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J. C. Higgins 44DL - Marlin 57 Levermatic - Disassembly/Assembly

58K views 66 replies 41 participants last post by  Pandy2 
#1 · (Edited)
Big Shrek suggested I do the write up since I actually have a nice Higgins and I know how to tip toe through the innards. This might help those with various Marlins, or at least give them some ideas as to how Marlin did things back in the early 60's. I'm not much for long drawn out posts, I'll let the photos do most of the work. Bear in mind, I'm no gunsmith, and I don't know what 90% of these parts are really called, so you'll just have to bear with and hopefully you'll get the right idea.

My J. C. Higgins it's a model 44DL which is the same as a Marlin 57 Levermatic. They aren't to common these days from what I understand. Yep, my Savage MK2 BV up top, nice shooting rig, but I'll leave that for other posts.


Pop the innards out by removing the 2 action screws




Remove the trigger assembly from the barrel by removing the 3 screws that hold it to the barrel.




The trigger assembly just slides out with the bolt attached. You have to make sure the feed tube is removed, or things will hang up.


Remove the cover screw


and gently pry the cover off. There may be a bit of resistance since there is so many pins going into it. With the cover off, you can see how the innards work.


By taking the safety off, you can see the bits under neath that stop the lever from opening, and the trigger when the safety is on.


Remove the hammer spring and the hammer will slide right off. On a side note, I've got a piece of shim stock between my hammer and the Levermatic cam to take up some wear slop. The shim isn't shown since it's not a stock part. My hammer wasn't hitting the firing pin square, so it was deforming the firing pin.
 
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#38 · (Edited)
Marlin Tag Hanger - Parts Diagram

Hi Guys, new user here, and new to firearms as well -- my newly-acquired, first ever rifle is the Marlin 57m! I've got quite a bit to learn, but in the course of my research, I ran across a tiny parts diagram on eBay that presumably hung from the rifle when it was new. I bought the reproduction and wanted to share the scan with you all since it seems like that info might be handy to have.

EDIT: These images are big and kind of break the formatting of the thread, so I resized them. The full-size images are available here:

http://www.padwick.net/marlin/marlin1.jpg
http://www.padwick.net/marlin/marlin2.jpg



 
#40 ·
Wow these are great helpful pictures. Bought a 56 on Saturday and ran down to the range with my son. It shot very well and was very accurate albeit there were a few misfires. So I took it apart for cleaning using your pics as a backup. I stopped short of a complete take down but found a couple of differences from the pictures right off the bat. My second take down screw (rear one) is on top of the and screws into a threaded connection the juts up from the trigger guard. When I remove the side plate and the safety, there is the lever catch with a spring on top to bring it froward. THis is unlike your pictures which has the spring and the catch on the bottom under the trigger block. I stopped there for the moment but thought I would add the comment about the differences for reference if others are finding differences.
 
#44 ·
Revelation model 115

Western Auto Supply AKA Marlin 57 Levermatic. Bought one in poor shape for $50 at a local gunshow coupla weeks back. Front takedown threads stripped, screw missing. Drilled and tapped a new hole, had to go 5/16 24 , re drilled stock to accept new sized bolt..gun feeds, fires and ejects just fine. Gonna add a Williams peep sight out of my stash. Needs a new buttplate and could use a stock refinish, but will make a good truck gun just like it is..
 
#45 ·
Thanks... a little late, but thanks

Thanks so much for the wonderful photos and step by step walk through.

I have a 1963 or 4 model 57 it has a removable box magazine.

In my younger days especially, it brought home a BUNCH of squirrels. But the safety always fired the rifle when it was taken off. I just stopped using it all together. After I got married the BIGGER gun bug bit me. But the little Marlin still holds a special place in my heart.

I may get my head clear from all the prescription meds and tear it down and tinker on it a bit.

Thanks again for the write up and all the clear photos.

Victor
 
#46 ·
Thanks so much for the wonderful photos and step by step walk through.

I have a 1963 or 4 model 57 it has a removable box magazine.

In my younger days especially, it brought home a BUNCH of squirrels. But the safety always fired the rifle when it was taken off. I just stopped using it all together. After I got married the BIGGER gun bug bit me. But the little Marlin still holds a special place in my heart.

I may get my head clear from all the prescription meds and tear it down and tinker on it a bit.

Thanks again for the write up and all the clear photos.

Victor
I hope you get to feeling good enough to make some use of the step by step info on the 57. Let us know if you get the rifle fixed. Happy Thanksgiving to you and you family......Lonnie
 
#47 ·
Victor,

If you can not find the parts you need (as in no one like Gun Parts Corp stocks them anymore) don't forget to feel free to mention your needs on this thread just in case someone might have the part you need just taking up space in their home shop.

It worked for me once.

-kBob
 
#50 ·
Hi, I just joined the forum because I found an old J. C. Higgins Mod 44 DLM in my grandpa's old gun safe. Something is wrong with it but I can't see any of the pictures here to take it apart. Apparently, photobucket stopped allowing third party hosting unless you give them 400 dollars a year, which is basically extortion.

Either way, does anyone still have the images that they can embed here from a site that doesn't participate in highway robbery? I could really use the help.
 
#51 · (Edited)
I saved the post(s) on the disassembly/reassembly last spring for my own personal use. I had just purchased a 57M. It is in a Word document.

Maybe one of the forum moderators could advise me on the proper procedure to repost. I don't want to step on any toes by reposting someone else's data. Ideally, the photos should be reinserted into the original post, perhaps by quoting the original post and inserting the photos. This would be a time consuming process requiring the photos in a Word document be converted to an img file, uploaded to imgur, and then inserted into the quote. No guarantee on how long it will take.
 
#52 ·
I saved the post(s) on the disassembly/reassembly last spring for my own personal use. I had just purchased a 57M. It is in a Word document.

Maybe one of the forum moderators could advise me on the proper procedure to repost. I don't want to step on any toes by reposting someone else's data. Ideally, the photos should be reinserted into the original post, perhaps by quoting the original post and inserting the photos. This would be a time consuming process requiring the photos in a Word document be converted to an img file, uploaded to imgur, and then inserted into the quote. No guarantee on how long it will take.
Could you possibly upload the word document to Google Drive or another sharing site? That would keep anyone from having to go through the whole process of re-doing the whole post (which I'm sure was a fair amount of work the first time around.)
 
#54 ·
Trussman,

Photobucket which was a free picture hosting sight decided after years of being free to charge for being a host for folks pictures.

One might argue this is extortion or at the very least a "Violation of reasonable expectations" but unless there is some lawyer with little else to do that has been affected by this and wants to make an issue of it, Photobucket is not letting folks post to a third party even if it is some one they shared with in the past......like THR.

Down loading and having my own copy of this thread when it still had all the pictures and copying the pictures to my own drive is one of those big "WISHIDAs" for me as I depended on this thread.

If someone does have the complete with photos instruction section I wish the rest of us had access to it.

-kBob
 
#56 ·
New post to an old thread ...

I checked and the last activity I see for the OP • NAA_Silent • was 2016. Do not know if he is still around the forum or even if he is still around period.

Just wanted to send out a THANK YOU to him for his efforts in posting this process.

It has allowed me to refurb and rebuild 2 Model 57's and 6 Model 57M's. I purchased the 1st of the 8 after I found this thread.

I found the 1st one, a 57, on GunBroker. Did a little research on it and was kind hooked on the LeverMatic action from watching a couple of videos. Then I read about the "NIGHTMARE" of disassembly / assembly. In further checking I found this thread.


After going through the thread I was still dumb enough to jump in. It was a good leap of faith.

Here is the latest - 57M ...

from here:




to here:




So thanks again. Threads like these are invaluable to "usin" guys who need "Gunsmithing for DUMMIES" guidance.
 
#57 · (Edited)
I created a word document also when the instruction first became available. I can email the file (3.4MB) if anyone needs it. If one of the Admins can help, maybe allow me to attach it to a sticky. File size restrictions are preventing me from doing that at the moment.

Link to File Testing

I am testing a link above. It should work, but if it does not, just PM me and I will email the file to you.

Brad
 
#58 · (Edited)
JC Higgins 44 DLM

I'm buying a nice JC Higgins 44 DLM in a few days and just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have contributed to this thread. Started reading the thread, all the pics were gone, (dang it), read to the end, there's all the pics and info to download. Said it before, I'll say it again, this forum is awesome. Keep bangin away ya'll :gun4:
Bought it, it's in my possession and I'm happy. Gun is original and mint. I'll post pics soon as I can.


 
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