Marlin Firearms Collectors Association

I bought a Marlin 1894 several years ago and was unsure of the caliber and year of manufacture. I think it is a .32-20 but am not sure. The bore seems awful tight for a .32 but a .25-20 rattles around in the muzzle. Could Marlin have hid the caliber stamping somewhere? It is a 23" octagon barrel with full length magazine and crescent buttplate. Serial # is 130724. Blue is about 50% with some damaged screwheads. Stock has 33% original varnish but is oil-soaked and very grimey. Does anyone have any thoughts about value loss from refinishing? I intend to shoot and hunt with the old girl but I don't want to foolishly do any harm to the value. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Canmoose;

If the barrel in your Marlin Model 1894 is the original barrel, then your rifle is a .25-20, and was shipped from the factory in late 1895.
The caliber marking is usually marked on the top flat of the barrel, just in front of the receiver. In this case, it will be either 25 M (most common marking) or .25-20.
You really should not refinish any part of the gun. After all, it is over 110 years old and deserves to have a little wear and tear. There are methods to get the oil out of the wood without refinishing it. I have never tried it, but have heard you can put the wood in a warm oven (not hot) and the oil will "leak" out. You might try a GOOGLE search to see if you can find something on the subject. New screws, if you would like to replace them will not hurt anything.
I hope this helps.

I'd be carefull, even a warm oven can split the wood. The best bet for ghetting old oil out is Kleenstrip two part wood bleach. You would need to refinish the wood afterwards though.

-jim

How's the rifling in the bore? I sure see a lot of .25-20's with little or no rifling left for some reason. You might want to slug the bore to see what it mic's out to.

Thank you all for the information and advice. The bore seems to be in fair shape with maybe some leading issues, no pits though. Slugging the barrel is probably a good idea to see whether the rifling is excessively eroded. Has anyone tried Murphy's Oil Soap on a stock with partial varnish and grimey raw walnut? Would it be too harsh to just dampen a cloth and apply some elbow grease? Again, thanks for the help.

Haven't tried Murphy's, but it should work fine with a soft cloth. Can't hurt much finish if the cloth does the work, no matter how muh you rub it.