Marlin 1895 .33 WCF rebore to 45-70

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Patrick Gidlet

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Hey folks

Kind of tossing an idea around in my mind here. I picked up an old square bolt Marlin 1895 in .33 WCF. Its in pretty good shape, just some slight stock damage and broken butt plate. It seems to be a lightweight variant. I'm wondering what the feasibility of reboring to 45-70 would be. I'd only do it if I can keep the outward appearance of the gun the same, so I might run into issues with the amount of meat at the muzzle end.

Based on some PM's I got when researching the gun, I know it has some collector value, and I know I can reload for the .33 WCF, so I should probably drop the idea. But I've wanted an old 45-70 for a long time, so the idea keeps popping into my head.

I welcome any thoughts or suggestions.
 
If that gun is a "lightweight" version, even with a broken butt-plate, is a very collectable firearm ( just a guess here but prob. less than 500 were made total) and to be blunt about it there is no financial justification to re-boring it. Re-boring will drop the value in half at least (I would suggest a drop of $800-$1000 or so minimally). To me there is only one route to take to change that Marlin to a 45-70 and that is a totally new barrel. This way you retrain the old barrel in its original condition for re-sale with the gun at a later date and the financial hit will be very much less. A re-bore will probably cost upwards of $450 or so and a complete new barrel can probably be installed for $600 or so. The trade-of in cash outlay is only $150 but the retained value far offsets that.

Original Marlin 1895's are very much sought after in the U.S., much more so than here. A standard grade will demand as much as a comparable 86 Win. so your "Lightweight" could very well be coming up to a moderate custom 86 value.

edited; just checked my COW and the 45-70 case head is 10 thou smaller than a .33 Win but the extractor claw should be long enough to extract a case.
 
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Yeah, its certainly quite a rare gun. Given that the bore is quite good, I should really just keep it as is and learn to appreciate the .33 WCF, which is a fairly cool round in its own right, just not available off the shelf. Funny thing with this gun is it was advertised as a newer model 45-70, but I could see in the pics that it was a square bolt. When I went to look at it, it was clearly a .33 CF, so I got the gun even cheaper. Eventually I'll stumble across an original 45/70, like I stumbled across this one.

Thanks for an idea of how much the value would be knocked back, that gets the idea out of my mind a bit.
 
It's actually a great cartridge and uses .338 bullets......I have an 86 lightweight 1/2 mag that likes 250 gn Horn RN and I have an 86 full rifle that likes the 200 gn Horn Flex tips. I made 100 brass from 45-70, just one pass through the FL die and trim to length. Don't worry about the nominal differences in rim diameter they don't make a bit of difference. One word of advice......don't try using Starline brass, it is too thick or hard and it folds instead of forming, I used all Rem and it worked like a dream with perfect 33 WCF cases forming every time. It's a fun cartridge to shoot and play with and the Horn bullets are'nt too badly priced.
 
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I got in touch with a good guy here in Thunder Bay that has dies for the .33 WCF, but no longer has his 86 that was chambered in it. I'm not set up to reload yet, but he seems willing to set me up with enough rounds to do a bit of shooting with this old rifle. Once I'm done with basement renos and have a workshop set up, I'll make the investment in some reloading equipment. I've heard the starline brass is tough to reform. Have you tried working with the Hornady Lever Evolution brass? Its a bit short for reloading to 45-70, but I'm thinking if it needs to be trimmed anyhow, it might work. Its usually easier to get from folks as well as not so many reload for it.
 
The .33 Win. is a great cartridge . It equals the old ,,,, "Dominion " 215 gr. load in .303 British .
I reload the .33 Win. with 200 gr. Hornady bullets @ 2,100 f/s . , using 40 gr. of 3031 powder .
I killed a moose with this @ 212 Yds. in 2010 .
I used a Winchester 1886 light weight , as well . The tang sight was sighted for 200 yds. & I just aimed a tad
higher . I also cast bullets with an RCBS mold & target shoot with them .
No advantage in going to .45-70 , as long as bore is good. ,,,,,,,,,, Frank
 
Wow, those are some impressive numbers for such an old round, and one that never really caught on. I guess the bolt action and the 30-06 were what did it.

The only problem I can see arising from this thing is a desire to find even more old Marlins. As much as I love my 1950's 336, the case hardening and roll stamping on this thing are just super cool.
 
Patrick Gidlet said:
Wow, those are some impressive numbers for such an old round, and one that never really caught on. I guess the bolt action and the 30-06 were what did it.

The only problem I can see arising from this thing is a desire to find even more old Marlins. As much as I love my 1950's 336, the case hardening and roll stamping on this thing are just super cool.
Click to expand...

I agree with the request for pictures, if that gun is a "lightweight" and has very vivid color case finish still present it may very pleasantly surprise you as to the "right side of the border" value it would demand.

I was once offered 4 grand "sight-un-seen" for an early ser # 95 (first yr production in 45-90) with somewhat faded colors by a reputable Marlin dealer down south...I didn't take him up on the offer...the gun is kind of a family heirloom and above all else I still shoot the thing.
 
Ha ha ok if you twist my arm. I'm away until early march, and I'll take some proper photos in the sun when I get home, but this is the one I have in my phone. The case coloring isn't what I'd call vivid, by any means, other than in some of the protected areas under the lever etc. Most of it is worn off. The blueing is great though. The buttplate is also broken, but I've found a replacement through Homestead Gun Parts. At some point, someone varnished the stock, but its that very soft yellow stuff (shellac maybe). I have an auto-5 that was the same, and it came off very easily with lacquer thinner, so when I get some time I'll carefully disassemble the stock and remove the varnish. Should be able to get to the original finish underneath.

I'm certain its a lightweight - 24" barrel, rubber butt plate, half magazine, dovetailed front sight etc.


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