Marlin Firearms Collectors Association

We get a lot of "what's it worth?" questions on Marlins, and I wonder if I told somebody nothing about a particular car could they tell me what it's worth without pictures? Would they know the condition, or options, or enough to answer the what's it worth question? I'd guess not. As for a ...

I began chasing 1881 tools decades ago, and then ran across Marlin marked Ideal tools and started chasing those. I only found four 1881 tools I bought and they are .45-70, .40-60, .38-55, and .32-40 tools. I had a dozen or so 1881's then, and that covered the calibers I had. I've got probably a doze...

Great information. Now I will have to check what is written on my boxed molds. 🤔 Thanks for sharing Vall. The Hudson mold by Ideal was made specifically for single shots like the Ballard rifles. It is a stepped band design where the bottom two bands are the same size, and forward bands are reduced ...

Guessing your rifle has a tang sight mounted on the top tang behind the hammer? If it does, remove the two screws and it will likely read "Model '93" on the top tang. Also post the complete manufacturer's info on the barrel, and we can narrow down when it was made.

I was putting things away from my failed trip to our gun show Sunday and opened up my cased Ballard in it's Hereford hide case. I had tools in the case that came with the Schoyen Ballard, but had also added an old mold I had in my collection too. The mold is a .32-40 mold in it's original Marlin Fir...

Not positive I understand your description, but none of the various Marlin lever actions ever had a hole clear through them from end to end. Only a Marlin Ballard had a hole clear through and they didn't have inletting for top and bottom tangs. It sounds more like you have a buttstock for maybe a Mo...

Thank you very much! I did reach out but no parts are available. At least I know what model I have and what parts I am looking for. Keep an eye on Ebay for a hammer. They do occasionally show up there. I haven't looked recently, but when I was building up my parts inventory I saw them occasionally....

The pictures help a lot! What you have is a very early JM Marlin Ballard #4 Perfection model. The JM Marlin address stamp was used on Ballard rifles from 1875-1881, and your low serial number is likely an 1876 rifle. The ring lever is also not seen after 1881 when the company switched to the S shape...

Going to be nearly impossible to help without pictures of your Ballard to determine for sure what model it is? Even then finding a spare hammer is going to take some time and lots of searching. I own several spare hammers, and lots of screws, but hate to ever part with any Ballard parts as I have se...

Does anyone know the code for Lyman no. 15 Windage Tang Sight for the model 1881 rifle. The code letter should be just an "M" for the 1881 regardless of which tang sight it is. The 1881 sights are all extremely rare, but the fixed staff #15 is the rarest as they were poor sellers, and did...

Early 1930's, but can't tell you a value without great pictures, and a good description of the bore.

I also have a model 39 takedown with octagon barrel. Serial number prefix first is H.S 19875. I have looked everywhere for years on more info but no luck. This was my great grandfather's gun I would really like to know more about it thank you! Since it has the HS prefix it should date to the early ...

Likely someone used a mag tube assembly from a newer .357 Marlin 1894. Maybe even got a modern barrel too and fitted it to the old 1889 receiver?

It's obviously been either rebored, or relined since a .38-40 is actually .401" and too large to use a .357" bullet. Not sure what someone did to accommodate the mag tube with a .38 or .357 rim size? Too large for a .32-20 mag tube, and too small for a .38-40 or .44-40 mag tube. I assume i...

The .32 Long should be kept to velocities of under 1000 fps, and you can use .32 S&W light load data for it. But bullets are the tougher part as the .32 Long cases are smaller diameter so you need to try and find a heeled bullet for it, or buy a mold for the heeled bullets and cast your own. Acc...