Home Forums Lever Action Central Rimfire Levers 1897 Marlin comes home

Found an 1897 Marlin in nice condition at Louisville gunshow. I really love the old vintage 22 rifles. Goes well with the 1953 39A.



Charlie

sweet!

How’s the bore on that one?

Probably 8 out of 10. Bright lands and grooves all the way, just not as sharp as a new rifle. Shoots good, its grouping 6 inches high at 25yds on the lowest setting on the rear sight riser. I took the riser out altogether, but not had a chance to shoot it since. It has the brass blade front sight which helps my old eyes.

Charlie

I have an early 39. They carry better than the new ones. Congratulations. You might already be aware, but the older bolts in the 1897 and 39 can crack when fired with high velocity ammo. I didn't learn that until after I'd already done so quite a bit in mine, but never experienced the problem,. So it's not a given, but a possibility. Not a worry with the 39a though.

Nice looking 39 there. Shot my 1897 yesterday. Still shooting high a couple inches at 50 yds. The rear sight is all the way down, no riser. Guess I'll have to do a little Kentucky windage.

Just get a taller front sight. There is nothing worse than aiming your rifle somewhere else than the target to try and hit the target...

The larger front sight I made from a silver qtr (1944) took care of the shooting high issue. Great fun shooting this ole gal. The 24 inch bbl lets me shoot cci std with no ear muffs. Ordered some cci quiets -lead and HP segmented- to see how they work for plinking. At short range they are great in my CZ 452 Ultra Lux, my in town squirrel combo. More discussion in the Marlin talk section.

Beautiful