Sporting Arms — Long Guns
335 Marlin 6 1/2 Offhand Rifle 40-65 caliber, 30” octagonal-to-round barrel, S/N 2248. Rear barrel sight seat, front hood sight, rear tang sight. Checkered stock and forearm with a Swiss buttplate. Barrel retains most of the original blue finish. Frame still retains most of the case colors lightly faded. Stock and forearm are excellent. $4,500 - $5,500
336 Marlin 6 1/2 Offhand Rifle .38-55, 30” octagonal barrel, S/N 4356 Blued and case hardened finish, checkered deluxe walnut straight gripped stock with nickel-plated, pronged, off-hand type buttplate, deluxe checkered Schnabel walnut fore-end with horn tip. Small loop lever. Tang mounted Vernier sight, spirit level globe front sight. Left side of receiver marked in two lines: JM MARLIN. NEW HAVEN, CONN U.S.A. / BALLARD’S PATENT NOV. 5, 1861. Caliber mark on top of barrel at breech. Fine, retaining some original thinning blue on the barrel which has blended with a smooth plum brown patina. Receiver retaining some faded case color, with a mostly mottled gray patina on the sides and some vibrant color on top and bottom. Fine bore, mechanically crisp. Stock and fore-end about fine, with crisp checkering, some minor bumps, dings and handling marks present and a couple of very tiny surface grain cracks at the wrist where the stock meets the receiver. There is also a tiny chip missing from the horn fore-end tip on the obverse. Nickel plating worn and thin on buttplate. Front sight missing the level. $3,500 - $4,500
337 Merrimack Sporting Rifle .428” bore, .44RF, 28” heavy octagonal barrel, .5” across the flats, no S/N. Blued and case hardened finish, walnut stock with crescent buttplate, fore-end with brass tip. Unmarked. Standard folding barrel sight, tang peep sight, globe front sight. Circa 1867-1869, during the brief period of time that Merrimack Arms produced Ballard rifles, prior to being taken over by Brown Manufacturing Co. Interestingly this rifle does not appear to have been intended to be a dual ignition (percussion / cartridge) gun as nearly all Merrimack Arms were. The hole for the percussion cone in the breech block is filled with a screw that appears factory (or at least period). An interesting, possibly custom order or prototype rifle from Merrimack. Good to very good. Retains some streaky original blue on the barrel, which has blended with a smooth plum brown patina. Receiver retains some vivid case color, mostly on the top and tang, the balance having dulled and faded to a dull pewter gray. Mechanically functional. Ejector is missing the external handle needed to actuate it. Good bore. Stock good with bumps and dings, fore-end with some slivers of wood missing on both sides and a repaired crack at the tip on the reverse. $2,500 - $4,500 SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM
MAY 3-4, 2017 CINCINNATI, OHIO
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