An old and somewhat neglected Marlin 39A made its way to my shop to be restored. It's mostly there, and while every screw is buggered, the internals are clean save a broken cartridge stop.

The barrel on the other hand has issues. The last 6-8" were very rusty and it is heavily pitted. That said, from the breech to that point the rifling is good.

I was thinking of boring the muzzle end back to the good rifling with a 0.25" drill and shooting it like that. That still leaves 16" plus of rifled barrel before it transitions to the oversize section. What do you guys think?

Lining is the obvious other option, but also more work.

Jeremy

Before doing anything else to the barrel, give it a good clean, and then make sure the crown is nice and clean and sharp. Them try shooting it. Provided the crown and the last bit of barrel is good, it's amazing how much pitting you can get away with.

Challenge with drilling out the barrel would be getting a good crown on the barrel.

If I was to be going to the bother of drilling out, you may as well drill the whole way and reline - Midway USA has video's showing how this is done, and sells barrel liners as well. These can be epoxied in place - easier than tinning and sweating methinks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...7lYPFpWkG3l&index=15

Alternatively can you shorten the barrel and magazine down so you have a carbine type rifle?

Yes, you can drill it; with a sharp drill and maybe even a reamer that can form a clean crown down there, it will be fine.
Or cut it off, crown it, and solder a piece back on that mimics the old barrel. I have extended barrels like that before.

I was thinking sharp drill followed by a brass ball end rod and lapping compound to clean the crown. Cutting it down seems wrong even if leaving it long is just for looks.

I know that I can reline it and have done others that way. I'd like to try the easiest solution first. So that means shoot it and see, then drill it out and see.

Thanks. Just checking that this wasn't an awful idea.

Jeremy

I would make a piloted drill from a piece of drill rod, for best results. I would not run a twist drill into it.

As it's a Restoration and not just a 'fix it up as best you can so it shoots',,,
I would either look around for another 39A bbl w/a good bore to simply use as a replacement,,or go ahead and reline the existing one.

I'd def keep the original bbl and reline if there is some collector value there due to date of mfg, bbl markings, ect.

Counter boring the bbl can make a good shooter out of a bbl with up-front bore problems.
If you are happy with that alteration that's fine. But if the thought is to resell the rifle, it's a kiss of death for it's value.
Potential buyers will suddenly begin spouting gunsmithing costs to rebbl or re-line the rifle.
At that point you could have saved yourself the trouble and just left the bbl the way it is.

It isn't a hard job to put a liner in the barrel and then you'd have good rifling all the way to the front. Restoration done correctly.

Id just cut and crown the barrel, it would have more value circumsized than a drill out..Either way it will never be original or a collector item unless you leave it as is..I would shoot it first it might surprise you how well it might shoot, Ive seen a lot of low velocity calibers with shot out bores that shot well indeed...worth a try anyway.

I agree a liner would be a decent option, perhaps your best bet, but again it isn't original..and perhaps new barrels are still available from Marlin or other sources, Id check that out for sure.

I've looked for a new barrel without much success. No love from Marlin on that and the ones that I find are either pitted badly or priced like gold. Some are badly pitted and priced like gold.

This rifle has zero collector value and is rough all over. The pitting in the bore is more like no rifling for 6" along one side. I had to knock the cleaning rod through the muzzle the first time with a mallet to break out the rust.

I'll line it after looking at it more. Not that big a job, and I have a little Crackshot 26 that needs a liner as well. It'll be a nice Saturday project.

Jeremy

I bought a Remington 521T barrel on ebay, ended up cutting six inches off the end and back-boring another three to get to decent rifling. It shoots ok now...

Gunbroker.com is your answer. Get rid of it and find a 22 that has a good barrel, probably put some change in your pocket in the process.

Liner is your next most cost effective solution. You can't spend much time or money restoring a $300 rifle unless it has sentimental value.

Calfree's book mentions boring about 7/16" diameter, accuracy not impaired.