Make: Marlin
Model: 1881 Heavy Receiver 2nd Variation, High Grade
Serial Number: 50351
Year of Manufacture: Shipped June 2, 1891.
Caliber: .45-70
Action Type: Lever Action Tubular Magazine with Double Set Triggers
Barrel Length: 28", Octagon
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a beaded post within a globe housing dovetailed to the barrel. The rear-sight dovetail is filled with a blank. A tang-mounted aperture sight is installed.
Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are two-piece checkered walnut with capped forearm, S-shaped pistol grip, straight comb, and Schuetzen-style Swiss buttplate. There are scattered nicks, compressions, and scratches. The checkering on the grip is well defined, the forearm checkering ranges from defined to smoothed. There is a crack on the right side of the forearm at the receiver and a repaired crack through the wrist. The LOP measures approximately 12 1/4" and 13 1/4" from the fronts of the triggers to the back of the buttplate. The plate has largely worn bright with scattered light oxidation, most of its case color has silvered. The stocks rate in Good condition as repaired and refinished Antique.
Type of Finish: Blue and Case Hardened
Finish Originality: Original
Bore Condition: The bore is gray, the rifling is sharp where not interrupted by pitting. There is light, scattered pitting throughout the bore. In this writer's opinion, the bore rates 4/10.
Overall Condition: This rifle retains about 25% of its metal finish. The case color has generally muted, with patterning remaining in protected areas. Areas of wear have developed discoloration, and there is thinning on the leading edges with some light oxidation. The barrel has generally thinned to a mottled patina. The screw heads range from sharp to tool marked with useable slots. The markings are clear, the engraving remains sharp. There is stock-finish residue on portions of the receiver. Overall, this rifle is in Very Good condition as Antique.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly. We did not fire this rifle. As with all previously owned firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: Documentation includes a signed December 10, 1968 statement from I.H. "Larry" Larom stating that he owned the rifle since about 1914, acquired it from his former Valley Ranch partner, James McLaughlin. Larom stated that McLaughlin had driven a stage in Buffalo Bill's Wild West and had told him that Cody presented him with the rifle. Larom further states that the stock was broken when the rifle bounced from the stage driver's box during a performance before European royalty.
A February 27, 1970 handwritten letter from Larom identifies the firearm as McLaughlin's Marlin rifle and presents it as a gift to Don Nichols. A notarized November 20, 1986 affidavit from Wyoming attorney and antique-arms collector Robert L. Nelson records that he saw serial number 50351 displayed over Larom's fireplace in 1968 and that Larom consistently related the same Cody-to-McLaughlin presentation history and European damage account. Correspondence from Don Nichols documents the preservation of Larom's original letters and portions of the rifle's later ownership history. The Buffalo Bill association is therefore supported by a substantial, internally consistent historical provenance file, but is an attribution based upon McLaughlin's reported account to Larom.
Our Assessment: The Marlin Model 1881 was the company's foundational large-frame lever-action rifle, combining robust construction with chamberings suited to the most powerful sporting cartridges of its age. This example is presented in an unusually elaborate high-grade configuration, with 28" octagon barrel, double set triggers, globe and tang sights, checkered pistol-grip stocks, Schuetzen-style buttplate, and extensive game-scene engraving distinguishing it from a standard rifle. Its accompanying provenance attributes the rifle to an August 1891 presentation from William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody to James McLaughlin, with Larry Larom's signed statement recording both the presentation account and the European Wild West Show damage that corresponds with the repaired wrist.
The substantial archive includes factory research, signed Larom correspondence, a notarized affidavit, later collector correspondence, photographs, ownership records, and dealer paperwork. The factory letter independently confirms the rifle's basic configuration and 1891 shipment date but does not identify the consignee, engraving, or other special features. Accordingly, the Buffalo Bill connection is properly presented as an extensively documented historical attribution rather than a factory-confirmed presentation.
