Stop me from butchering my Marlin 1895 Cowboy 45-70.

[hightime]

I like this gun, but I wish it had a crescent but plate. a thinner forearm, case hardened and a cover over the bolt or a square bolt. I quess the round one is stronger, but it ugly.

It's still a great gun. Oh what it could be.

Owen

[kimwcook]

Sounds like you need to sell that one and get an oldie. Sorry, can't give you a model number cause I don't know.

[Tycer]

Oh what it could be.

Owen

Perhaps you are truly looking for a Winchester Short Rifle.

http://www.hinterlandoutfitters.com/win ... 33741.html

[damienph]

So what part of your project is butchering?

[J Miller]

Owen,

Send the rifle to me. I will keep it in protective custody until you come to your senses. I'd love to have a rifle like that, almost did once, but no money for it.

Joe

[Ysabel Kid]

So what part of your project is butchering?

+1 - all sound like great improvements to me!

[Old Savage]

I would lop the barrel off at 22". I would keep it otherwise as is.

[jnyork]

It's your gun, have at it. Sounds like a good project to me.

[earlmck]

The great thing about America is you can have what you want. In your case you want a rifle that looks cool. You mistakenly got one that works great and feels good to shoot. But the Winchester crowd calls it "fugly" and hurts your feelings.

So sell it (put it on gunbroker.com and I may end up bidding on it) and for a few hundred more dollars you can acquire one that looks cool. There is no use you rasping on the stock and slicing on the barrel when that terrible ugly round bolt (simple-beautiful bolt) is still telling onlookers you are shooting a Marlin.

[Old Savage]

Or look at it this way. All that you complain about I think is fine and it is a great looking basic design - eminently functional. And the things you want - I either wouldn't bother getting or want to remove - particularly the crescent butt which is less functional for handling serious recoil.

[Slick]

If you’re hesitant about making any permanent changes to the gun’s original wood, look for aftermarket or replacement furniture that has the features you want, or at least you wouldn’t feel reluctant to modify.

[LeverBob]

Come on Pard...you bought the rifle because it appealed to you for some reason. If you want an old timey gun, then go buy one. No need to butcher an expensive Cowboy.

There was a reason the cresent buttplate went by the way of the dinosaur...it just plain hurt like the dickens in the larger calibers. Sharps offered a "shotgun style stock" just for this reason.

Marlin came out with the larger forend...to give the shooter a better, more controllable handhold up front. Want proof, I'll site my Marlin book & give you the references if you please.

My 1950 model '39 forearm stock is a really large one in the old style. It fills the hand & I can better keep the rifle from canting. Slimming a Marlin or Winny is to me just a digession to "old timie style" and hasn't any bearing on utility. Oh, by the way, that old beatup Marlin will stay on a squirrels head with CCI ammo at fifty yards offhand all the day long. Why change it...are you looking for a meat tool or a fashion plate?

"Color case hardening"? Do you just want the "look"? What for? I concede it is beautiful, but it hardly wears anything near the blueing finishes of today. CCH on most Perazzi shotguns are worn a lot sooner than a modern blueing finish. I do have experience with this contention. Same with any CCH finish. When they are worn off to the metal they look just plain ugly!

Is your rifle a "tool to use" or is it just something to look at & brag about?

You do what you want with YOUR rifle...and forgive me, for I'm getting fed up with gunners butchering their rifles just to fit some preconceived idea of what the IDEAL rifle should be. Like cutting perfectly good barrels to 16".

"It makes it really handy in the brush". BULLSPIT!!!!. Want more? Just ask me.

Rant off....

LB

[J Miller]

I agree with almost everything LeverBob said. Everything but about the pregnant forearms that is. I can shoot my skinny Winchesters most fine.

Joe

[Pitchy]

I have a 1895 Cowboy and love it, the forearm is thinner than the one on my Browning made 1886 Win.
Don`t know you can get the cowboy forearm much thinner than it is, i agree the forearms on the rest of the Marlins are a tad heavy.
Check some of the LTD Marlins, they have a half round half octagon barrel and seems like one might have the butt plate your looking for.
A lot of people would love to have that cowboy just the way it is so it`s worth gun money, it would be a shame to alter it.
Look around first and ask your questions on the Marlin owners board also.

[.45colt]

This is easy....Sell Me Your Cowboy. Buy this original 1895 from Cabelas. You get to post a range report with pictures and everybody is Happy. .

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Marlin-M ... arlin+1895

[jlchucker]

It's your gun, and you've absolutely got the right to spend all you want to give it that old-timey look. Like others here, I think that the fat Marlin forearms are an ugly waste of lumber and an eyesore, but those cowboy models aren't that fat. Then there's the matter of the crescent buttplate. I never thought much about that feature until I bought a 44 magnum Rossi rifle--the 24 inch kind. I already had owned a little Winchester trapper for years in the same caliber, and it had been a great plinker with no objectionable felt kick. I found out the hard way that the same loads out of my heavier rifle with a crescent buttplate could be a bruiser to say the least. With a 45-70 I'll bet it will really get your attention. And from a bench, if you're wearing a t-shirt, I would think that the recoil would be a black-and-blue maker with the first shot. Let us know when you get your mods made and take it to the range.

[Pitchy]

Just as a side note, we have shot my 86 Win with the crescent butt plate and the cowboy with the shotgun style using the same loads. The 86 weighs almost two pounds more than the Marlin cowboy yet hurts when ya shoot it. I can only assume it`s the butt plate that makes the difference. Actually i find the cowboy pretty pleasant to shoot.

Not sure what models the two with crescent butt plates are but they are cool.

[hightime]

You know you guys are good. I think I'm going to leave it alone. I already have guns with the other elements and the 45-70 is a meat gun. In the years and generations down the road , it will have the charm from what it's done. Last year was the first year of hunting for it and it did three whitetails. It's prettier than it was.

Thanks, Owen

[J Miller]

With all this talk on how crescent butt plates cause owies perhaps it's time for KirkD to post his "How to shoot rifles with crescent butt plates, for Dummies" thread again. It had pics for those who can't reed and write and do there sums ......


Joe

[Pitchy]

With all this talk on how crescent butt plates cause owies perhaps it's time for KirkD to post his "How to shoot rifles with crescent butt plates, for Dummies" thread again. It had pics for those who can't reed and write and do there sums ......


Joe

Ya ya ya see the problem is your crescent butt plate is on a Red Ryder.

[Old Savage]

Kirk is not shooting heavy loads through his.

[J Miller]

My Red Rider has a wooden extension on it

Kirk's real man sized rifles already shoot great big bullets, he don't need to load 'em any hotter.

Joe

[Pitchy]

If ya ever come up here Joe we`ll shoot both and i`ll film the look on your face

[hightime]

I shoot my 45-110 Quigley compressed loads with the '' cresent '' without a recoil pad. But that's blackpowder and weighs 14#. The Marlin does have a bad recoil with stout hunting charge and 410 grain bullets. I think I'll keep the butt plate it came with.

Owen