Marlin top eject, lever action

[joey786]

Hello all,
I'm new here and glad I found this forum. I have a rifle question. I have a Marlin lever action rifle, been in the family for years and would like to find out a few things about it as I'm not familiar with older rifles. It is top eject, octagon barrel, 32-W. stamped on the barrel, also stamped on the barrel is Marlin fire arms Co. New Haven CT. USA Patented october 11 1887 or what looks like a 7, not sure.
serial number is 22841
My questions are, how old is it, what model it is, and does the 32-W. stamped on the barrel mean 32-20 wcf, and was it designed for black powder or modern smokeless ? I was thinking about purchasing some ammo for it but wanted to make sure what type of powder and bullet it was designed for. I didn't want it blowing up in my face using the wrong ammo. I also have other Marlin rifles but they are for another thread.
I thank you in advance for all the help and info. with this rifle.
Joey

[Regnier (gunrunner)]

Joey;

You have a Marlin Model 1888. The Model 1888 was made from August of 1888 to October of 1889, with 4,803 of that model listed in the old Marlin factory records. Of those, only 1,298 are listed in the .32 W (.32-20 caliber). Your rifle was shipped in early 1889 with a 24 inch octagon barrel.
This is a black powder gun, not made for high pressure smokeless powders. The barrel is soft steel, so make sure not to use jacketed bullets. Lead bullets only. You can check around for the ammunition with the cowboy action shooter supply companies as low pressure, lead bullet ammunition is available from them.

[joey786]

Thank you Regnier (gunrunner) for taking the time to post this information. Looking forward to buying some black powder loads for it. I have no idea when it was last fired, could have been 100 years or 50 years, who knows.
Joey