% original finish.
I didn't pay much, and picked it up as a shooter. 500 .32-30 Starline brass cases cost more than the rifle, once I even found the blasted things.
I'm heavily considering having it restored to as new, with new wood, screws, color case hardening, and bluing. I don't see this rifle as having much, if any collectors value given the poor finish and repaired stock. I'm hoping someone else can tell me more about this rifle before I do anything to it though. I wouldn't want to mess up anything rare or collectible. It looks to be all original with the possible exception of the front sight.
Sorry for the bad pictures, the lighting in my house isn't great and I haven't gotten to take any daylight photos.
Thanks to all.
Not sure what I have, seems to be in good shape except for the stock which has been cleanly split then glued at some point. This is my first foray into antique Marlins.
The action works fine, no problems there.
Bore looks pretty good, a little rough in the grooves near the throat but I expect it to shoot well enough for my needs.
The metal looks to be in good shape, without a lot of dings or nicks in the octagon barrel edges.
(I have a Winchester 1873 from the same time frame and its barrel must be of softer steel because you look at it wrong and it forms a dent or takes a scratch.)
The finish is mostly gone on the receiver, with some hints of the original case hardening still peeking through the patina. The rest is half bluing, half patina. I'd say it has about 20% original finish.
I didn't pay much, and picked it up as a shooter. 500 .32-30 Starline brass cases cost more than the rifle, once I even found the blasted things.
I'm heavily considering having it restored to as new, with new wood, screws, color case hardening, and bluing. I don't see this rifle as having much, if any collectors value given the poor finish and repaired stock. I'm hoping someone else can tell me more about this rifle before I do anything to it though. I wouldn't want to mess up anything rare or collectible. It looks to be all original with the possible exception of the front sight.
Sorry for the bad pictures, the lighting in my house isn't great and I haven't gotten to take any daylight photos.
Thanks to all.