doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Potential silk purse or always a sow's ear Marlin?

Can cheap wood be improved? Some time ago I acquired a little-used 22 LR Marlin Model 99. Except for a couple of slight/minor scratches, the stock, slab sawn with reasonable grain, is in excellent condition but is characterless with very open pores, some of which look quite deep and show as dark lines along the grain.

I’m hoping that a London finish with alkanet would put some color in the wood and enhance its appearance. I’ll probably use a wet-sand process, starting with a thinned down oil & urethane mix, using the slurry to fill the pores. I’ve oil-finished a few shotgun stocks already so I understand the general process and what is involved. However, those jobs were on high-grade walnut and not cheapo wood. (I’ve also got SDH’s books and obtained equal measures of pleasure and knowledge from them.)
Can cheap wood be improved? Is this a feasible project or am I wasting my time? Comments/ideas/suggestions welcomed.
Thanks,

Kerryman


Other details on the gun:
Some Internet research suggests that it is a 99C or possibly a 99DL from 1963/4. The Monte Carlo stock is uncheckered, has a semi pistol grip (no cap) and the black Marlin buttplate has a thin white spacer. The stock also has a rear swivel hole that has been filled with a black & white bulls-eye insert, same as the white spacer. No sign of a swivel or holes on the barrel. It has an 18-shot brass tube magazine under a 22inch Auto-Micro-Groove Barrel. The barrel is stamped with the Eibar proof house mark along with the letter E in a shield. It has a gold trigger with a button safety built into the rear part of the trigger guard. The top of the action is grooved for a scope (a Weaver V22 is fitted, over a notch sight).

Marlin strikes again. That is not a filler. That is the Marlin trademark, a bulls-eye.

Pete

These particular Marlins have a rep for malfunctions in feeding, unfortunately. Quite accurate, as are almost all Marlins, but they don't always shoot every time you pull the trigger. Too bad.
Regards, Joe

I've never heard of a 99. It is a lever or bolt or what?

Semiauto 22LR, either tube or box magazine in different models. I have 2 in the shop right now, free to a good home for cost of postage. Some 99s shoot but some don't, these 2 don't.
Regards, Joe

Brent,

It is a semi-auto. At the time they produced it, they were also making the Glenfield semi-auto. Sort of a cheap Ruger 10/22 except with a tube feed. Nice little plinkers. As JD states not always reliable nor accurate, depending on the individual gun. They often were sold with a scope. For $50-$75 you got a scoped 22 with several bricks of ammo.

Pete

It's sounds like a Model 60 (the later version of the Model 99).
If it has a grooved receiver, manual bolt hold open (push in to lock), brass inner mag tube and a micro groove barrel it's a Model 60 action/rifle.

But....The first walnut stocked versions of the Model 60 were called & marked 'Model 99' though,,if that isn't confusing enough!

There was also a 'Model 99DL' (DeLuxe) but I don't recall what made it different from the standard. Too long since I worked there. Perhaps checkering or M/C stock,,don't really remember.

The poor quality sintered metal feed throat/ejector used in the earlier production rifles caused most all of the problems with these. A change in about 1973 solved most of the problems.

Thanks everyone for the comments. It is a Model 99, per stamp on the barrells. Using some of the keywords from the posts above a Google search now leads me to believe that it is from 1964 or possibly '65. Have not fired it from a bench yet, will do so when the weather is more pleasant. However, it seems accurate by the results of the 50 or so rounds I put through it in my garden. No jamming/misfires.
Although I know it is not valuable, I think it might have some potential in the beauty stakes. Dress it up a bit, like in those films when the frumpy schoolmistress lets down her hair and removes her reading glasses..... you get the idea!
Rs
K.

The Model 60 was made from 1960-present, while the Model 99 and 99C were made from 1959-1978. Both are the same internals, with just cosmetic changes. Cheap, entry level semiautos, that can have problems, but then again some never have problems.
I've got a Model 60 I bought new when I was 18 and after over 40 years, it still functions perfectly, and it's never been worked on.
You might get the stock to look better, but it's most likely even if you did, it's not a very expensive gun, and begs the quuestion, "Is it worth the effort?"

Kerryman,

Take a look at this site,
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/index.php

Here is the Marlin 60 sub-board
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=217

You may want to browse here...
http://www.gun-parts.com/marlinstocks/

Pete