Marlin .45-70 shallow rifling

[LonesomePigeon]

The other day I was looking at a new Marlin .45-70. It's new but the gun seller said it has actually been in the store for a year or two. I looked at the bore and it did not look quite right.

Today I went back and looked at it more carefully. I wiped the dust out of the first two inches of the muzzle and I also took a wooden matchstick and felt the rifling. As best I can tell at least one, or maybe two of the lands are missing. Maybe not missing completely but barely, barely there. How bad of a problem is this? Do you think it would still shoot well? The price was okay at $650 but It's not like I need one right now.

 

[milsurpguy]

They run micro grove rifling so it's kind of barely there anyways.

 

[DocRock]

Certainly sounds like microgroove rifling.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlin_Firearms

I understood that Remington had moved back to Ballard cut rifling, so the rifle in question may be older than you think.

 

[LonesomePigeon]

I have a Marlin 39a with micro-groove. This .45-70 that I was looking at definitely had the Ballard rifling. Five or six grooves. I didn't count but it was definitely Ballard style. Three or four of the lands were fine, I could see them just fine and when I ran the matchstick on them I could feel it catch. The other one or two lands were basically non-existent. They just looked like scratches and with the matchstick it felt like nothing was there.

Yes it could be more then 2 years old. The clerk did not know exactly how old it was. If I remember correctly I think it had a New York barrel address.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Yes it could be more then 2 years old. The clerk did not know exactly how old it was. If I remember correctly I think it had a New York barrel address.

Marlin date codes after '72 are easy; first 2 digits of the S/N subtracted from 100. First 2 digits 14, rifle made 1986. First two digits 93, rifle made 2007, etc.

 

[Pat Riot]

Do an image search on “marlin micro groove barrels” and see if photos of a micro groove bore match what you see in that gun’s barrel.

If so and you decide to buy it just know that micro groove barrels don’t do well with lots of soft lead bullets. Hard cast lead, moly coated lead is okay at lower velocities. Micro groove barrels can be very accurate. I have a Marlin 336 30-30 with a micro groove barrel that is very accurate with a bunch of different loads.
My friend’s Marlin 1895 45-70 had a micro groove barrel and that thing was like a laser with 360 grain Winchester and Federal cartridges.

 

[3Crows]

If by new you mean new, not an old rifle new in the shop then it cannot have Micro-Groove rifling. No Marlin .45-70 has had Micro-Groove in many years and certainly none manufactured by REP. If rifling is truly missing then it is defective. If it is just not what you were expecting to see then it is probably normal.