My question is in refrence to a used rifle that was being sold on consignment at a local gun mart. A marlin 444S. It was scoped and had a little ware. Very little. I would say it was 95%. The bore was in perfect condition as far as I could see with a good bore lighted view. There were a couple screws missing near the rear of the reciever(left).They sit close and side by side. Looked like a rear mounted sight had been removed without replacing the screws(clerk made that assumption).I would remove the scope, I am planning on using the iron sights for hunting elk in the thick.The price is 300$. Does anyone know of anything I might need to check a little closer on a rifle of this modeland age? What exactly are those two screws for? The other rifles had the screws in place, and they looked like they were for accessory mounts only. I am not sure. Would I be better off paying another 400 for new? Thank you for any help you could give.

Eddie

ps I did buy a new rifle. A 1895 Marlin in the 45-70. 26inch barrel(octagon) . Blue with Walnut. Can't wait to bring it home and shoot it. I live in the worse state in the Union so, we must wait 10 days. Hate that.

Sounds like the screws for mounting a peep sight.

Love the 444......

Can't imagine it isn't worth more than $300 -- even if the scope is a Trashco you could peddle it for $50 or so. Of course, it's redundant to a .45-70, but I've never let that stop me from buying a rifle I wanted .

Dennis

I have a 444S like that. It does sound like that those screws were for a receiver sight. I mounted a Williams FP on mine. It's mounted to the left side of the receiver with 2 screws. The screws on the rifle came out and were replaced by the ones that came with the sight. The FP goes for about $50 and is a terrific sight.

I ended up buying a Marlin .444 but not the one I mentioned above. The one I bought is in almost perfect condition. It came with a scope mount and sling. Took it out and put a few 265 grain LeveRevolutions through it. Nice. Now I need to find a scope cuz I can't see well enough to use the iron sights. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Eddie

Something light and trim. Leupold 2.5x, 4x, 2-7x come to mind.

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The most important thing to me is eye relief. Something such as tdbob suggested with at least 4" eye relief. The Trashco do not have it, only about 2". I looked around shows and shops until I found old Weaver K3s (3 power) made in El Paso (steel tube). These were mounted on my hard kickers. The scope still nipped me on recoil. The forward scope mount will not permit the scope to be moved forward and away from the eye, the adjustment knobs hit the mount ring. So I found some special Weaver mounts that are offset 1" to the front. This allowed the scope to be set forward another inch. Problem solved!

If you scope comes dangerously close to you eyebrow on heavy recoil then the long eye relief scope in the forward offset mount may be the answer.

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Age it by taking 100 and deducting thr first two Serial No's

100 - 25 = 75, so it is a 1975 model, like mine - Post a Pic, let's see yours!!!



It should have a "Micro Groove" barrel, the newer ones have Ballard barrels... One is better for Cast Bullets than the other... As I hear it...

Go to the Marlin Owners Board and sign up, there are a whole lota Marlin Owners there that can give you and me insights into 444's as well as other "Marlin-itis" www.marlinowners.com

Happy Hunting!

Ron