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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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