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Marlin Rockwell Model 38 with Swebilius sight

3K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  WalnutBill22 
#1 ·
I picked up this little pump 22 but need a little help with it. It is missing the butt plate but I would love to find a different butt stock and plate if possible. Could anyone direct me where to go to for It?

I have taken the gun apart and cleaned it but have not shot it yet. It does function great loading and ejecting as smooth as can be. The action locks up tight and the takedown mechanism works great and is very tight.this rifle does have the Swebilius sight and octagon barrel. I'm looking forward to shooting this but may end up letting it go if I can't shoot it well do to only having irons. My eyes just don't cooperate with irons any more.

Any help or info on this would be great. I believe of the many Rimfires I have owned, this is my first pump gun. Maybe Pumps22, Walnutbill or others can help out.

Thanks
 

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#2 ·
grg I have a regular 38 not the rockwell and it shoots very well. It's interesting that the metal on yours is in reasonably good condition but the stock seems to
have more than it's fair share of dings.
I hope yours shoots well and you are able to find the stock and butt plate you are looking for.
 
#4 · (Edited)
The stock should have a serial number on it under the top tang. If it's original to the gun I would leave it as is, even in rough condition I think it would be worth more that way then if was refinished or changed. The Rockwell marked guns are rare and mostly original examples are hard to find. If you do find another stock I would suggest keeping the original with the gun.

The Swebilius rear sight looks like it's missing the locking screw that goes on the right side, the sight will still function fine without it. I made a few repo's because I knew several people with sights that were missing them, it seems they are often missing.
 
#5 ·
Sav22, thank you for the info. The screw is actually there on the right side of the sight, probably just hard to see in the picture. As far as the stock, the wood in the tang area has fallen prey to being oil soaked and deteriorated over the years so very hard to tell if there was ever a serial number stamped or engraved. I will keep the stock no matter what.

I plan on taking the rifle out this week to shoot. Only thing I have any concern on is the firing pin but I'm sure it's probably fine.

Thanks again.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I thought there might be a screw in the sight, but it's not the right screw, just a screw that fit to plug the hole. The correct locking screw is the same diameter as the sight so it seats on the rim of the sight like a jamb nut to lock the adjustments, a screw that is smaller will not lock the sight adjustments.

Here's a picture from about 5 posts down of a Model 32 & a Rockwell marked 38 -


Here are some of the ones I made.
 

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#8 ·
I thought there might be a screw in the sight, but it's not the right screw, just a screw that fit to plug the hole. The correct locking screw is the same diameter as the sight so it seats on the rim of the sight like a jamb nut to lock the adjustments, a screw that is smaller will not lock the sight adjustments. Here's a picture from about 5 posts down of a Model 32 & a Rockwell marked 38 -
Here are some of the ones I made.
How can I obtain one of these screw/caps? jerryslauter@yahoo.com
 
#9 ·
I agree with Sav22 on keeping the original stock. If it’s too far gone to refinish, I would send my old one to Macon Gunstocks and have him use it for a pattern to make a new semi-inlet stock. He does good work and doesn’t charge an arm and a leg for custom stuff. You will have to inlet it to the receiver and then shape and finish it, which is a little work, but worth it. Used stocks on old guns have never work very well for me. The fit is usually sloppy, and you can sometimes tighten it up some with wood shims or cardboard under the tang, but they never fit like the original.
 
#10 ·
Just saw this, kind of an old thread but coincidentally I finished working on it today.

I had left it sit for quite a while as I couldn't find another original model 38 stock and butt plate. I had gotten a repro stock and Marlin Safety butt plate as I think that's what this one would have had. I decided since I'm not trying to pass this off as all original I did this as I wanted.
I will have to jump on my Other computer to put some pics on but the new stock is a little heavier than the original and I like that. I built a metal skeleton butt plate and modified the repop plastic plate to sit in it. Rust blued it then knocked it back down to match the rest of the metal fairly closely. I did the stock with a coat of True oil and then several coats of BLO as I believe this is Similar to how they did it back when this was built.

If I find the correct stock and butt plate I will still pick them up as none of this is irreversible. The gun is far from perfect as it was hunted with and not just hung on the wall but is still mechanically excellent and does shoot great. Since there were really only a handful of these built with this sight and the Marlin Rockwell roll stamp I'm sure it would still be very desirable to a collector.

I have the stock that was on it but not sure if it is the original to this rifle. The tang area is not very good which could be from oil rot but the butt plate you could tell was missing for a long time so it is rounded pretty bad and would be major work to get it to take a plate again. once again would not be original but will go with the gun when I do sell it.

I will add some pics in a few minutes.

Glenn
 
#13 ·
Great looking rifle - you did a fine job of "restoring" it. Carl Swebilius was another unsung genius of the firearms world. In addition to his fine work at Marlin, he started and ran the High Standard company which made many thousands of very highly regarded .22 semiauto handguns and other fine firearms. He always insisted on top quality.
 
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