I hate it when a lever gun looks new....

[mr surveyor]

several years ago my son bought a Rem 1100 that obviously had very few rounds through it which was apparent from the lack of any wear marks on the metal to metal friction surfaces. The outside was another story .... the previous owner had done an extremely amateurish job of "antiquing" every exposed metal surface, with almost no evidence of bluing and countless acid pits ....on a Model 1100???? That is one sweet shooting M1100 though, especially for $150 That 1100 is affectionately known as "Old Ugly".

[pricedo]

I usually get a lot of garrulous grumbling or the silent treatment over on the Marlin Owners forum when I mention that Remington/Marlin is getting its stuff together at the Ilion NY factory & is now producing quality leverguns.

It seems like many of them want their namesake American levergun producing company to fail.

[Archer]

I've been trying to get my hands on a Marlin 39A for a while.
When I've tried to order one the last 10 years or so the shop owners have basically told me 'good luck.'

Let one get away a couple weeks ago that a gent was trying to sell that he admitted he had problems with but I couldn't get him to name his price. Might have been operator error or he might have damaged it through incompetence, couldn't tell for sure. Couldn't get him to name a price. He didn't like my opening offer but wouldn't counter so I let it walk away.

Missed out on a .30-30 336 a friend of the family got rid of when he didn't bother to let me know he was ditching it. I don't know what he got for it but I'd bet he gave it away in a yard sell.

In addition to those two I'd like to get a .22 WMR, .44M, .357M and .45-70 or two.

I've been leery of buying sight unseen the last few years as I've seen several Marlins with problems. Hearing that Remington is finally getting their act together is a good thing. There are several Remington designs that are good to brilliant but over the years they've come out with some really skunky ones as well. They have put a lot of energy over the years into trying to make less expensive plastic dipped marvels and prototype MIM and plastic parts instead of concentrating on putting out quality durable designs that feed well. There has been a hole in the market without reliable Marlin production of the levers and .22 designs. Several other manufacturers have jumped into the .22 market but nobody is really covering the levers.

I THINK I've got three of the Miroku Winchesters counting the 1886 TD, 1895 in '06 (should have also gotten the .405), and an 1885 in .22. Wish I'd been able to pick up one of the 1990s 1892s in .44 when they were only $700 or so. The Japanese production is really nice. I'm still in the market for a 9422 to go with the 9422M. Don't know if I'll manage to get that or not.

I think the grumblers must have already got what they want and either want to feel exclusive about the fact or they are wanting to watch the prices continue to climb thinking it makes their guns goldmines. Many of them will end up with their grandkids stealing or inheriting them and selling them for gas money.

[Archer]

I don't mind honest wear on a gun but I'm not wild about artificial aging.
I'll use either to bargain hard on the price of something I'm interested in.

I don't do a lot of selling but every mark on one makes it that much harder to get a good price. Just like a custom paint job on a car means you have to find just the right buyer the same is true of artificial aging or ceracoated guns.

The pics of the aged gun look pretty good and the owner is happy so that's a good thing. Anything you do to make the gun more functional for you or to fit what you want as long as you own the gun is fair game. That's one of the great things about ARs, you can assemble them like a lego set just the way you want and if you don't like it you can swap stuff as often as you can afford it.

I'm debating on how far to go with my Rossi levers in modifications. The refinishing / sealing on the stocks and a few parts replacements are going to happen. Not sure if I'm going to do any lightening of the trigger spring or not.

[pricedo]

Two old truisms apply in spades to this thread:

"Everybody to his own"

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

But let's take this opportunity to re-calibrate our reality perspectives.

The only leverguns that I own that ARE & LOOK genuine & legacy are my two Winchester pre-64 1894s.

My Rossi 92s have a convincing legacy-like look but the guns themselves as well as the legacy-like appearances of the three of them are FAKES, CLONES, COPIES, FORGERIES ....

I'm guity as sin in regards to creating realistic looking forgeries.

Even Perry Mason (played on TV in the 60s by the late Raymond Burr - like me a CDN/US citizen) didn't press the point after the guy he was "sweating" in the witness box in court confessed.

[Archer]

I don't know as I'd call them forgeries. I probably wouldn't use the term fake either.
Clones and copies maybe.

We aren't changing rollmarks (EDM or whatever the heck they are using now at Braztech and Smith & Wesson in place of rollmarks now).
We aren't adding cartouches, proofmarks or altering serials.
We aren't rebluing guns and then telling folks they are NIB.
In short we aren't trying to pass the guns off as something they aren't.

Changing the look of things you own to suit you better is the right of the owner.
Sharing how you did it in case someone else likes the result is probably cooler than the modification in some ways. People get ideas from it that might go in a completely different direction.

I've got a friend who's been assembling clones of some of the earlier AR variations. It is pretty cool to be able to handle them even if they are produced 40+ years after the originals. Where else are you going to run into a AR with the first gen charging handle setup? I know at least a couple guys who have assembled the closest things to what they carried in Vietnam. It is kind of cool to be living in a country where you can do that sort of thing.

[HaveBlue83]

I can't stand the Winchesters bottom section dropping down. I prefer the Rossi style.

I cannot really see myself selling this rifle. It's something that is going to be awesome, even when I'm not shooting it. I thought about it for awhile, and they waited 3 weeks for it to arrive, so this one is a Keeper. I find that I really don't care if it's a replica of not. As long as I smile when I pick it up, I'm happy

[pricedo]

I can't stand the Winchesters bottom section dropping down. I prefer the Rossi style.

In other words you prefer the model 92 to the model 94........both JMB designs sold to Winchester way back when.

Yup........the 94 action cycle reminds me of a pregnant cow in the process of calving.

The 92 is a lot more refined & graceful.

I cannot really see myself selling this rifle. It's something that is going to be awesome, even when I'm not shooting it. I thought about it for awhile, and they waited 3 weeks for it to arrive, so this one is a Keeper. I find that I really don't care if it's a replica of not. As long as I smile when I pick it up, I'm happy

EXACTLY !

Now here's a guy that's GOT IT !

[HaveBlue83]

yes the 92 is sleeker. we have a 1949 Win m94 at work......yucky. any reason JMB changed that? was that for rifle rounds to cycle?

yeah man I shoot my guns! $400-$6000 I dont care!

[pricedo]

yes the 92 is sleeker. we have a 1949 Win m94 at work......yucky. any reason JMB changed that? was that for rifle rounds to cycle?

yeah man I shoot my guns! $400-$6000 I dont care!

Right again !

The very resourceful JMB needed to come up with a design capable of cycling longer rounds like the 30-30 Win without the necessity of a longer heavier receiver so was born the oscillating floor plate where the floor plate of the receiver moves downward to accomodate the longer round & returns to the bottom of the receiver at the end of the cycle stroke.

Brilliant design and almost as strong as the 92 action.

There's nothing yucky about a 1949 Win 94........I own one in 30 WCF from that year, the year of my birth........slick as eels snot and very accurate........I'd offhand guesstimate that the old girl has dropped about 3 dozen deer and as many moose in the hands of me, my dad & my uncle.