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So I've been looking for a .44 mag lever gun to go along with my S&W 629. Sadly, that dream has now been postponed. I ran across this little jewel hiding in the back rack at Academy. Nice New Haven, CT marked 1875 in .45-70. Just back there gathering dust in the shadows. It of course had to come home with me (yep, pic is pretty awful)



Now...to find some ammo and dies and.....

Poor ill fellow, keep it safe!

You have done a brave thing in rescuing that poor fellow from a life of darkness on a shelf.

OldGrumpy wrote:You have done a brave thing in rescuing that poor fellow from a life of darkness on a shelf.

Or the possible horror of a gun buy back and being MELTED DOWN and then used for some goofy art project!!!

Wow. And a Made in USA label to boot.....awesome...

She's built like a Tank in the old school Marlin way. Completely surprised me when I saw the old factory listed. My little Remlin .22 is about to lose its nice glass once I acquire a rail to mount to the receiver. Probably should invest in a nice leather sling as well. Planning on taking it hog hunting at the end of next month so not much time left to get it all put together and sighted in.

One .22LR is now sad, but the scope slid right onto the rails of the new rifle. Now to get it out to the range and put a few on paper.

Bonus: unclamp the scope and the irons are still usable with the rail in place. :)

If it has "JM" stamped on the left side of the barrel near the receiver, it is in fact the "Real McCoy".

If it has "REP" in a oval on the right side of the barrel near the receiver, it is Remington Production.

If it has both, then it is a gun that was assembled from parts in the manufacturing chain when Remington bought them.

There are some "Flukes" in the old Marlins as well.......
Some have the "JM" on the right side of the barrel. If you have one of these, they are original Marlin, but stamped incorrectly. They are just a bit rare.

When Remington took over the Marlin Company, they got a lot of partially assembled guns/parts. They also purchased the New Haven name (Logo). So, the only real way to tell what you have is with the proof markings above.

Some folks like to say you can tell by the serial numbers. Well that is not quite true due to the parts that were in the chain when Remington took over. So, if it has the JM (on the left side of the barrel) then it is possible to have a real Marlin parts, assembled by Remington before they started stamping the "REP" on the right. It was a bit confusing during that time.

So, if you have a real Marlin, it was a very lucky find. But just because it says New Haven, CT does not make it a real Marlin made and assembled by Marlin, per the info above.

Only you can look at it now and tell us if you got lucky!
Just the fact that you got it from Academy almost certainly tells me you will find the "REP" on the right side of the barrel.

I would be interested in knowing what you find.

But, the good news is,........if it is a recent Remington Production, you may have a good one after all. I have heard they are getting better lining up the barrels and not messing up the screw heads/wood anymore, but I have not actually seen a recent production one.

In any case, I hope you enjoy the gun. Oh, you are gonna feel a BIG difference going from the .22 to the 45-70! Hold on tight!

Ahh, burst my bubble, there's a REP on the barrel. Well, the stamp doesn't seem to make a difference in how well this particular one shoots.



Granted, it's only a 3 shot grouping at 25 yards while I was sighting in the scope (took waay more shots than it should have....I think the recoil knocked me a bit silly, at least that's going to be my claim).

Good enough until I can get it out to the farm and stretch it longer. I may have to break down and get a pad for it too. My shoulder is letting me know that it left 18 and bullet proof behind several decades ago.

Well, that 25 yard target looks pretty good! So hopefully it will hold that further out.

A better pad will help, but shooting a 45-70 requires you to "Man Up"

I didn't mean to bust your bubble, just wanted to give you some info. I had a stainless one that the front sight was so clocked to the right I could not even shoot it with the irons. I put a red dot sight on it and sold it. They guy that bought it was quite happy, as I sold it at a considerable loss rather than go thru the trouble of shipping it back to them (possibly several times).

I also found out that my 65 year old shoulder was not up to the challenge of the caliber.

And neither was my wallet up to the cost of the ammo!

Thanks for the info on what you found. Enjoy the gun!

nice rifle

No worries on the burst bubble. I looked it over pretty good beforehand anyhow. Still haven't found anything that bothers me. Front sight was straight, metalwork seems good. No bad burrs or anything that needed to be smoothed out. Really the only thing that I'd want 'fixed' is the over travel on the hammer when you work the action.

The cost of the ammo should get far better once I get dies for it. Right now, I'm investing in 'once-fired' brass the hard way

Actually...once those dies are in the house with some appropriate cast bullets, the recoil should get better too. At least for those rounds destined to punch holes in paper for fun.

Sounds good!

Got her dressed up (new limbsaver pad, sling and a cartridge holder) and ready to go out to the farm to see if I can't find some pigs next weekend. May end up looking over the neighbor's place as well. He's asked me to stop by and have a look if the ground has warmed up enough for him to start planting peanuts. Apparently the hogs /really/ like freshly planted peanuts and will root from one end to the other of a fresh row.

I've got a light for her as well that can be clamp mounted to the scope for night hunting. Should be an interesting experience as the scope doesn't have an illuminated reticle.