Suppressing a 116 Year Old Marlin

[MachIVshooter]

TBAC shows that .600" dimension on their drawings but I'm not sure how they arrived at that value.

I'll ask Ray the next time I talk to him. I chose .550" after checking a number of brakes and comps, both plain and suppressor mount type, finding a few that got really tight with .050"+ tenon remaining before shoulder. With rimfire cans, there are a few cans that have a blast baffle cone tip barely 1/2" in. As for .450" on pistol barrels, that was more of a "looks about right" decision.

PCCs? Pistol Caliber Carbines?

Yessir

 

[Old Stumpy]

Had Colonel Sebastian Moran owned this splendid silenced repeating rifle instead of that deuced silly air rifle (as recounted in "The Adventure of the Empty House"), then that ingenious mannequin of Mr. Sherlock Holmes would have been much the worse for wear. Assuredly, Mrs. Hudson would have been very cross and alarmed with that turn of events.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Finally had an afternoon to actually go out and play with this rifle rather than just popping off rounds into the dirt a few feet away on my property. What a sweet shooting little rifle! Just a natural pointer, and even with having to superimpose sights with the can, had no trouble hitting 3" swingers and soda bottles at 80 yards. I was running moderate loads in resized .32-20 brass, 60 gr. Hornady JFP @ 2,040 FPS avg. Not exactly Thor's hammer, but enough to turn water filled jugs inside-out at the aforementioned range.

Also had time to re-zero my .25-06 with the Phantom 8 ultralight can on it, happy to report that even on a skinny 24" 700 BDL sporter barrel, POI shift was only 1/2 MOA left & low. Gave it two clicks on each turret and proceeded to produce the sub-MOA groups this rifle has always given with Sierra 117s right where they're supposed to be. Not quite a one-holer @ 100, but close, and has never had any cold bore shift.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Well, this has quickly become one of my favorite shooters. Even having to superimpose the sights a bit, I have no trouble hitting rabbit-sized targets @ 100 yards. But being able to truly use sights is better. Thing is, there's a bit much powder in the little cartridge for a rimfire-sized can to be effective, which is why I went 1.25" X 7". I thought about buying or making a vernier rear and taller front blade or post to deal with that, but installing them is a permanent alteration to the receiver tang. Luckily, this critter was factory drilled & tapped on the receiver for a mount, although the screw pattern is different than later 1894s. So I went about searching for a proper scope, and found a nice little Marlin Microvue 4x on fleabay for $45 shipped, probably 1950s vintage. At first, I made a Weaver type rail to mount it, but that just didn't look good, and I still needed to find tall enough rings that were 3/4" with Weaver/Picatinny base-not easy to come by. So I decided on a different solution, lobbed off 2-1/2" of 1"x 2" mild steel bar and went to work. The result came out pretty decent, I think:












Now time to go sight it in and see what kind of accuracy this old rifle is capable of with Hornady 60 gr. FP!

Also, if anyone happens to have an adjustment screw cap for one of these lying around that I could buy, I'd be forever grateful. Can't seem to find one, and I don't have appropriate knurling wheels on hand to make it. Those wheel sets cost more than I paid for the scope, and I have little other use for straight knurling wheels.

 

[MCMXI]

That's cool and looks vintage, like something out of an old Western movie. Not being an ass but is your cheek even close to the stock when looking through the scope?

I'm still planning on sending you my 1895 but a few things have got in the way. I did buy a 3/4" nut to weld to my barrel vice so that I can attach a handle, hold the receiver in a vice as you do and screw the barrel off.

 

[MachIVshooter]

is your cheek even close to the stock when looking through the scope?

It's a little high, but not uncomfortable. I wanted to still be able to manipulate the hammer without having to add one of those stupid attachments.

 

[MCMXI]

Yeah, I have one of those hammer spurs on my 1895 but I'm not a fan either.