I spent some Christmas money!

I haven’t bought a firearm in over four years because prices were so ridiculous during the Obama administration, so on the way home I stopped in at a pawn shop.  Every time I’ve stopped in lately the prices at this shop were ridiculous too, but since Trump was elected the price of firearms has been going down, so I decided to see what was available at the pawn shop.  I don’t really need anything else, so I ignored the pistols and high powered stuff.  I just looked at the lever and bolt action .22 rifles.  Only two jumped out at me.  A tube fed J.Stevens listed for $99 and a single shot J.C. Higgins model listed for $89.  

I’ve always wanted a Sears brand firearm, and I don’t have a single shot .22, so I took a longer look at the Higgins rifle.  Other than a few dings, the stock is in great shape.  The chrome plating on the trigger, trigger guard, bolt, and cocking T-handle is great.  Almost looks like the parts were recently manufactured.  The takedown screws aren’t even buggered up.  But the barrel…  The bluing is almost all gone, and there’s considerable pitting.  I was afraid to look at the rifling.  But looking down the barrel with a light showed the rifling in exceptionally good condition.  All in all, a decent rifle.  So I told the clerk I’d walk out with it if they made me a good enough deal on it.  They came down to $75, so I figured I’d take it.








Sears stopped using the J.C. Higgins brand in 1962 and switched to the Ted Williams brand, so it’s pre-’62.  It has Marlin's micro-groove rifling, so it's post 1953.  It has a walnut stock, and Marlin used birch for their .22 rifles from '48 on, but briefly they went back to walnut in 1957, so we'll call this one a '57 model.

I don’t care about the collector’s value, as this’ll be a shooter, so I’ll clean up and re-blue the barrel, and clean up the stock a little.  I’ll also probably replace the v-notch sight, as my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be.  I love peep sights, so I like to replace the notch sights on new rifles with these Marbles sights:




I have a Marlin Model 81DL bolt action rifle (which coincidentally, I also got for $75 at a gun show) that’s tube fed, and it’s my favorite .22 bolt action rifle.  Marlin micro-groove barrels are fantastic for accuracy.  Setting up iron targets at the range and knocking them down in rapid succession like at a carnival is a joy.  It’s from around the same era, so I’ll hope that this one shoots just as well.

The Magnum Mark