Originally Posted by 2152hq

The Clip fed bolt action Marlin was the Model 80
(Tube feed version of the same was the Model 81)

They started making the Model 80 in 1935
At that time it had a slim stock with the forend having a finger-groove on either side of it.
The finger grooved forend stock style was dropped in 1937.,,so w/only 2 years into production,,the finger groove stocked guns are gone.
That helps date the rifles.

Also, the stocks were hardwood stained as Walnut untill 1939 when they actually switched to using the latter.
The safety was orig a 'flag' type on the cocking piece till 1939, then they switched to a lever on the right rear side of the rec'vr.

These were not ser#'d by Marlin at the time and there was no Fed Regulation demanding them to do so at the time.


The Model 80,,and it's target sighted twin, the Model 80E were mfg'd up into 1940.

A Model 80B (open sights) and 80BE (aperture rear and hooded front sight) took their places for about a year after that. Then WW2 intervened.

You can also find the early Model 80 and 80E rifles marked with the 'Ranger' house brand.
The very same rifle, just the name change.
Very accurate then as they continued to be as the 80C & DLmodels and more after WW2 and into the 80's with more variations than I can begin to grasp.
The one weak link in the mechanism is the cartridge guide spring. If not carefull, a shooter can bend it. Replacement means pulling the bbl from the recv'r. The part itself is cheap though.
The ejector sometimes needs a bit of adjustment to properly reach the rim of the extracted casing. But that is no more than a carefull bending process of the piece of music wire that the ejector itself is made of.

The earliest of the Model 80's still use the same detachable 7rd magazine as the later guns made in the 70's.