I recall a post on these guns, and seemed to be very popular and in demand at a premium..Can anyone refresh my memory as I bought one, and its a carbine, and handy as can be, but I have little knowledge of them...need a bit of help here.

The really early model 1895’s released by Marlin were fitted with Douglas barrels and had a BO serial number. These are the models that command a bit of a premium. The early models were fitted with a straight grip, had a half mag and 22” barrel. All models without the side safety (introduced in the early 80’s) can also command a premium.

I’ve had a BO serial number rifle and one from later production (with a microgroove barrel) and both were very accurate with jacketed and cast loads.

I have a BO model (I might have BO also) and the above is correct. They had a curved butt plate(plastic) and a dovetailed into the barrel front sight.
I don't believe any carbines were made.

Hip

P.S. VERRY ACCURATE and not choosey about loads!

Thats what I bought, its a 22 inch barrel, pretty gun, 1971 or 72 seller said..I will check for the BO..Saw one on GI, for $1800..it sure is a handy little gun and very light, but not my cup of tea, so will probably put it on AR after I get all the details figured out..Been standing in a closet all these years,

I don't see any BO, but the gun matches the rest in description, its about the nicest, lightest, and handiest 45-70 Ive ever seen...My coharts in Canada and Alaska, praise them highly and likek the straight grip light weight for bear protection...

Mine has a serial number of B0043xx.
Not sure if the BO started at 1 or not?

Mine is BO018xx, so I would guess yes.

Mine looks the same but no BO ?? why and whats the differnce?

The serial on mine is 21070626, no BO??? Does this tell anything as to its heritage..?

BO was used only the first couple years. Your rifle was made in 1979.

Subtract the first two numbers from 100, is the code breaker.
Yours should have 12 groove rifling; first year had 8. Otherwise, no difference.
Not 'Micro Groove", in spite of what you read, and even Marlin marked some 444s with standard rifling that way, adding to the confusion. Some marketing guy or girl though it sounded cute.

Oh well its a damn nice rifle, light and handy and will take a scope is I decide on one..but the receiver sight is nice and considering the range factor its probably best for me..but I still like the win long tang mod 71 348 win. I just bought..I let the 348 Imp go..

Great little rifles. Some people who own them, it seems, dedicate themselves to loading to the max, pushing the pressure envelope to within a hair's width of catastrophic failure. Max loads provide maginal, imperceivable, downrange benefit but will beat you up and rattle your teeth with the felt recoil of a 458 Lott.

The 1895s work just fine with factory loads, including +P loads, and mid-range handloads. Handloaders can load from a good selection of hard-cast bullets. But even hard-cast bullets need not be loaded to magnum power levels to get great results.

Hornady and their Leverevolution loads have modernized the traditional levergun. Their 250gr Monoflex 45-70 load offers impressive ballistics. But their 325gr FTX is probably the best all-around 45-70 factory load available.

https://youtu.be/MJXBS4MR3Xk

A little story about the early Marlin 45-70's..
I worked at Marlin when they first started producing these.

They were coming off the assemblers benches pretty well and off to the the range as normal.
Proof,,Function Fired,,then a few rds for Targeting which was just to get them onto the paper.

The Range had targets on a roll of paper down range and elect op so the shooter only had to advance the roll from his position to get a clean target. No checking down range of crankng in a target. CCTV allowed the shooters to see their results

As a result,,no one ever checked any thing down range. What was the need...

Then one day someone came into the front office and said there were shots being fired in the employees parking lot and a couple of cars were all shot up.

What happened is that the constant pounding of the 45-70's which were dedicated to 1 or 2 positions in the range for targeting had punched their way thru the steel backstop matrl.
Then easily crumbled the concrete bloc wall of the bldg.
Right outside was the parking lot.

Those cars took a beating for sure.

Heavier backstop plates were installed on the overnight and everything was back to normal.

Never any problems with the 30-30 & 35rem calibers.
I don't know if they installed thicker backstop plates on all the range targeting points or not.

They were a little loose with the rules there.
Unburned powder in front of the shooters was just left to accumulate. Never swept up or cleaned up.
Every so often a spark from one of the guns being tested would set it off and the stuff would flame up and blaze away like a small forest fire spreading across the range floor.
They'd just let it burn away and burn itself out.

Kind of a strange place in a lot of ways...

2152,
Interesting report on the metal back stops. Thanks.

I participated in a levergun bullet testing team a few years ago and we decided to seek assurance that our chosen .458 loads would penetrate/kill an elephant with a frontal brain shot. We used our swinging steel 4/5 inch thick pistol practice target for the test. The rifles going to Africa for the test were two Miroku made Winchester 1886 rifles; a 45-70 and an 45-90. We figured if the 45-70 would shoot through the plate, no need to test the 45-90 as it was to be loaded 150 fps faster than the 70.

All lead bullets were passed over to save ammo and time and only momo metal solids tested with 50 yard shots from the 45-70 at about 2000 fps MV.

The 450 grain brass Punch bullet shot through, leaving a clean daylight hole.

The North Fork 450 grain solid copper bullet shot through, leaving a less clean hole.

Final use in Africa at a range of 20 yards had both bullets shot from 45-90 at 2150 FPS MV shot through ele head and into body. DRT

Some other quality bullets ( Kodiak 450 grains) shot through Cape Buff from all angles from both rifles, but penetrated only as far as the front of the Ele brain.

right down the road
brockman - go to lever man

Im surprised at the penetration of such a slow bullet which indicates that a hard lead cast bullet will probably kill deer and elk as well as a jacketed soft point, am I correct, as I have a lot of jacketed and cast bullets..Id be interested in how the LEVEREVALUTION powder works in the 45-70 and the .348 win., if anyone has experience in that caliber with that fine powder thats a favorite inmy 30-30 s

2152
That was an interesting story that they probably didn't want out at the time. Safety in all aspects has grown tremendously over the years in almost all industries.

Well my Marin 95 got loaded up with several loads and showed a fondness 350 gr bullets with 49 grs. of IMR-4198 at a tad over 2000 FPS, and that load will get your attention about like a 500 N.E. put me on Tylenol for the evening! The guns a tad light, so I scoped it with my Leupold Alaskan 7/8" rings, and that didn't help nor does ther recoil pad..but its a cute fun gun and whitetail ready with 405 Rem corelocts, Swift 350s, Hornaday 400 and Im working on Acme 350 cast and coated bullets. I like this gun, but it scares me!!!

Well I opted to sell my 45-70, a great gun but if Im going elk or deer hunting Im going to grab my 348 win everytime, its snug-able when Im leaning against a tree waiting for an elk to come prancing by.

quote:

Mine looks the same but no BO ?? why and whats the differnce?

Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120

You have the deodorized version. (They started cleaning them with Hoppes)

Carpetman,
I should have figured that out, its so obvious!

I bought one of the early ones in the early 70s but had ejection issues. I later heard that a lot of the early ones had that same malady but then Marlin got the bugs worked out.

I had three of the early ones with the BO prefix and the 8 groove rifling; no issues at all. One I never shot. Hard to make them not work; the Marlin design is pretty foolproof.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I had three of the early ones with the BO prefix and the 8 groove rifling; no issues at all. One I never shot. Hard to make them not work; the Marlin design is pretty foolproof.

and it still hasn't been

All I can say is that I had problems with mine + the scuttlebutt at the local gunshops was a mfg. problem. Well, we all know how reliable that can be.

Hi guys! New here on the forum.

I picked up an 1895 this past summer at a LGS that is from 1972. Serial number is BO032XX. I've not had any problems shooting it, although I don't think it had many rounds through it before I got it.

ON,
Hope your screen name is NOT your physical condition!

Welcome to AR! You will like it here! Great bunch of HONEST GUYS!

I have a BO also and it is a great shooter, the only thing that I did to it was have a recoil pad added-----I Know, I Know, I'm a wimp!

Good luck with it!

Hip

Yes, welcome to the forum. I killed a bear in Manitoba with a first year (new) 95 once; it jumped ten feet into the air and ran off; only made it ten yards though and dropped dead,
Oh, about your handle; you will catch comments from guys here, forever; might want to rethink that one.

Thanks for the kind reception! Yes, I may have to rethink my handle! However, it is my physical condition, although being 71, I don't have as much use for the equipment as I used to!

ALL YOU NEED IS ONE! AS THE PENDULAM SWINGS!


Hip

Onenut--My dad also had that condition. When he went into the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) whic was ran by the Army and they had to take physical---there was a guy with three. He was forever call Treyball Roberts.

My BUTT is almost prefect-----HAS A SLIGHT CRACK! Nice dimples though!

Hip