Marlin 1895 Cowboys

[Mark Terry]

I've had a couple of questions lately that I haven't been able to get answered and I've been meaning to come to the source of levergun knowledge. This is the first one:

I've been enamored with the Marlin 1895 Cowboy rifles of late and have been on the lookout for one in .45-70. After more than a year of looking, I finally found a mint specimen and brought it home.

It's apparent that these are being made even though they are still listed on the Marlin website. When were these made and approximately how many were made?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mark

[BenT]

Not sure , but I would say it's been a catalog item for at least a decade.

[Blaine]

It's ONLY in 45-70.......a worthy rifle....

[FatJackDurham]

You can get more info from the Marlin Owners forums, but what I have heard is that Marlin themselves made them in the 90's and early 2000's with a JM stamp. THen stopped production, and Remington has made some since under contract. There was a flurry of poo-pooing the "Remlin" quality, and some concern about receiver cracks, which has made for a perception difference that the JM Marlins were better and therefore should be more expensive. However, I am not aware of any more differences than that.

Wish I had known you wanted one, I have been trying to sell mine, which is a JM. They are very nice, and very accurate guns.

I like that you can easily scope and sling them for hunting, then restore them to peep sights for silouette shooting.

About how much did you pay for yours?

Lets see some pictures of yours!

[Terry Murbach]

THE MARLIN COWBOY 45/70 TO LOOK FOR IS A VERY EARLY ONE WITH THE TWO RECEIVER SIGHT HOLES, AND THE BADGER BARRELS THAT WERE ON THOSE FIRST GUNS. THEY SHOOT LIKE A DREAM WITH MY SMALLEST FIVE GROUP AT 100 YARDS BEING .55" C-TO-C.

[Mark Terry]

You can get more info from the Marlin Owners forums, but what I have heard is that Marlin themselves made them in the 90's and early 2000's with a JM stamp. THen stopped production, and Remington has made some since under contract. There was a flurry of poo-pooing the "Remlin" quality, and some concern about receiver cracks, which has made for a perception difference that the JM Marlins were better and therefore should be more expensive. However, I am not aware of any more differences than that.

Wish I had known you wanted one, I have been trying to sell mine, which is a JM. They are very nice, and very accurate guns.

I like that you can easily scope and sling them for hunting, then restore them to peep sights for silouette shooting.

About how much did you pay for yours?

Lets see some pictures of yours!

This one is marked JM and is in excellent shape. It has the Skinner Express sights.









The buttplate is not well fitted and looks as though it came from the factory this way. It will probably have to be remedied.

All in all, I'm very pleased and hope to have the opportunity to shoot it today.

As luck would have it, I did manage to fulfill another .45-70 dream this weekend:



Sometimes you just get lucky.

[Streetstar]

Looks like a nice score on both! --- I'm not the biggest fan of a lot of MArlins, but it doesn't look like the wood on the Cowboy model is as clunky or chunky as they are on the guide gun -- very nice.

That #1 looks like its begging to be taken on safari --- darn classy rifles - both of them

[6pt-sika]

They've been out atleast twelve years as I bought the first one I had in 2001 .

[Bill in Oregon]

One of the finest modern Marlin rifles ever produced, and a great score!
They also made the cowboy in .38-55, and the two I owned were incredibly accurate with .379 jacketed bullets.

[FatJackDurham]

And that second one is what, a Ruger No. 1? Can you use those in silouette matches? It looks cool!