.22 smoothbores, how early were they made

[crank]

Hello,
I am just trying to make a decision on my Marlin Model 38. What is the earliest known Marlin .22 rimfire, set up for shot shells. I picked up this 95%+ Model 38 that looks as if it has shot less than a box of ammo and it has a Routledge type barrel. It is an octagon barrel that is conventionally marked S,L,LR and has normal rifle sights on it. I did not pay a premium that it was a "rare model" but the seller did feel it was made for exhibition shooting. The decision I am confronted with, is that I have a brand new barrel (rifled) and if there is absolutely no chance this was done by the factory, I will replace the barrel. The only mystery, is that if you took a rifled barrel and drilled/reamed the rifling, you would leave a chamber that no longer has a step in it. This one has a defined end of the chamber. The other puzzle is how the interior of the barrel is as smooth as any shotgun you would look down and that includes the bore once it has increased to .375 diameter. The transition from .22 to .375 is pretty much at the 12" half way point. The functional side of me wants to put it to "stock", unless "stock" was a smoothbore. I searched through the forum before posting this, but I can't find anything other than the 25 MG. This is a nice feature to be able to post a guest listing, I will try to keep tabs on this post but if anyone wants to contact me faster shawmarkd@gmail.com
Thanks

Mark

[Regnier (gunrunner)]

Crank;

I have heard of Model 1897/'97's that were made with a smooth bore barrel. Now, whether they were original or not, is another question. It is very unfortunate that records for this era do not exist so that the originally of your gun could be checked into. In my opinion, a gun in the condition you describe should be original, but again, it is hard to tell. For what purpose would someone have taken a very good gun and reamed the barrel to a smooth bore, other than for mis-representation as an exhibition shooters gun. If the seller did not promote it to you that way, and jack the price to represent it that way, then by all means, it might be correct. Marlin did make the Model 101SB and 80SB in the 1940's that were smoothbore .22 caliber guns, but they are rare. Maybe your Model 38 was the forerunner to these to models. If you could find someone that has either of these models, you could have them check the bore diameter to see how it compares to yours. For now, I would leave your gun as is..........
Good luck.

[crank]

Regnier,
Darn it, that's what I was afraid someone would say, and the way you word it sounds rational The rest of the gun is in such great shape, I agree, why on earth take a nice new rifle and smooth-bore it after the fact. I would be curious how either the 101SB or 80SB are executed, .22 with no change in bore diameter, or, stepped as found in this gun in the manner later patented by Routledge around 1940. Well, I guess I will leave it alone for now, it's not as if I don't have enough .22's to keep me busy, which reminds me, if anyone has a decent barrel for a Model 20 pump, let me know, I am trying to resurrect a basket case from the scrap pile. Thanks again for the info and I will try to check the forum later today.

Mark

[crank]

Okay I don't know if this will work, I am going to try and load photos










[url=http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll22 ... GP3002.jpg][img]http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll226/shaw4570

I hope this helps.

Mark