I bought this gun used and loved the gun right off the bat. If you don't know what a LTD-V is here is a little background on them. They were limited distributor models. Five of them made for Davidson's. They came in different configurations. The V has a half round, half octagon barrel and a pistol grip stock. Other than that they are like the 1895 Cowboy.
I took mine and restocked it with wood from Treebone Carving. I had a buddy glass bed it and I did the exterior sanding and finishing.
I didn't like the factory lever loop and I wanted something more traditional. I wanted a lever that was like the originals. Since I couldn't find an original that would work I had to make my own. So I bought a couple of levers of e-bay auctions. I got some pistol grip type ones from an auction by WWG and some straight gripped levers from a private individual. I did some cutting, welding, fileing, and finish polishing and came up with this.
Because the lever had to have finish on it and because it had been welded, I thought it would be best to have it CCH'ed. I sent it, the hammer, the trigger, the forend cap, butt plate and magazine tube cap off to Turnbull Restoration for color case hardening.
I did a few other little things, action job and changed out the front sight for a Lyman globe. I bought it used and it had the Lyman tang on it when it came home.
Here are some of the other pictures.
Another thing about modern Marlins, the forestock cap doesn't have the shape of the older ones. So I gave the one on my gun a more flatend shape. By doing that the screws looked a little bug eyed so I had to relieve the back side of the screw in order to get the to fit better.
The screws for the butt plate had to be filed down to fit flush. That was a little tricky, the screws were harder then the butt plate so you had to be careful not to mess up the butt plate trying to get the screws flat.
Overall it is quite a shooter. I like shooting a 300 grain hard cast over 13 grains of Unique. I shot a CAS side match with it for the first time last summer and took first place with it. I am thinking of switching the sights out for a Soule type tang sight and maybe a spirt level front sight.
This one will be with me to the grave.
Jay
Thanks for sharing, Tom
