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.