GUN SPRING 2018
The live portion of this session begins on Wednesday, March 21, 2018.
RARE SPECIAL ORDER MARLIN MODEL 1893 LEVER ACTION RIFLE. MARLIN 1893 SPL. ORDER RIFLE 313905 38-55 ESA Cal. 38-55. Standard grade rifle with very rare 32" tapered rnd bbl with 30" magazine. Bbl has Lyman ivory bead express front sight, a slot blank in the rear seat and a thick base sporting tang sight with 3" staff. Mounted with uncheckered, straight grain American walnut with straight stock and Marlin semi-crescent smooth steel buttplate. Left side of upper tang is marked with matching SN which number is also found in top tang channel of buttstock. Buttplate is unnumbered but appears to be orig to this wood. The 32" bbl, as found here, was the longest that Marlin offered and the 30" magazine tube was the longest their machinery was capable of producing, therefore the disparity in length as compared to the bbl. Bbl has early style 2-line address & patent dates with the words "FIRE-ARMS" hyphenated as opposed to the later version of a single word. Left side of the bbl, above the forearm is marked "SPECIAL SMOKELESS STEEL" and top of receiver is marked "MARLIN SAFETY", top tang is marked "MODEL / 1893". The trigger plate is without the later added hole which is found on later models to inspect the fit of the carrier. Long barreled rifles, such as found here, were often ordered by shooters from the black powder era which required longer bbls to burn all of the powder before the bullet exited the muzzle. The "modern" smokeless powder was more rapid burning and did not require the extra bbl length to obtain maximum velocity. PROVENANCE: Ex- Dr. Frank Miller collection. CONDITION: Very fine. Bbl & magazine tube retain 98-99% strong orig factory blue with only a couple small marks on the magazine tube and faint muzzle edge wear. Forend cap retains about 98% orig blue with faint sharp edge wear and 1 small screwdriver mark. Receiver retains about 95% strong orig case colors, lightly to moderately faded, turning silver on the bottom. Hammer retains bright case colors, turned silver on top edge. Lever retains strong case colors on sides, turned silver on outer faces. Wood is sound with some slight oil staining at the receiver and some cloth pattern in the finish and overall retains most of an old restored finish. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bore. 52396-2 JRL (6,500-9,500)