Resurrecting Old Rimfires

An article by Mike Searson at Ammo Land with the title "Resurrecting Rimfires: Marlin Model 60, Winchester Model 190 and a Western Six" caught my eye. Basically, the article describes the author's discovery of some pretty beat up old guns at a Cabela's store that he picked up for next to nothing ($10 per) and his efforts to repair them. A couple of the firearms he purchased were Marlin Model 60s. I also have fixed one of these up (see "Replacing the Feed Throat on a Marlin 'Glenfield' Model 60").

     As to the Model 60s he picked up, he writes:

     The two I picked up were in rough shape. The first one was the old Glenfield variant with the squirrel “engraving” on the stock. Except the stock had been smashed behind the trigger guard and the inner part of the magazine tube was missing. The barrel and tube were tied on with string, and the previous owner was a fan of duct tape.

     Now, the second one looked to be a complete rifle. It was missing its sights, was covered in surface rust and the brass inner magazine tube was too long. It turned out that it was the missing tube from the first rifle.

He relates that he was going to try to use the mix of parts from the two rifles to make one working model. But he was able to pick up a "parts kit" from a place called GunBusters and use it to get one of the rifles working.

     The GunBusters might be of interest to those readers interested in trying to fix an old gun. As Searson describes it, "[t]his company destroys firearms earmarked as such by government agencies, but pulls all the parts before crushing the receiver." Per Searson, he found the kit being sold on Gunbroker. I looked at the GunBusters website and the only information on the site concerns their business of destroying old firearms--there is no page for direct sales of parts--so it looks like Gunbroker is the route to getting parts kits.

     One thing that Searson says that I take umbrage at: "I have yet to see someone shooting [a Marlin 60] at a range, either, but have seen hundreds in people's collections, at gun shows, and at gun shops." Humph. After I got my Marlin 60 up and running, I've been using it for plinking and having a ball. In fact, it has become the main .22 rifle I use when I'm just shooting for fun.