MARLIN ARMS.
Marlin rifles have for years been celebrated for their strength, easy work ing and simplicity of action. The solid top receiver and superior mechanism insure absolute safety to the user. In all these arms, the top of the action, which is the portion coining between the cartridge and the shooter's head, is not cut into in any Way. but is left as a solid shield, making an accident to the shooter absolutely impossible. In using the old-style system, opening on top, there is always a chance of accident and injury, either from defective cartridges giving out around the head, a "bang fire" (the.cartridge not ex ploding immediately on the blow of the firing pin, but a, fraction of time later, when perhaps -the action is partially opened), or some one of the many untie countables for which gnus and ammunition are proverbially famous.
In this rifle there can be no accident from any of these causes. Neither can there be a premature discharge. The action is so adjusted that a cartridge cannot be exploded until the action has first been locked, which renders the shooter safe from such accidents. The side-ejecting principal is a source of great comfort, as well as amatter of safety, for the empty shells are nevereject ed into the face; they never cross the line of sight ; never interfere with the aim for the next shot; and the eyes and lungs are never filled with smoke and gases. The solid top also makes it impossible for rain, snow, falling leaves and twigs, pine-needles, etc., to get into the action, as the top is always closed and consequently the action protected; there are no crevices for rain, etc., to leak through, and there is no hollow top to catch and hold the rain. Figure 1 The rifle can be used as a, single shot with the greatest facility. It is only necessary to drop the cartridges into the opening left by the breech bolt when the action is open and then close the lever. Bullets will often be jammed down into the shell by continued joltingin transportation, or shells may be reloaded with light bullets to make a short range cartridge. In either case the action will accommodate the cartridge perfectly as long as the regular shell is used. ThE rifle will take anything vaiying in length from the empty shell as a mini mum up to the full size cartridge as a maximum. A very effective and ex tremely simple device is introduced to permit this. A projection on the lower side of the carrier is acted against by the cam on the lever, in such a manner that. as the lever is thrown down and a cartridge enters the carrier, the car rier is raised and partially closes the magazine, and no matter bow short the first cartridge may be, the head of the follow-ing one will strike against the front of the carrier and cannot enter it until the lever is again I closed. Cartridges loaded with round bullets can be used. Very often cart ridges which are much alike, as for instance 38 and 44 caliber, get mixed. I have found 44 caliber cartridges among the 38s, having been so shipped from the factory. In most cases a person using a rifle and getting a larger cartridge into it, is in trouble and cannot get out the cartridge without taking the gun apart. With this rifle, if such a cartridge gets into a smaller caliber gun, all you have to do, when you find your lever will not close, with a cartridge in the chamber, is to extract and eject the cartridge by throwing forward your lever, exactly as if it were an empty shell.
This is the only repeating rifle on which a telescope can be conveniently used. A telescope can be fitted to the rifle just as to a, single shot, for the action in no way interferes with its beingplaced as far back as is desired. Many people desire repeaters, but also wish to use them with telescopes for fine shooting. To all such I can recommend Marlin repeaters with the greatest confidence.
The Marlin repeater, model 1892, was designed especially to provide Et clean and convenient repeater for rim fire ammunition and is made in two calibers, 22 and 32. Until very recently all rim fire cartridges have been lubricated on the outside of the bullets, and even now, with but very few exceptions, they are thus lubricated. Consequently, when using these cartridges, a certain amount of the lubricant will work off ; and further, when the rifle becomes • heated, especially with continued firing, the lubricant will melt to a degree, and uniting with the burnt powder, penetrate every recess of the action, hard ening tt.s the arm cools. Naturally. after a time, the action will work hard and must be cleaned. This is true even in a single shot, but in a repeater the difficulty is of course multiplied. The action must be taken apart—which heretofore has not been very easy in the case of repeating rifles. In the Mar lin model 1,892, however, the thumb-screw on the hand side of the action can Ile unscrewed and the entire side of the receiver removed. The carrier and breech bolt can be taken out ; from the breech bolt may be taken the firing pin and extractor. The linger lever can be slipped off its pin, and in a few sec onds t he ejector also can be removed from its slot. The whole action is then 1, entirely apart. Not a single tool is used in doing this. To take the rifle apart and put it together again requires but a fraction ()f a minute.
This feature of the Alarlin rifle is a very valuable one, as the action can be thoroughly cleaned in two or three minutes, and naturally when it can be done so easily, the action is cleaned more frequently, and the result is a better glut and i»ore lasting satisfaction. It is impossible to clean any other make of repeating rifle with such facility. It will be observed, that as the breech bolt can be removed, this allows the shooter to clean the barrel by inserting the wiping rod and drawing it out through the barrel. It is a very valuable feature in a small bore rifle, to be able to clean the gun from the breech, which is of course the proper way to clean a barrel. It is next to im possible to clean a 22 caliber barrel properly by pushing the rod down and drawing it back, as the doubling up of the rag prevents using one of proper size. Another valuable feature is, that owing to the removable side plate, if the action becomes clogged because of dirt, defective ammunition, a bullet slipping out of the cartridge, etc., the side plate can be unscrewed and the trouble remedied in less than a, minute. The magazine of this rifle can be readily removed, allowing the shooter to clean out the inside of the magazine, which may become dirty, owing to -the lubricant.