[97powerstroke]

Any body heard of these? Marlin levermatic, I think it reads model 57, it's kinda hard to read till I clean it up a little. It's a lever action 22 with a very, very short cycle. I don't even have to remove my hands from the stock to cycle the action, just open my hand up a little and thats it. I just aquired one of these from a co-worker that found it while cleaning out an attick of a deceased family member. I really like it. Shoots every 22 but the magnums

[CA357]

Check this out: Malloy - Marlin Levermatic

[Rex in OTZ]

Im not clear on who originally patented the accelerator lever that is key of these fast fireing .22's the as Quoted from the Numric Gun Parts catalog that the Shotgun company Kessler made a 12,16,20gage leveraction box mag shotgun (model 50 lever-Matic)Numrich bought up Kesslers parts when they sold out, numrich for a while offerd do it your self kits to assemble your own shot gun from these parts, Numrich sold some these parts to Marlin for study as ther was a Patent Marlin paid a royalty of a dollar per gun produced.

Marlin produced the Model 56 a box mag fed version in .22lr (my father still has his when bought new) they made the Model 57 the tube mag fed version in .22lr, the 57M is a .22Mag tube fed version, and the model 62 which was a
centrefire box mag version the two calibers I've heard was .256 winchester (the bottle neck revolver round) and .30carbine.

they are a adult size rifle and have a distintive hump back, flat top receiver they also are capable of extremely fast rate of fire (almost like a semi-auto)
today they average as low as $350 for a good shooter grade .22lr on up to $1200 for the Modle 62 centerfire's

my father had broken his stock back in the early 1970's and wasent till 1979 that he was able to find a limited production Bishop stock that cost $89 in them day's one could buy a new Ruger10/22 or Marlin model 60 for allot less than that.

I do believe that the Ruger based ther model 96 lever gun on this accelarator link design.

[BigByrd47119]

Thats a awsome little find you got yourself there mate! Its deffenently got a diffrent look then most other .22s. Even better if itll shoot all the .22 ammo aside from magnum!

[c3shooter]

Loaned my old time gunsmith a factory loaded .256 Win mag cartridge from my collection last month to function test one. The owner had gotten some reloads, but they would not chamber- just a smidge too long. While the very short lever stroke gave speed, it took away leverage- both in chambering and extracting a fired round. Neat design, rather rare.

[stalkingbear]

I used to have a 57m and still miss it. I lost it during divorce. A word of caution-order a few firing pins from gunpartscorp. They're the most common part prone to breakage. Other than that they're excellent rifles featuring a solid steel receiver and a 1 piece black walnut stock. I really like the rapid firing short throw lever action.

[97powerstroke]

Cleaned it up and it is a model 57. Tube feed, aluminum reciever though, not a steel one,(bummer). And it does shoot quite well. I think I just might like this gun, has some wieght to it, feels real good.
Had to do some real good cleaning to the chamber though, looks like a lot of shorts might have been run through it and kinda gummed it up.

[Txhillbilly]

Marlin 56/57/57M's and the Winchester 250/255's along with the Ruger 96/22's are all great short throw lever action rimfire rifles. I have had a Ruger 96/22,Marlin 57 and currently have a Winchester 255 22WMR and a Marlin 56-First year,Steel receiver-NIB,Unfired (I really want to shoot it though).

While they are not precision target rifles,they are fun to shoot and accurate enough for tree rats and such.And are a unique style of gun that people always ask about when they see you shoot them.

[97powerstroke]

Was just reading the link that CA357 sent, thank you sir, and it looks like this one with the aluminum reciever was only made for about one year, 1959.
Think it's worth my time to give it a good restoration and put it away somewhere or just clean it up and shoot it. I planned on taking it out hunting with me this year and using it on grouse.

[Txhillbilly]

Originally Posted by 97powerstroke

Was just reading the link that CA357 sent, thank you sir, and it looks like this one with the aluminum reciever was only made for about one year, 1959.
Think it's worth my time to give it a good restoration and put it away somewhere or just clean it up and shoot it. I planned on taking it out hunting with me this year and using it on grouse.

97PS,If I remember correctly,Marlin only produced the Steel receivers on the first years of the Model 56-1956/1957. I think all the Model 57's with exception of the centerfire line were made out of aluminum.

Here's a photo of my Model 56 with a steel receiver.