A Marlin Model 97 lever action .22rf rifle. From about 1910 or there abouts I'd guess. Round top receiver marked 'Marlin Safety'.
I was supposed to fix up a few small things on it for a customer.
It has a small chip off the toe of the stock & butt plate. Also the muzzle was damaged. Dinged and dented up. The butt plate screws had met the 'one size fits all' screw driver.
Not much in the original finish department for sure but a neat old timer with some special order features.,,,and a few problems.
The first glaring fault is that the barrel has been cut. The originals were 24",,with a few made in 16" (commonly called bicycle rifles). The other is that the rifle had been relined at some point.
A very nice job of relining, but that bothers alot of people that are more into the collector mindset than shooters. I can see their point. Investment is their goal.
On the plus side,, is that it has special order pistol grip stock and a 1/2rd-1/2 oct barrel. The standard gun came straight grip and either full round or full oct. The Lyman tang site is a shooters 'plus'. The rear barrel site is a Lyman 2 leaf fold down flat site so as not to get in the way of sighting with the tang sight.
After the original owner was informed of the cut and reline job, he wanted to sell it. I ended up trading him for it.
It shot well but after I refaced the muzzle and recrowned it, it really shoots well now. A nice 'star' from the rounds fired printed onto the flat muzzle shows it's doing it's job.
Standard vel ammo only in these older Marlin lever guns. A square shoulder cut in the bolt locking shoulder makes for a weak spot and HiVel will definetly damage them.
It shoots 5 shot 3/4" groups @ 30yrds for me now till my eyes give up on that tiny bead front site, and that doesn't take too long!. Not too bad for a 100 y/o rifle with a few problems.
I was supposed to fix up a few small things on it for a customer.
It has a small chip off the toe of the stock & butt plate. Also the muzzle was damaged. Dinged and dented up. The butt plate screws had met the 'one size fits all' screw driver.
Not much in the original finish department for sure but a neat old timer with some special order features.,,,and a few problems.
The first glaring fault is that the barrel has been cut. The originals were 24",,with a few made in 16" (commonly called bicycle rifles). The other is that the rifle had been relined at some point.
A very nice job of relining, but that bothers alot of people that are more into the collector mindset than shooters. I can see their point. Investment is their goal.
On the plus side,, is that it has special order pistol grip stock and a 1/2rd-1/2 oct barrel. The standard gun came straight grip and either full round or full oct. The Lyman tang site is a shooters 'plus'. The rear barrel site is a Lyman 2 leaf fold down flat site so as not to get in the way of sighting with the tang sight.
After the original owner was informed of the cut and reline job, he wanted to sell it. I ended up trading him for it.
It shot well but after I refaced the muzzle and recrowned it, it really shoots well now. A nice 'star' from the rounds fired printed onto the flat muzzle shows it's doing it's job.
Standard vel ammo only in these older Marlin lever guns. A square shoulder cut in the bolt locking shoulder makes for a weak spot and HiVel will definetly damage them.
It shoots 5 shot 3/4" groups @ 30yrds for me now till my eyes give up on that tiny bead front site, and that doesn't take too long!. Not too bad for a 100 y/o rifle with a few problems.
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