Revived a Marksman 0035

[Mossonarock]

I found a .177 cal Marksman 0035 in a pawnshop. I got maybe two shot through it before the rifle failed. Upon disassembly, I found the piston seal to be shattered. The only replacement seal I could find was from the good folks in Australia. It took a couple weeks for it to be shipped. Last night, I finally got it back together cleaned, relubed and all. That trigger group is super tricky to remove! I had to compress the spring in two different stages using two different methods to remove and reinstall it. Tricky!

I'm getting about 510 fps with ancient Crosman Copperheads- 8 - 8.5 gr.
That's with the OEM spring. I have a .125 wire diameter spring that I eventually want to try.
The trigger is a fake 2 stage trigger and is very light. I had a couple accidental misfires.
I learned that I had to be sure that it was fully cocked in order to completely engage the safety.
It appears that it cocks first then the safety engages during the cocking stroke. So be sure to fully swing the barrel through the cocking motion for safety!
But its also super easy to cock. It requires very little effort to cock. At first, I thought something was wrong since it was so easy.
Its a bit jumpy when it shoots but the shooting cycle is smooth. There's a wee bit of spring buzz but its not annoying at all.
The hooded front sight begs for a peep sight but all it has is an open sight.
I find the rifle to be more accurate than what the sights allow. I may scope this rifle. IDK yet.

I don't have any other light weight break barrel .177 rifles. Now I understand why people like to shoot such rifles.
I plan on practicing 10m target shooting with this rifle. Its light enough that I can hold it off hand.

Mine is beat up from the previous owner. So, I may sand it down and refinish the stock.

[dcorvino]

Thank you for the review Tim.
The older rifles can be a lot of fun to restore and shoot.
Look forward to hearing more about your find
Can't wait to see pictures of the stock after you refinish it
Please post a picture when you can
Thank you for posting


Dave

[Mossonarock]

Since you asked, I'll try to post a pic. It will be some time though.
I do need some tips about removing the old finish. I don't know if all I need to do is sand or if a chemical treatment is called for to strip off the glossy looking stuff.
If a chemical is needed, I don't know what to use.
I'll also try to remember to include the jigs I made to help with compressing the spring. That was a trick!
I do like the shape of the stock, particularly the forearm.
Its flat on the bottom and that makes doing the artillery hold very easy.
I like a flat bottom in that area because its more stable so that the rifle is less prone to tipping while taking aim.
In contrast, my HW97kt is sharply rounded and it rocks side to side very easily making it more difficult to take aim for me anyway.
I noticed that the Marksman 0035 has a flat crown; the crown is also beat up. So, I'm thinking about cutting a 45degree crown and polishing it.
However, the rifle is being very accurate. While I was shooting it over the chrony right after putting it together was exciting.
The chrony #s just kept climbing from an initial of 475 to an average of 515 as the cylinder lube kept working its way around. Neat-o!
That was with the .120 OEM spring. Sometime, I'll be trying the .125 spring I originally got for another rifle.
I have a replacement breech seal but haven't put it in yet. Dunno if its really needed at this time. So, I"m being lazy about that.

The cocking on this rifle is so smooth though! There is no sense of metal grinding sounds, roughness or anything.
Honestly, I got worried when I first tried to cock it because it was so easy and smooth.
I was thinking to myself "I know I put a spring in this. What's wrong?"
Nothing wrong, its just smooth.

[Mossonarock]

I'm finding this rifle to not be pellet picky at all but it does produce tighter groups with a few pellets- the lighter 7ish gr JSBs that I've tried.
About everything produces 1/2 inch groups at 10m.
Not great accuracy but its not bad either. I haven't had the opportunity to shoot it at further distances yet.
I did put on a Williams peep sight and I like that much better than the OEM open sights.
8gr pellets get pushed at about 510 fps.

I want to work the barrel crown eventually to see if that helps with the accuracy.

[Mossonarock]

After practicing muzzle chamfering and lapping on a Chinese B3, I tried it on my Marksman. The muzzle crown on the Marksman was all beat up. It had a flat crown but I cut it with a 45o chamfer. Then I lapped it with a domed brass lap similar to the venerated brass domed screw. Afterwards, the rifle is noticeably more accurate. It was producing 1 inch groups at 10 m. Now its down to 1/2 inch aiming with peep sights. My eyesight won't let me shoot any more accurately. I'm certain the rifle is more accurate than my eyesight allows.

The seer in the rifle has increasingly not been engaging with the piston. I don't know if something needs filed or if there's just too much lube all over. There's been a couple times the rifle misfired because the seer didn't stay engaged. The trigger safety was engaged both times but it misfired anyway; my hand was no where near the trigger. The rifle is a nice shooter but those misfires have me scared.

[Eddie_E]

If you decide to scope it, it will need a drooper mount or a drooper adapter. The trigger when these were new had a 5 lb pull with a gritty break. The gritty feel would wear in smooth after a few tins of pellets. Mine is just barely broken in and it's smooth, yet safe @ 2.5 lb pull.

The springs are adjusted by bending until they take a set and there should be two of those, not just one. By your description of the mis-fires, somebody bent the trigger springs too far. Just fluff up one of the springs a little and it should be safe again. This has been a great plinkin gun to use up all the old pellets I bought on 70% closeout. I have a Vortek VS 26 Weirauch seal in mine. They sell it as a leather replacement with a new button head that screws on.

[Mossonarock]

Two springs in the trigger? I'll have to check on that. If I don't have the right number of springs, that means it probably wasn't made right in the first place. I think some of the grittiness and pull weight of the trigger is from the frame for the trigger group being bent during assembly when the rifles were built. I bent it even more when I was trying to figure out how to put it back together. It bent so much that I couldn't pull the trigger at all. So, I took it apart again, straightened out the frame till everything was aligned and moved freely, then put it back together. By your description, I might have fixed it too well but I'll have to look at those springs you mention. Now my trigger pull weight feels like its just a couple ounces and its super smooth. Sometimes, it seems like I just think "pull the trigger" and the rifle shoots without me noticing myself really pulling the trigger.

I doubt I will ever scope it. I was trying a scope on it last night and realized I need a scope with a long eye relief. I think I'll just stick with the peep sight I have on it. I get great 10m accuracy with that- better than my ability to see.