I've had a lot of parts for misc guns around for quite a while. Time to start using them or something.

I've had a couple of 1893 Marlin 'actions' that I acquired many yrs ago. Both SRC actions but the saddle rings and their bases are gone.



Later I bought some Marlin rifle and carbine bbls and mag tubes. Some better than others. A few misc Winchester shotgun parts in there too.
My stash of Marlin L/A small parts netted the necessary mag follower(s), mag spring, end cap, bbl bands and misc screws except for a couple of the latter I had to make.


A Carbine butt stock and forend I remember them being from an 1894 Model, but they fit. No Carbine butt plate, but a repro of some sort that was close, Not a Winchester SRC butt plate either. Don't really know what it's from but I made it work and made screws for it.
An original SRC rear sight in the parts box was a good thing to see! Expensive little items these days.

Of the bbls I chose a good 30-30 carbine standard 20" w/an exc bore.
Another possibility was a 32-40 and a 25-36Marlin carbine bbl's. The 25-36 has 4 scope mt holes in it which are no problem to fill. But the caliber isn't exactly a shooter type for me.


Someone spray painted the 30-30 bbl grey. I guess that saved the bbl from rusting,,maybe. The mag tube I selected from the lot had some grey paint on it as well. Over spray from the touch up job on an AR I suspect.
I touched up the chamber end with a bit of polishing and file work to clean up some rough handling dents and burrs.


The bbl's carbine style front sight was good. MArlins are a separate base dovetailed into the bbl and soft soldered into place. The brass blade is pinned in place.
(This makes them easy to shorten & make into a 'Trapper'. Winchester used a base that was forged as one piece with the bbl itself)



Polishing the bbl and then the mag tube back to clean up the rust and pits that were there under the paint job. The lettering was good only needing a small amt of recutting.

The forend and butt stock had already been refinished,,sort of. So I stripped that finish by scraping the finish off with a sharp knife blade.
I sanded the wood and stained it to my liking and applied a final finish that did not entirely fill the pores. I wanted the wood to look close to the original finish,,not a bowling pin.


The forend fit quite well w/o much fuss.
The butt stock not nearly so. I had to re-inlet the stock so as to raise the grip section to meet the upper tang as it was hanging grossly below the lower tang.
That left the front face of the stock at an off angle with the frame. So that was re-inletted to allow the stock to move further forward and close the gap.
One small area on the lower tang was still metal proud, so fiberglas was used to fill the area and wood grain coloring was painted in and blended with the orig wood grain to cover it.


The same technique was used on the top tang of the repro butt plate. The top tang of the plate was much shorter than the inlet for the orig Marlin butt plate tang.
So the missing wood was filled in, the repro plate tang inletted into it and faux grain painted over the area to blend.
The repro plate was oversize all the way around by about 1/8 to 3/16".
But that matrl went away quick enough with a belt grinder and a 180 belt.

A bit of bending and the plate actually fit the Marlin stock curvature pretty well. Some spotting in/inletting and it set down nicely.
A 'Marlin person' would catch it in an instant as not being a Marlin SRC butt plate, but the carbine will never be sold as an original anyway.

The bbl, tube, butt plate, rear sight, screws, bands, end cap are all polished and slow rust blued.
The bbl bands I had were pitted kind of bad. But filing out the pits and polishing them down then polishing them out in the grit direction the factory would have followed left them presentable for bluing.
I rust blued them, though they would have been charcoal blued at the time by the factory (pre 1905/06).





The missing saddle ring and base had to be made.
Well I could have bought one from one of a few suppliers. But that wouldn't be gunsmithing as I see it.
So you take a piece of 1/4 round stock and turn it down a bit to the shape of the base. It's multi diameter and has 'feet' on each end. The length must be just right so when you bend it into the U shape. The 'feet sit at the same height and the overall height of the U is correct.

Heat that red hot and bend it around a piece of metal form to make the U shape. Cut the base pin feet off to the correct length.
Make the ring out of a piece of round stock. I have to lathe turn it to the right dia as nothing is close. Heat it red hot and wind it around a proper size mandrel held in a vise so you have a complete turn+.

Hacksaw the ring off with one cut. That cut will be the splice that gets hard soldered together to join the ring back together when you carefully bend the ends back into allaignment.
Polish, Polish, rust blue, insert in the fame and rivet/stake into position like the original that someone else removed 'cause they wanted it for a better condition SRC missing the SR.






The wood is refinished.
The frame and lever are original finish showing some orig case hardening colors. But turning brown and there are patches of slight pitting here and there that don't really show in the pics.







Shoots nice, Feeds, fires and ejects perfectly.
Reloads of 170gr FN jacketed bullets. 30gr of forgive me I've forgotten the powder # already,,I just loaded them 2 nites ago!,,,CCI LR primer and WW brass.
An easy on the gun and me load and it shot to the point of aim at 25m right off. It blasted leaves lying on the berm at 50m.

I'm happy with it. It's finally together. On to the next project that's been sitting around for 40yrs.
I don't hunt,,It's just a range toy like the rest.
No what to do with the other 1893 Marlin SRC action in the box.
I'm thinkin' a conversion to a pistol grip,,a 1/2 oct bbl (which I don't have!) and fancy wood, checkering, engraving, ect (which I can do!)

I like that gun!! The story makes it all the better.
I envy your talents.

Yes, amazing gunsmithing. But, since this is mostly over my head, you lost me at 25-36 caliber. Assuming this is not a typo, this is new to me. I have three lovely Marlins in apparently mundane calibers. Please inform...

__________________
Some collect art; I shoot it!

As I also wasn't familiar with the .25-36 Marlin, so I had to look it up.

Cartridges of the World (16th) states Marlin adopted it in 1895 for it's Md. 93, and that it was designed by William V. Lowe a year or two prior, and was originally called the .25-37.

States it was likely inspired by the .25-35 Winchester.

It also states that the .25-36 Marlin was loaded in a smokeless powder version and survived until the early 1920's.

Last, but not least, it states it did not acquire a reputation for outstanding accuracy.

As I was looking it up for myself, I thought I'd share with you what I found, hope it helps.

Marlin's 25-36 caliber (1897) for their lever action medium frame rifles was their answer so to speak to Winchester's 25-35 round from a couple yrs earlier (1895).

Same 25 cal, but the cases are slightly different in shape.
Marlin based the 25-36 off of the 32-40.
Winchester based the 25-35 off of the 30-30 case.

The shoulder of the Marlin 25-36 is slightly further forward than on the Winchester 25-35 and more rounded than the Winchesters sharply defined angles.

You can fire the Win 25-35 in a Marlin 25-36 chamber,,but not the other way around.

The Marlin caliber only lasted into the mid 20's IIRC. I may be wrong on that.
People that reload it make brass from 30-30 (carefully) sizing the neck and body shoulder down. You come up with a slightly short case as the orig was made from the 32-40.
The 32-40 being a little longer than the 30-30 to begin with.

Ballistics of the two opposing .25's are about the same.
Marlins 25-36 was loaded both BP(1450fps) and Smokeless (2000fps) from the start in 1897 using a 117gr bullet.
There was a short range smokeless load using an 80 or 85gr lead bullet also.
I don't know what the velocity was for that.


added...
I type real slow!!
...and a good point,,It was never known as a particularly accurate round.
That, and it's somewhat of an oddity name trying to play off of the Win round and the fact that the Winchester round was presented as a 'High Velocity' cartridge probably helped bury the Marlin edition.

MArlins BP loading of it may have been a nod towards those in the market not looking to change over to the newer smokless powders.
But BP in a small bore like a 22 or 25 was a bad choice in a repeating rifle when accuracy is concerned.
Winchester saw the future and trumpeted the 30-30, 32Spec and 25-35 all as Smokeless High Vel rounds.
(Yes Winchester made a short statement in a reloading brochure that the 32Win Spec could be loaded with BP as well. ..So can any caliber.
So can the Marlin 25-36 and it was, right from the factory,,and look where that went.)

2152hq

Very nicely done!

I sure wish I had your talent with firearms!

What a great resurrection. It’s a noble skill when you can bring a classic firearm back to life from the scarp pile.

__________________
Dave
Regulators mount up!

You are a True Artist