Marlin 27-S Pump in 25-20 Restore Project or Reserection

[wachtelhund1]

Recently purchased a Marlin 27-S pump in .25-20 in an online auction. I had been looking for one for a long time. This was listed as rough condition which turned out to be very accrurate. I got it for $220.00. My plans are to restore it and rust blue it, as its current condition has very little collector value. When I received it, it could not be pumped or operated. It had been worked on and pieced together. The bolt lock had been broken and welded and would bind up. I had to grind, file and polish the weld so it would move and not bind up. The cartridge carrier looked like it had been feeding rocks as it was bent and had plenty of burrs on its edges, it was straightened and the burrs filed and polished away. The safety block plunger was pitted and also bound up when trying to pump the action. It was polish smooth. The main spring had been replaced with a wire spring sold by Numrich Gun Parts. It was thicker than the original flat spring and sat higher requiring extreme force to move the slide rearward over the hammer to cock it and then forward, again pushing the hammer down. I had to file at least a 1/16" off the top of the hammer and polish it just to get it to cock, again with extreme force. A trip to my gunsmith and a search through his box of main springs, found a flat spring that I made work. I had to shorten it, drill another screw hole and take 1/8" off each side so it would fit inside the grip rails. It now functions with little effort. All the ejector parts were missing. I got an ejector base from Numrich, but I'm still waiting on the ejector spring. Ejectors are no available, so I'll have to make one from strach, as are most other parts.

The butt stock looked okay, but the top rear was filled with brown epoxy. The forearm wood has small chip. The metal was rusted and pitted, the right side of receiver was the worst. Most of the metal required filing and sanding.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Continued:
I treated all the gun metal to several baths of navel jelly to remove the rust. The right side plate was the worst piece and pitted very bad. Here is a view of the inside after I had treated it with navel jelly.

I had filed the outside removing most of the rust and pitts.

But this left the plate to thin and small which didn't line up with the receiver well. So I replaced it with a new side plate from Numrich.

The left side cleaned up pretty well with a mill file, still a few deep pitts, but I don't want to remove too much metal.

The barrel was pitted also.

I went to work with a file removing all the rust and pitts.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Continued: The top rear of the butt stock was filled with brown epoxy. I couldn't tell how much wood was missing, so I carefully removed the epoxy. Luckily it was ouly about an 1/8" of wood chipped away. So I filled the butt plate down and then took a file to the stock taking long stokes lowering the rear an 1/8".

The forearm slide had epoxy filling a hole by the rear mounting screw. It broke out will trying to work the action. I plan on squaring the hole up and epoxying in piece of walnut wood. To re-enforce the slide from further damage, I'm going to clean up the inside and epoxy in 2 oz fiberglass cloth, using a balloon to set the glass and epoxy to the inside of the slide. The escutcheons are missing so I'll have to make some out of brass.

A lot of work still to be done before I can begin blueing. Just received metal for a 40" blueing tank, have to weld the ends in place. After that the bore needs relining as it is pitted bad.

 

[Jim Watson]

These are neat little rifles and you are going to a lot of work to rehabilitate a beat up one. Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Here is the start of the forearm repair. Broken edges were filed flat and square. A piece of walnut was cut from an old broken stock and filed square until it just slipped into the hole. Glued in with marine epoxy. Epoxy was also forced into the crack been the two screw hole. The inside is flush so I just need to cut off the excess lenght and then file and sand smooth. Shown are two new escutcheons made from knuraled brass nuts.

 

[Clark]

I enjoyed the pics.
That rifle is in great condition compared to the Colt Lightning I just bought.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Forearm lined with fiberglass on the inside. Next step 1. epoxy in esctuheons. 2. Sand the outside and clean it up. Then apply water base stain and several coats of MinWax Wood Hardner which will impergnate the forearm with resin.

 

[wachtelhund1]

I enjoyed the pics.
That rifle is in great condition compared to the Colt Lightning I just bought

This was in terrible shape, so that Colt must be pretty bad! I'm sure you'll have more luck finding parts than I'm having.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Tomorrow, I have to weld the ends onto my blueing tank and make a stand for it. I borrowed a bottle of Brownell's Classic Blue and a pipe burner from my gunsmith. With luck I'll be blueing it next week.

 

[Clark]

Your Marlin pump is in prime condition, compared to my Colt pump.

I am a long ways from getting started, but I like looking at your pics.

How long did you think about it, before you started working on the Marlin?

 

[wachtelhund1]

Your Marlin pump is in prime condition, compared to my Colt pump.
I am a long ways from getting started, but I like looking at your pics.
How long did you think about it, before you started working on the Marlin?

Clark, I purchased mine in an auction on 11/19/13. So, I've had it about two weeks.

 

[Slopemeno]

Nicely done.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Here is the final repaired forearm:

The forearm was stained with water base stain. Two new escutcheons were made from knuraled brass nuts and epoxied in place. Since this forearm is old and the gun has little collector value, several coats of MinWax Wood Hardner were applied to impergnate the forearm with resin to strenghten the forearm.


Several coats of Min Wax rub in Polyurthane will be applied for the final finish. Normal gun stock oil will not adhere to the MinWax Wood hardner.

 

[40-82]

Very fine work. Thank you for showing it.

 

[Remington74]

Nice Work!

I would have never thought to use a file to clean that rifle up so nicely. Most of my clean-up work is done with 600 or 800 grit paper and that rifle was obviously too far gone for my "paperwork" skills.

Can't wait to see it in the finished pictures.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Update on my restore project. Had to make the ejector since there are no replacement parts. I had tried to use an ejector from a Model # 20 Marlin pump, but it didn't work. This is my first Marlin pump and I never owned a Marlin lever action; so the ejector operation was new to me and not having one to begin with make the process more complicated. The Model # 20 ejector was too small on the back end and would open out to 90 degrees. When the action was operated the locking bolt would drop down and the ejector would open to 90 degrees locking up the action. Took me several days of fooling with the action until I realized the ejector was not supposed to open that much and that being larger on the back end would stop it from openiong too much. So I made another ejector out of 1/8" thick steel and opened up the ejector base to accomodate the thicker ejector. Left the back end larger, first install and it would not open enough to eject a case. Assemble and dis-assemble the action taking a little off the ejector with a file each time until it functioned. Fired five rounds through it Saturday.

Started rust blueing it yesterday with the first rust and boil with Brownell's Classic Rust Blue. Very impress with how it came out. Eight or nine repete processes to go until it is finished.

Stocks have first coat of oil with about six more to go.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Pictures of my new/old Marlin 27-S, 25-20. Review my first post for pictures of its original condition. Next it is off to my gunsmith for a barrel liner install. After I get it back, I'll do two more rust blue applications. Since it was pitted so bad, I didn't spend a lot of time polishing the metal, just tried to romove as much of the pitting as possible. Plus I thought a 100 year old gun required some character.

 

[PetahW]

.

I'm God-smacked !

THAT is one pure-dee labor of love..........


.

 

[claymore1500]

Very well done, collector value or not, that is work to be proud of.

 

[wachtelhund1]

Yes it did come out very nice. I replaced the bolt lock, bolt lock plunger and spring; hammer main spring; cartridge lifter; ejector base, spring and made the ejector and replaced the thumb take down screw; replaced whatever exterior screws I could locate. Next will be a barrel re-lining.

Lucked out and found one Winchester bag of 50 .25-20 cases several weeks ago in a gun shop. Remington cases are available, but no Winchester. I prefer Winchester brass over Remington for re-loading. Yesterday, I stopped in Fleet Farm a DIY chain store in WI, MN and ND. They just started selling reloading suppiles and equipment this last fall. Walking down the reloading isle, their brass was almost empty, except for 10 or more bags of .32-20 at $15.00 per bag of 50. Bought six bags of 50. Already figuered out how to neck them down to 25-20, will be picking up a couple more bags this week. After I bought this gun in November, I purchased 500 Remington 86 grain .25-20 bullets. I think I got the last of available jacketed bullets from on-line shooting suppliers. With cast bullets this will be almost as cheap to shoot as a .22lr and I will not have to wait for ammo. I figure I can reload them for eight to ten cents per round.