Traditional Lever Action Meets...More Traditional Lever Action Rifle

[Phog Allen]

The Tactical Meets Traditional thread garnered some interest so I thought I would post a link to a thread on NCGunowners forum. This chap did the build up at home. Pretty danged impressive for a so called non professional gunsmith. Enjoy. Marlin Marauder Conversion.

Cheers, Todd

 

[bamafan64]

Nice!

 

[Phog Allen]

You know what the slickest part of it was? He used no heat or cutting to straighten the lever loop. Cold forged. He posted he was able to use a hammer and some judicious spacing of the blows to reshape it from the curved pistol grip to the straight loop a la Texan of the 1960's and 70's. I personally prefer the straight lever loops. Particularly with the trapper length barrels. Between this and and a good of "poor man's co-pilot' I am getting lever fever again.

My version would have the 16" barrel but an even shorter magazine tube. This would require the shortening of the hand guard and resetting the forearm band but that is just part of customising. I want it to be the ultimate lightweight lever action pack rifle. I am also seriously considering a re-chamber to something a little more aggressive than the old .30-30 Ackley. Most guys report only limited gains in velocity with the AI but a quick study reveals they fail to realise you cannot treat it the same as a standard .30-30. It wants slower burning powders. Paco Kelly has some nice loading info for it and he regularly gets 300fps more than stock loads. All while staying in the 36,000 to 39.000 cup range of the Marlin action. The version I want is essentially a 7-30 Waters necked up to .30. The Waters is itself a .30-30 wildcat but significantly, its shoulder is set much further forward than the factory .30-30 or the AI version. This increases powder capacity dramatically, enabling slower burn profile powders. Again, this allows judicious hand loads that push out 150gr bullets at .300 Savage velocities at quite safe pressures. It is doable, you just have to work it.

The easier version is to buy a new Marlin in .308 Marlin Express but there is two things wrong with that approach. The new rifles are about $450 and warranty is voided with modifications. And since Marlin was bought out by Cerberus group which owns Remington, Dakota and some other prominent gun manufacturers, the quality has been called into serious question by enthusiasts. Now the 'net being the 'net you have to find out for yourself. However, they have gained the dubious moniker of Remlins and this cannot bode well. Plus I want to completely coat the rifle and stocks in one of the super finishes like GunKote or a molybdenum fiinish. Same for the stocks. Utility all the way. I think you could get this little trapper down to five pounds or so unloaded. In a finish impervious to most elements whilst still leaving it capable of firing factory .30-30 ammo when the need arises. And then you have perfectly fire formed cases to reload. Just the stuff that fascinates me.

Cheers, Todd

Link to the modern looking Poor Man's Alaskan Co-Pilot

 

[oneninetyseven]

I'm not much of a gun guy so the technical talk is lost on me - but that's a fine looking piece of work.

 

[jkingrph]

That's a a good looking piece of work. I like the rounded lever vs the squared off stock lever on Marlin's straight stock models. On mine I have replaced them with oversized rounded levers for comforts sake at least on my 45-70's and one 38-55. My neat little 1894cl, 32-20 remains stock.

 

[Phog Allen]

That's a nice battery of rifles Jeff. I love the straight grip models but have owned curved models as well. I think the large loop models now being sold by Marlin are immenintley sensible. They ceded that market to Wild West Guns for years. Now you can order the option. My biggest concern right now is the future of Marlin. From what I gather the transition from the North Haven plant to Kentucky has not gone well from a quality control standpoint. Now gun guys being what we are, I am sure the guns are not falling apart pieces of junk that some report. However the staff that assembled and customised the rifles for decades are probably not associated with the new facilities. I suppose even the machinery and process is different as well. This going to equate to production issues. I hope it gets sorted soon.

Cheers, Todd

 

[jkingrph]

Well Todd I had to think a few minutes. The levers I used are the DRC,(David R Clay) models and are not nearly as big as the Wild West models, nor were they as expensive, at least when I bought them.

I just looked and David is making a scratch build, 1894(Marlin) type, completely from machined stainless steel, in the Maurader style. A bit out of my price range at $2400

 

[Phog Allen]

Me too Jeff but what the heck, we can always dream about a lottery win can't we?

Cheers, Todd

 

[jkingrph]

Me too Jeff but what the heck, we can always dream about a lottery win can't we?

Cheers, Todd

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