1881 Marlin Replica

[Lonesome Donkey]

With all of the 1800s replica lever actions and replica pump actions out there, I wonder why nobody has ever made a replica of the 1881 Marlin?

It was the first lever gun to actually be able to fire the .45-70, instead of watered-down proprietary rounds like the 1876 Winchester used.

These rifles were adopted by Jesse James and his gang towards the end of his outlaw career.

Any thoughts? Would you buy one?

 

[chasseur]

One reason I can think of is that the 1881 marlin is not as strong as the win 86 and would not appeal to a lot of shooters who like to push the 45/70 to the upper limits.Also with the exception of side matches as a big gun in a heavy csl it would not appeal to the cowboy action guys as much as say a 73 in 44/40 or 45 colt. That said I would love one as I always loved the looks of the marlin

 

[Lonesome Donkey]

One reason I can think of is that the 1881 marlin is not as strong as the win 86 and would not appeal to a lot of shooters who like to push the 45/70 to the upper limits.Also with the exception of side matches as a big gun in a heavy csl it would not appeal to the cowboy action guys as much as say a 73 in 44/40 or 45 colt. That said I would love one as I always loved the looks of the marlin

I would love one too. The 1881 has really appealing looks, and I think that it would appeal to shooters in the same way that the Trapdoor Springfield and the 1876 Winchester does. Both fairly weak guns as well, yet both in production.

Admittedly though, it is less well known, and would have less appeal to CAS shooters.

Long before CAS however, there were cowboy reenactment aficionados, who simply loved shooting and hunting with the old guns.
CAS, unfortunately, steamrollered over this, with replica acceptance now filtered through "Cowboy IPSC" mentality.

A classic example of this would be the Henry Big Boy, a great rifle, which CAS purists totally hate because it offends their sensibilities.
(Like an 1873 Winchester with an aluminum lifter and a short stroke kit is actually pure in any way.)

The Henry Big Boy not only survived however, but did so spectacularly. Perhaps an 1881 Marlin Replica would do likewise.

 

[Lee Enfield]

One reason I can think of is that the 1881 marlin is not as strong as the win 86 and would not appeal to a lot of shooters who like to push the 45/70 to the upper limits.Also with the exception of side matches as a big gun in a heavy csl it would not appeal to the cowboy action guys as much as say a 73 in 44/40 or 45 colt. That said I would love one as I always loved the looks of the marlin

1881 Marlin is "locked" by the angle of the lever bar through the bolt.

The system is still used in Marlin lever actions, with the addition of the vertical sliding locking bolt, to actually lock the action.

Heavy loaded ammunition would tend to "auto open" in 1881s, assisting with extraction...assuming pressure dropped sufficient to avoid damaging the cartridge case.

The 1881 concept is very similar to what is today known as lever delayed blow back in automatic arms.

 

[Sharps '63]

Long before the Henry CFs came a long, a US pal modified a '92, converting it to .357 and giving it a tube magazine. SASS would not let him shoot it in a sanctioned match.

I agree with the "IPSC Cowboy" dig and the non-historic aspect of short stoked lever guns, etc. A wag on the CasCity forum sent me the dope on how to 'tune up' my Uberti Henry. I laughed at him and asked why I would want to do that to an archaic rifle like a Henry which I enjoyed shooting as it was.

First time I shot a short stroke '73 with a super soft hammer fall, I thought I had broken the gun. I'm amazed that it even popped primers! Couple that with his 2-1/2 grs of baby powder loads and it was laughable.

I'm happy to say that our club doesn't go that route, almost all of us going the John Wayne route. We get visitors from elsewhere that do the pop gun bit and their rifle loads have a hard time ringing the 100m gong. You have to take out your ear plugs to hear the "ping".

 

[chasseur]

I would like to see a replica Remington keane sporting rifle just love the looks of the gun.

 

[Milanczar]

I agree with the "IPSC Cowboy" dig and the non-historic aspect of short stoked lever guns, etc. A wag on the CasCity forum sent me the dope on how to 'tune up' my Uberti Henry. I laughed at him and asked why I would want to do that to an archaic rifle like a Henry which I enjoyed shooting as it was.

First time I shot a short stroke '73 with a super soft hammer fall, I thought I had broken the gun. I'm amazed that it even popped primers! Couple that with his 2-1/2 grs of baby powder loads and it was laughable.

I'm happy to say that our club doesn't go that route, almost all of us going the John Wayne route.

Amen! Its about using what was there and the uniqueness of it, rough edges and all. Not how much you can spend time and $$ wise to slick it up.

Love to see a Marlin 81 repro along with many others from that period. There was an attempt to get Merwin Hulbert repros going a while ago but it came to naught sadly.

A Burgess Shotgun repro would be fantastic as well.