Marlin 1893 .38-55

[pacecars]

I am seriously considering buying this Marlin 1893 half Mag .38-55 and having the receiver and lever color case hardened and the rest reblued. What does the peanut gallery think?

[bula]

Welllll..then you are gonna have to refinish that stock ! Unless pic not doing it justice. 

[pacecars]

The stock looks pretty rough. I will strip it down and see what it looks like underneath. I may fit a new stock to it if it is that bad. It will get expensive in a hurry. A lot to do for what will be a hunter.

[bigmuddy]

I’d probably re-finish the stock but not a chance I’d do anything to the steel. The charm of old guns is the fact that they’re old. I don’t believe in making them look new. How’s the bore?

Dan

[seventy7rs]

I would advise against refinishing the metal. These are only original once, which is why the nice ones cost so much. The cost to have it case hardened and blued will be significant and unrecoverable. In addition to the worn blue and case colors, the metal will usually have marks in it that you will still see once the new finish is applied , making it look not as nice as an original gun with original finish and no marks in the metal. You are usually better off buying one with original finish remaining. I have several, some original and mint, some refinished and some just like the photo that I use as-is.

[pacecars]

Well I passed on that one and instead bought a .32-40 with half round barrel. It is for smokeless and in a little better condition. I will put a Lyman tang sight on it and hopefully pop a Whitetail or two this year

[kings6]

I hope to get my Marlin cowboy 41 mag back this year from Ben Forkin where he is doing the same thing. Case color the receiver, through bolt in the butt stick, thin down the wood in the forearm and slick up the action. I haven’t had a good lever action since I gave my old model 94 to my youngest son several years ago.