Yesterday's Weapons Forums

I don't know why I'm so queer for old .22's but I am. Here are some pics of my Marlin Model 56 "Levermatic." My cousin gave this to me; it was the first gun he ever bought back in 1955.







These are an interesting rifle. Read the story about them at:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/malloy.htm

These were introduced in 1955 by Marlin and were meant to be a lower-priced alternative to their Model 39. The "Levermatic" was a very short-throw action, only 25 degrees of travel, which allowed the shooter to maintain their grip on the weapon while reloading. Remember, this was just before the big deluge of cheap semi-automatic .22's on the market. As my cousin said, "This .22 was hot s**t when it came out." He must have liked it, because it has lots of wear to the blue finish and shows a gun that was much loved and much used. I wonder how many thousands of .22 cartridges have gone down the barrel of this one?

The Model 56 is a full-sized rifle, and this being an early one (three digit serial number), it has the steel receiver that was used only in the first year of production. Serial numbers were eliminated after the first year of production, also. Federal law didn't require serial numbers on rimfire rifles until 1968. It's hefty, weighing about 7 pounds. The wood stock on it is made of very nice walnut; I wish the wood on my Winchester Model 70 was made out of as nice of a blank.

Only one of my three adult children has any interest in the shooting sports, my elder daughter Bonnie. She likes to shoot this rifle when we occasionally go to the range together.

I LIKE!!!...now you've done it.....i want one of these to add to my 'harem'. good read~and wouldn't you like to find one of the 4000 UN-NUMBERED center fires!?
i didn't know about these marlins...there is one on gunbroker at $200~the tubular version.....slanted rear.....i want a 39 also~ but *sigh*, i'm too poor to have ALL that i want............but this gives me ONE more to want dang it!

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that is a nice one - i had a lever mossberg when i was young , it was quick and accurate ,

That looks an awfully lot like a Sears .22 my dad had. I will try to see if I can figure out what model it was. It may have been made by Mossberg.

Dave

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin historical review of Pennsylvania [1759]

sears sold a lot of mossbergs with their name on them , as well of a lot of others - winchester , remington , ithica

It was a Sears model 46B.

Dave

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin historical review of Pennsylvania [1759]

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Slava Ukraini!!

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....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

yea , and they are really swell too

The Marlin 56 action was strong enough that some were made in .256 Winchester magnum caliber. Tough little rifle.

There was a similar rifle built in .30 carbine caliber. I think Savage may have made those, not really sure.

Ah here we go.
http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/ggps/8175/
It was a Marlin afterall. The Model 62.
I remember these because I almost bought one back in the early seventies, but the round is not legal for Deer in this state.
I'd thought it was a Savage because it was on the same rack as the Savage leverguns in that store.
The gun resembles the Ruger Lever actions but the actions are probably different.

I have a model 62 in 256, and it's very accurate. The big problem is finding the proper 60 grain bullet. Speer made a dedicated 60 grain SP that was the best - the Hornady 60 grain flat point meant for 25-20 works fine, too.

You can form your own brass from 357 - you just have to go slow.

Marlin also made some tool room prototypes in 22 Jet. I know a fellow in the Marlin Collector's Ass'n who has one. That would have been cool - although people would have been opening them up to 22 Super Jet = a 22/357. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!