Rusted shut Marlin

[MD]

The continuing saga:

I was given this Sears model 45 in July

Been working at it for month

Polished it up on Saturday

Cold blued it yesterday

Now I'm waiting for a butt stock to arrive

 

[H Wally]

If the internals were siezed and the outside is that pitted, what's the barrel like???

 

[sunray]

That receiver is seriously weakened.

 

[MD]

Some pitting in the bore, but most of it shined up pretty good.

 

[Gomer]

Its going to need some Bondo before it hits the EE

 

[shootemup]

I'd be inclined to agree...good "above the fireplace" gun I'd think...

 

[chev_ranger]

used ATF works good for freeing rusted parts let it sit in the oil for a day or two and it will free up but i would never use it i have seen guns blow and its nothing i would want to go through but it would look nice as a display gun

 

[John Y Cannuck]

If the rifle is in 30-30, I doubt it has been weakened enough to cause any great problem. My main concern would be the bore, and corrosion of the locking surfaces, resulting in headspace, and or a rough action.

 

[david doyle]

That flat side could be a great training ground for a draw file. You could make that flat sharp and clean pretty easy. The mag tube and barrel also look like a patient man who took his time could restore.

Pay heed to JY canucks advice above and you can turn that into a useful rifle you'll be proud of.

Have fun with it. There is a lot of joy in turning junk into a useful firearm.

 

[MD]

Thank you for your advice and encouragement.

I'm almost done for now.

The top of the receiver was pitted the worst of all.

It took a while just to get a crust of loose rust and even some spilled epoxy paint or something off, then it looked like this.

I neglected to take further pictures, but when I finally exposed the screws and soaked each one with Fluid Film enough, they came out and yes, I did some draw-filing there.

I'll be covering that up with a one piece scope mount anyway.

All the internal receiver parts are in remarkably good condition.

 

[Rembo]

does the phrase " you can't polish a turd" mean anything to you?...it's scrap metal.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Scrap metal to the holder of a fine scratch free display rifle can be a just fine working rifle to one who is indifferent to looks, and concentrates on functionality.

 

[david doyle]

Another skill you might teach your self is barrel lapping with a lead lap and rouge.

I would encourage you to remove the remaining pits on the external frame. It will acutally make it stronger as you will be removing all those stress risers. Better to have less smooth metal then more pittied metal. You might also find that unless you really chemically cleaned those pitts well they never stop rusting despite the blueing.

I guess some people have too much money or guns to realize that when your done that rifle will have a half life of at least a couple hundred years worth of moose shooting, well worth the effort if you ask me.

 

[farshot]

my view -- if it can be made safe to fire without undue risk, then re-do it. It is fun, you learn alot about rifles and if you enjoy that sort of work, then make it a project of it and refinish it to whatever level you wish. Nicer wood, bead blast it, camo paint.... -- whatever you think might be what you want. Sure it may never be cost effective, but neither is having children.

 

[MauserMike]

Assuming you heed the advice here and go further with the pitting: Ever considered rust blue? Its within the realm of the do-it-yourself and a superior finish to hot salt blueing . (cold blue isn't going to hold up at all)

 

[Musketfire]

I have shot much older rifles restored from much worse.

Honest truth to my eye..ITS BEAUTIFUL!!

I love seeing these old beauts given new life and I think you have done a grand job so far!!

I would take it in a heart beat and shoot black powder hand loads with it.
Though to be honest I would want it in the condition you found it in.

With a nice oiled walnut stock and multiple coats of canadian tire cold blue it will be quite a head turner.



Cheers to you!!!!

 

[MD]

Thanks guys.

Remember, it looked like this:

I assembled it yesterday and it now looks like this:

According to Canada Post, my butt stock was at the Richmond sorting centre yesterday.

If I get the stock today I'm going to Reliable for a scope base this afternoon.

 

[Musketfire]

Looks just awesome!!!

Though In my opinion, .....Stick with open iorn sights.

Hell itsyour gun put bloody anything you want on her!!! After the ressurection that old beauty owes you some bush time!!

Again I say WELL DONE!!!!!!!!

 

[MD]

Thanks musket, the idea with the scope is to see exactly what this old girl can do. My old eyes can't be trusted to be too accurate at 100 yards with even a peep sight.

It's only $10.00 for the base, I'll put a Bushnell I have on another rifle on it at first, then get a front sight (which it doesn't have yet) and decide on a receiver sight.

I do in fact have a receiver sight on a Winchester Model '94, but damn, I just got that sighted in, kind of hate to pull the sight off it now.

Got the stock

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Good work, nice socks