Marlin 81DL Help please

[Mr.Revolverguy]

I have my grandfathers old Marlin 81DL. The receiver is in good shape but the wood stock needs refinishing bad. I was going to just buy a new one but decided on refinishing since I could not find one. Though a Marlin rep told me today that a Marlin 81TS stock would fit do any of you know if this is correct?

Secondly the bar/base for the rear site is there but the site itself is missing which site is the proper one that will fit?

Third whew lol my front sight does not have the hood on it but the sight is there, but I can move it around with my thumb. I feel if I push hard enough I may be able to slide it out. What is the proper front sight that will give me a tight fit?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Mr.Revolverguy]

Just in case anyone else runs into this issue I will post my own answer. I found out by talking with brownells that this part number (962-150-081) is an exact replacement by Williams. The picture for this part number is wrong on their site, this is a complete rear site for a Marlin 81-DL. This took me all of about 5 minutes to install.

 

[rcmodel]

The front sight dovetail can be tightend to fit the existing front sight.

Use a small smooth-face hammer and peen down the edges of the dovetail. Use light taps and keep moving and you won't be able to tell anything was done to it, except the sight will fit tight now.

rc

 

[Mr.Revolverguy]

rc,

This might be bad but over at rimcentral a lot of guys were telling me that most of them were this way and to just super glue it dead center when I got my williams peep site put on as it has windage adjustments, so that's what I did.

I was very careful and that seemed to do the trick, I got it out to the range today and I am very happy with it.

After refinishing the stock and cleaning the rifle, I am very happy with the results.

10 shots, Point of Aim the #9 on the target, offhand 15 yards.

This was my first time refinishing a stock it is not the best but it looks 100% better. Previously the stock was a very dark reddish brown, with a number of dents and a bunch of scratches in it.

 

[The Gunman]

Doesn't it feel good to shoot something you fixed?

Looks good to me. I would have peened the front dovetail, super glue doesn't hold well on metal in my experience and if you need to replace the sight you will have to deal with the glue then. But, after all, it is you firearm.

May I ask what you finished the stock with?

 

[Mr.Revolverguy]

I was afraid to peen the front site thought I might screw it up

The stock was in really bad shape but here is what I did.

Boiled water dumped it in a morter tub, what you get from home depot for mixing tile grout or cement in.

Put cheese cloth in the water and let it sit on the stock. The cheese cloth instantly started to pull oil and the old gunk out of the stock. I used the wifes cooking tongs to do this with the water was way to hot. I then sprayed the stock and chess cloth with krud cutter and let it sit. At this point you could see the brown crap dripping off the stock. After doing this a couple of times I took the wifes blow dryer and dried it, but I let it hang up in the garage over night.

I then sanded it with 120, 220, 320 and 400 grit sand paper just to get it smooth but being careful not to remove much wood and to sand with the grain. I then used my air compressor to blow off the stock.

I then mixed minwax wlanut finish with a little mineral spirits. I applied one coat then used the blow dryer again. I then applied another coat and let it dry over night hanging in my garage.

The final step was to use tru oil, applying 3 thin coats waiting 24 hours between each coat and using 0000 steel wool very lightly in between each coat. I could have applied more for a better look but I just had to get it to the range and lost my patience . After the last coat of tru oil was dry I applied a heavy coat of johnsons (wood) paste wax in the yellow can. I did use a little trick I learned in the Marine Corps about buffing wood finishes. I used the blow dryer again to melt the wax to a liquid and buffed it in really well with a soft terry cloth.

I can only take credit for the Johnsons paste wax trick as the rest of this was given to me by one of the guys over at rimcentral.