38/40.

[Leverdude]

Got an 1889 Marlin 38/40 last week. All original cept for a screw & the sight elevator it looks like. The woods been oversanded though & about every screw is buggered. Bores not so good but the guy I got it from said it did good in cowboy action for him. We'll see, I'm not against getting it lined if I have too, I'm replacing the wood anyway. I need to change the fireing pin, get some brass, bullets & dies and see what happens. Couldnt beat the price. I'm a certified NRA instructor and I help a local guy out about once a month give the basic pistol course for carry permits. Last week he said "Merry Christmas in January Ken" and handed me the gun. I'm pretty tickled because I needed a 38/40 to complete the set. I have one in parts on my bench for a few years now but cant find time to get to it. This makes it alot easier, even better if the butstock I fitted to the parts gun fits on.

[kimwcook]

Very nice. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

[Gobblerforge]

I love the 38WCF. No recoil and kills everything it hits. Good looking gun.
Gobbler

[okdee]

Nice rifle. I have relined one rifle and it shoots dot on! Decided against changin out the wood, kinda became attached to that old worn, beatup, but still capable of shooting well, look! Any way you go, it will be yours!
OkD

[EdinCT]

Nice rifle in a great cal. I meet a guy from Vermont whos Grand father had a Marlin 38/40 just like it for his bear hunting. He said it killed them quicker than his 30wcf! (Its what you believe in I guess.)
My grand father had a 92 Winchester for his big gun in New England and I agree No recoil and just plain works.
Mine has a frosted bore and will still keep 3 in a 1 1/4 inch at 75 yards with a tange sight so give it a try.

[Leverdude]

Thanks Gents.
If the wood wasnt so oversanded I'd let it be. I like old wood but not when its been butchered. I'll stain the new pieces & they'll look right. If it shoots I wont line it, but its pretty bad, even the chamber is pitted.

I dont think I'm going beyond making it into a shooter though. Heres a couple pics of another 89 I fixed up a little & had lined, this ones a 44/40. That one had a bulged round barrel on it & I had an oct barrel put on & lined by Taylor Machine on the west coast. He's lined a couple for me now & will do this one if I go that way.
Before,


After,

[Rube Burrows]

Good looking rifle. The 89s just feel good in the hands.

[Old Savage]

Work your magic.

[w30wcf]

Leverdude,
What a neat piece of Marlin history! A distant frind of mine has an 1889 Marlin in 38-40. Unfortunately the bore is in real sad shape. With factory jacketed ammo the best it can do is 5"+ groups at 25 yards. I loaded some 38-40's using PSB (polyethylene shot buffer) over 4227 powder and a 180 gr cast bullet. He could not believe how well that ammunition shot....1" at 25 yards.

The PSB acts as a flexible gas check and allows the bullet to transverse the barrel without disturbance from any gas getting by. Something you might want to try if you do not get the accuracy you would be happy with.

w30wcf

[jlchucker]

Nice rifle in a great cal. I meet a guy from Vermont whos Grand father had a Marlin 38/40 just like it for his bear hunting. He said it killed them quicker than his 30wcf! (Its what you believe in I guess.)
My grand father had a 92 Winchester for his big gun in New England and I agree No recoil and just plain works.
Mine has a frosted bore and will still keep 3 in a 1 1/4 inch at 75 yards with a tange sight so give it a try.

In the Vermont village where I grew up back in the 1950's, the 38-40 was fairly common among the old guys who hunted deer and bear. Some kids my age at the time used rifles in that caliber as family hand-me-downs come deer season. Not many folks read gun magazines or bought new rifles every year, and older leverguns were pretty much universally used, along with a few pumps. One caliber that I never heard mentioned back then though, oddly enough, was the 44-40. Apparently the old timers preferred 38-40's around my parts, and kept them for generations. Some of those 38-40 users hauled out some pretty big deer back then. They pretty much used factory ammo, too--with a box lasting for several seasons. A couple of shots at a can or home-made target at the local sandpit, followed by a shot or two to kill their deer. Must be those big deer back then had thinner skins, because nobody was using exotic new calibers or gummytip bullets at the time.