Have you seen one nicer???

[glshuck]

I picked up this marlin model 80 .22 off gunbroker for cheap. I had low expectations, beings as these are basically hardware store guns from the 50s. It looked nice in the photos, but they weren't great pictures. I honestly couldn't tell if it was walnut or a piece of hardwood that happened to get some figure and translucence in it. They made both through the years. It showed up today and WOW. I aint saying I havent seen better walnut, I certainly have. I can say I ain't seen wood like this on one of these! Must have been the lucky walnut 2x4 at the marlin factory that week.

 

[Greyman50]

Very Nice and typical of guns 50+ years ago.

 

[glshuck]

Very Nice and typical of guns 50+ years ago.

You sure don't get that on cheap rifles today.

 

[Eric300]

Beauty! That must be the Gerry Garcia Tie-Dye Edition.

 

[Bald1]

Yeah 50 yrs ago even the cheap ones looked good.

 

[Jebus35745]

Very nice classic 22 rifle from the days when things were simple. Lucky on the wood. Wanna bet it shoots great also, enjoy. Larry

 

[Oldsalt66]

I had one of those when I was a kid, along with a bolt action 20 gauge Marlin shotgun both of which I passed off to my nephews years ago.

 

[Bald1]

When I was a kid My dad's hunting buddy had an old JC Higgins bolt 12ga. Complete with poly choke. He squirrel hunted and deer hunted with it. Back then NY was mostly shotgun only. Guys laughed at him till he shot a 10pt that dressed out at 207.

 

[chief38]

I still have my cheaper Glenfield model 25 (made my Marlin) which is basically the same exact rifle. Of course your Marlin has a more beautiful Walnut stock whereas my Glenfield has a fairly plain Beechwood stock. My Marlin - Glenfield shoots like an expensive rifle and also has a surprisingly excellent, smooth and light trigger which is amazing for a $35 rifle of the early - mid 1960's. This is my very first real firearm - got it as a gift from my Dad on my 11th Birthday.

The model you have should be highly accurate and have a descent trigger far beyond some of the more expensive models sold today. That rifle sort of deserves a half way descent scope and then you will have yourself a tack driver! Enjoy!

 

[Greyman50]

BTW, what's the hounds name and does it hang around when you shoot?

 

[iwanna]

Brokers would be fighting over that blank nowadays--at the source. With that great Marlin finish, too.

 

[blackdeuce]

It must have taken some time to set up the photo backdrop. Had to get Beau in the photo. Sprinkle some cotton and a cloth around. And get some of the better weeds in the photo.

 

[bigmitty]

I like the beagle!

 

[Hawg Rider]

You did very good with that acquisition! The wood is outstanding, and much nicer than the walnut on my old Remington 511.

 

[blackdeuce]

I like the beagle!

He's a good pup. Best buds with Ira, their Doberman.

 

[glshuck]

It must have taken some time to set up the photo backdrop. Had to get Beau in the photo. Sprinkle some cotton and a cloth around. And get some of the better weeds in the photo.

The dogs are a regular part of the photo backdrop for guns without any special effort. They like to hang out in the basement with me while I work on them & always follow me out when I take outdoor photos.

 

[azhobo]

Question for any of you.......
many years ago I read in a gun rag of the time that those black stripes on walnut stocks are made at the factories, using a torch. Anyone else ever heard that?
Definitely NOT running down your gun, I love, and have, a number of old .22's like it, and looking for more when I can.
Bob

 

[glshuck]

Certainly not the case on this one. Just figured wood.

There is a DIY fad of using an acetelyne torch to darken wood similar to staining it. I have never heard of that being used in the gun industry.

 

[wrangler5]

A Marlin 80-DL was the first gun that was MINE - got it for Christmas when I was 11 and still have it, 70 years later. My father worked at a company that had metal working and finishing equipment, and at one point had a machinist give the barrel a finishing pass in a lathe, then we polished the barrel and receiver and reblued them. They're still a glossy bright blue. The wood is perfectly ordinary, though, nothing like like the OP's gawjus example.

Mine has the micro-groove rifling, and over the years I've tried different ammo. (I've been a target shooter all my life, so small groups out of a gun are a thing for me.) Mine can shoot VERY tiny groups with some ammo - including Eley Tenex, which I tried just to say I'd done it. Biggest challenge to top accuracy is the primitive trigger, which I have polished with Flitz on a Qtip but have not tried anything more aggressive.

 

[2152hq]

Just the natural grain in the wood showing itself off.
Even the standard walnut used in the Field grade guns at the factorys would produce some very nice high grade looking blanks once in a while.
Quite often blanks with some figure on one side of the butt or just a little on both sides appeared.

In the Wood Room as they were often refered to at the factorys, the guys handling the blanks that were being profile/inletted cut would set aside any really spectacular looking stock that came off of the profiler.

The management would often let it be known that they wanted it so. Those special stocks being then used on guns made up for presentations, factory gifts to writers, company executives and the like.

They also got stuffed 'under the bench' so to speak for a favor from other employees looking for such a stock for their own rifle or shotgun.
Lots of that went on inside.

I never saw any use of figure/grain enhancement used in the factorys.
Common wood staining was about it to disguise some sap wood at times or just plainly to make lesser species like beech look more like Walnut. But then the entire stock was dipped or sprayed with the stuff. Usually a solvent based stain because of the hardwood like Beech or Sycamore being used that don't respond much at all to oil base stains..

Flame streaking is used or has been used by some 'smiths to enhance or add the look of wood grain.
Swabbing linseed oil into the wood first and then using a torch very carefully over the wood was a somewhat popular finish in the 60 and 70's.
Stockmaker Hal Hartley kind of resurrected the finishing style back then, He made most all of his stocks in Maple

The oil boiled and colored the wood in those areas a brown color of different shades.
If you got it too hot it quickly charred it though.
I think they used to call it Sungi Wood finishing
A blowtorch works better than a pencil point propane torch tip.
The technique works & looks better on Maple, Apple, etc than Walnut.

 

[alwslate]

Nice looking rifle. Stock is almost certainly Birch with some factory enhancements to give it the appearance of figured Walnut.

 

[jblank37]

Don't know really where to post this, but I willl try here. This is my Mossberg match rifle. I have had this gun for over 75 years.

 

[Greyman50]

Back in the 1800s gun smiths would soak wool knitting thread in rusty water and wrap it around gun stocks to create " tiger stripes" designs on stocks.