Monday Gun Pron: Mystery Marlin

BIG WHOLE-POST EDIT: It's a Mystery Mossberg,  RM7 variant or something close to it.

If you ever need a persistent friend trying to set you straight, I recommend  a GMA guy named John. :)  See comments.

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Even before you note the Micro

 Groove rifling,  you ID it as Marlin. The utilitarian -- okay, clunky -- stock is characteristic of the fine old firm's bolt-action line. At least it's walnut.

Then there's the Marlin penchant for adding gizmos here and there. The button on the left side is a smoothly working bolt release. The one in the middle of the receiver cut retracts a cartridge feeder guide. The safety has three positions. One of the "safe" positions lets you cycle the action. The other "safe" locks the bolt closed.










Marlin has long loved Herculean locking systems. But four, count-'em, four lugs?














The mystery is the precise Marlin identity. Several net searches yield a sort of Ron Paul-in-the-MSM result. There ain't no such animal. Even searching under the private Western Auto label  -- "Revelation, Model R 270 A  ___  Cal. 30-06 Sprg." yields nothing beyond another guy who has one, lost his bolt, and is looking for a replacement.  (Rotsa ruck, Pardner.)  None of the crossover lists mentions it.

EDIT: Also note the fluted bolt.

The vendor's story is that it was a "prototype," and Marlin decided to call it a "Revelation" to protect the marque if it flopped.  I love gun show stories.

Now would be the time to own one of those high-price, limited-edition company history books so detailed as to specify the number of moles on John Marlin's back.

Meanwhile, I'm pleased to own it as a workaday rifle. The condition is superb. It's in the most noble of calibers, the one we used back when we could win wars with a certain dispatch. On a snowy Saturday, mainly checking for bangability, we kept several rounds within a minute of hillside at an estimated 400 yards.

It will make a nice place to store the old Weaver K4 and one of those nice 1903-style leather slings I've been hoarding.

I don't suppose it's necessary to mention it was loopholed quite economically -- about what desperate dealers were asking for their NIB Hi-Points.

Hunch confirmed: Gingrich, Paul, Romney: Iowa Caucuses 2012

A brief recess from reality is in order as we hoist a pint to Ron Paul. He makes the headlines again in the  farm-fresh Iowa Poll --  behind Newt and ahead of MItt, also up on even Dunno.

In order:

Newt Gingrich 25
Ron Paul 18
Mitt Romney 16
Undecided 11
Michele Bachmann 8
Herman Cain 8 (poll taken before he hit the mat))
Rick Perry 6
Rick Santorum 6

I'm not about to crunch  lot of numbers or subject readers to prophecy posing as analysis, but something stands out. Even if every Cain voter switched to Bachmann or Perry or Santorum, that person would still trail Dr. Paul.

Politico's Maggie Haberman purrs welcome words into libertarian-leaning ears:

As for the rest, the poll also means the Paul rise is also real - and in a fractured, multi-candidate field, if he can pull a few more points his way and expand his base, he could win the caucuses given his level of organization. This would be the best scenario for Romney short of an outright win there himself at this point.

It wouldn't be bad for Paul, either. Even scaring Newt here would send him strong to New Hampshire where a finish around  20 per cent would keep him kicking through more primaries than we expected.

We all know the odds that, in the end, one of the showmen will beat the statesman. Never mind. We were never about Ron Paul. We are about the idea of free men and women, an idea whose most effective embodiment at this stage of our history is Ron Paul.

What a zillion dollars worth of Pentagon small arms experts couldn't do:

They couldn't keep the Mk-48 machine gun firing  without ammo bearers on hand. When it ran dry in combat the gunner had to stop and laboriously reload. When that happened the enemy got pretty arrogant about shooting you.

If you're Bill Gates you solve problems like that by having a couple-three good ol' country boys around. You let them kumshaw some old ammo cans, parts of a junked MOLLE system, and a few other odds and ends of scrap metal. Quicker than you can say "lemme use your welder," you have the "Ironman Pack Ammunition System."

It works, so the Army gives the lads a ceremony and a little attaboy award.

Then, a few hours later, unless thngs have changed since my  day, some shave-ass second looie notices the rustic inventors and tells them their  fingernails are ragged and sideburns a quarter-inch over regulation and shape up or ship out.

The lieutenant's career will prosper and, in due course, he will be the Army's general in charge of small-arms design.

Saturday guns, Saturday politicians

(Being a partial compendium of what's important to me today.)

Iowa Caucuses: The quick are Gingrich, Paul, and Romney. The dead are everyone else.  An Iowa Poll  to be released this evening should reflect that hunch, but it won't  say much about where Cain people are going. I judge they'll scatter, keeping the Newt-Ron-Mitt lineup intact.

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Iowa guns: Thanks to the nice little Jackson loophole,  K. and I may augment the state's arsenal at the expense of Minnesota's. The small trading windfall of last weekend left a supply of mad money in the Bat Belt.  It seeks blue steel shooting things old, heavy, and slow, not unlike your author.

Christmas is a time for materialistic dreaming, so I am permitted to fantasize about finding a quality 1911 frame  or two --  a place to put those extra slides and barrels.

(Note to self: Also watch for .30 M1 Carbine bullets in honor of the new set of dies for same. Time to heat that old girl up a little.)

We're taking nothing to trade, still standing on our "never-sell-a-gun"  principles. The Model 88 was a rare exception, purchased strictly for rapid turnover.

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The first measurable snow of the season is to occur today, statistically a little late. It's been a gorgeous autumn, and I am grateful for the localized global warming.