New to me 1881 in 45-70

Anthing you think is a big bore

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Sure-Shot
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New to me 1881 in 45-70

Post by Sure-Shot »

Picked this up yesterday, looks like someone worked over the visable metal with naval jelly, butt stock is not original, couple of screws need help. Took it down and cleaned it tonight. Working parts all there in reasonable condition, wow was it gunky. One thing that surprised me was the number of places the serial number is placed. Found the same number 143*, underside of barrel, forend cap, two places on the bolt, both upper and lower tang as well under the receiver next to the barrel. Bad news the barrel is 19". No factory records under 4000 so don't know what the original length was. Anyone have a half octagon/half round 30" or 32" I would like to know the point the round starts from the receiver, thinking about trying to restore it.

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marlinman93
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Post by marlinman93 »

Looks like it's a great candidate for a restoration! I do have a half octagon-half magazine 1881, and the octagon portion ends exactly 13" from the face of the receiver. This would be the same for any 1881 that was half octagon and half mag, as they were unique compared to later Marlin repeaters. Most of the later ones had the octagon end at the forearm cap. Also, the half magazne ends even with the octagon portion too.
JohnTaylor can do the barrel work you need to get it to the correct length. Be sure to tell him it needs to be @5/16" over the even length of 30" or 32" from end to end.-Vall
Marlin lever actions 1870's-WWI, Ballards, and single shot rifles!
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