I've told this story before but it now has a new twist.
All the time while I was growing up my father had but one gun, a Marlin Model 39 rifle.
Dad was born and raised in Walker County Alabama and loved to fish on Warrior River. We spent many vacations and weekends staying in a little rented cabin on the river.
He always brought along the rifle and it was always a thrill for my brother and I when he would get it out and let us take a few shots at turtles or snakes. We were in a slough off the big river and he always made us aware of which way we were shooting and what was behind the area we were shooting at.
My older brother has the rifle now that Mom and Dad are gone.
I went out and bought a newer Marlin 39A after Mom passed just to have one but have kept my eyes open for an older one.
I went to the AGCA show a couple of weeks ago and just a few minutes after walking in found one laying on the front of one of the tables. Asked to take a look and liked what I saw and it was reasonably priced. Asked the guy what his best price was and he took off $50 so I said sold and grab my wallet. Just as I did a guy came walking up and said dad gum it he was coming back to buy it. I told him for once I got something before it disappeared.
The stock was kind stained a lighter color and had a glossy varnish type finish along with some bumps and bruises so I decided to refinish it and used some early American Minwax stain with a couple of coats of clear satin finish. I like the look a lot better.
It has an E prefix serial number so should be from 1948. See what you think and as always pictures of your Marlins would be appreciated.

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Very nice job on an excellent find!

Great story and memories. You have a perfect example of one of the classics in the .22 rimfire world. Marlin is one of the finest, in my opinion. Very accurate and very solid, well made rifles. Hope you enjoy it.

I actually have two old Marlins, a Golden 39A given to me as a boy in 1963, and a 39A Mountie manufactured in 1964. The older one is still wearing a Weaver 4 power scope with a "tip-on" style mount produced during the same period. My all time favorite rifle.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Great story and beautiful rifle. I'm a big fan of Marlin rifles and enjoy all of their varieties. Like you, my dad had a Marlin as his only rifle (Model 25 bolt action). I imagine he traded somebody something at one point and ended up with the rifle. It probably meant little to him, but to me I was always fascinated by the few firearms he had. That example got me into collecting Marlins and I haven't looked back!

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

My last Model 39 rifle went to my son's house last year. He has two sons, a daughter, and 4 grandchildren, so it should see plenty of use.

Outstanding rifles by any standard.

My grandson turns 1 yo in a few days so this one will probably be his some day.

Wow. Very nice. Great job on the stock. You nailed the color and tone.

Excellent story.

I have a Marlin Guide Gun in .45-70 and a Marlin bolt gun (I forget the "model") in .17 HMR. No pictures but I'll get around to it!

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Come and take it!!

Nice rifles, those Marlin .22s. I have a D prefix 39A, but no strap or scope. I haven't shot it in quite some time, but I get it out every couple months to wipe it down, etc. My dad & I used to shoot ground hogs in farm fields up at our camp many moons ago. Nice wood.

The older M39's are far and above the ones made in the 80's, 90's and newer ones. The quality was far superior, the fit and finish was way better, no rebounding hammer, no cross bolt safety, nicer bluing and just feels better and slicker.

I also love the Winchester 9422 as it is super slick and very high quality, but if I could only have one I'd have to go with a vintage Marlin 39A.

Certainly seem to be the premier 22 of all times. The rugged build is so superior from that era. A super keeper and one to pass down. thanks for showing.

One of the best features of the 39A is that it is a full adult sized rifle whereas the Winchester and henry are more Carbine sized for young kids.

I was most fortunate when I started looking for a vintage Marlin 39 that my neighbor had a 'pre-lawyerized' 39A rifle that I got to handle and a local pawn shop had a vintage 39M that I also got to handle. The $650 price tag put me off though. I was already going through completed auctions for both on GB, to get rough ideas on what they actually sold for.

That SxS handling showed that the 39M (Mountie), shouldered and pointed a bit more naturally for me than the rifle did and that made my decision. Even though carbine sized, it is adult carbine sized and nothing like a co-workers Henry that felt like a toy.

How I ended up with 2 (S and T prefix), on the same day is another story.

Rob

most accurate .22 I own...1976DOM 39a.

Thanks for the story. Mine is only from 195#/1954. not from my father, but a an old friend.

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Marlins are quickly becoming my favorites. Acquired my late father in laws 336 in 30 30, and it dates to 1950 so its a waffle top. I really like the quality of the older Marlins.

Great story....

My first .22 rifle was a 39A Golden in 1966. Sold it when I went to college thinking I wouldn't need a .22 for a while...

Have had one other 24" Golden, four Mounties and three Carbines since...still have one of the Carbines...

I think the Carbine I kept came out of the Marlin Custom Shop that I didn't even know existed till a few years ago. The gun had been found in a closet of an older gentleman who had died and his family wanted nothing to do with guns so took it to the nearest gun shop and sold it. STUNNING AAA walnut, receiver engraved with some scroll and the owners initials and a high polish blue....

Have a good time with your new heirloom....

Bob

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My first lever action repeater was a new Winchester M9422. I wound up selling it and didn't get around to replacing it until the prices had shot waay up. I finally found a lever gun that I could afford, a Marlin 1870-1970 Centennial. I had lusted after that one when I saw the ads in the gun rags back in the day. I loved the crescent shaped brass butt plate, the straight grip and the octagon barrel.

The good news is that in the late '80s, the price was only $100. The bad news was that a former owner decided the scope mount wasn't secure enough with the standard screws and re-tapped the top of the receiver with 1/4-20 machine screws. It shoots just fine. I really should have the receiver welded up and re-sand blasted. That's one of those "round tu-it" chores that may or may not ever happen.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Nice piece of wood on that.

I've had my 39A a lot of years. According to the serial number mine was made in 1956.

It's the one on top.

One of the Best 22lr Lever Release Bolt Actions out there.

Marlin TDS

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SD social distanc'n since 1889

I don't understand. Are saying that the accuracy of the Marlin equals most bolt action .22s?

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

One of the guns I’ve found since April is a M39: one of the ones with the star on the tang and a King aperture sight.

My granddaughter likes it almost as much as I do.

My 1st rifle was a Marlin22. Fond memories.
Only Marlin I still own is a 1990 production, camp 9. It takes S&W 5900/6900 series magazines

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S&W BG380, S&W 915 9mm

She's a beauty.

I have a 39 Centennial carbine from 1970, given to me for Christmas when I was 12. Tens of thousands of rounds through it, shoots as good as ever. Had a scope on it once but it never seemed right so I took it off. It's last active use that I recall was executing a pen full of trapped feral hogs a couple of years ago. I learned that subsonic .22 LR ammo cannot be depended on to penetrate a hog skull unless you put it right in the ear hole.

I really like the 39s. They're the most honest .22 repeater ever made, IMO. Very accurate. I refuse to put a scope on mine because at RF range, I don't need one...yet.

I had a 39M but lost it in an Armed Robbery. My ex-wife took it in a divorce, and since she'd got other guns, she was Armed. Wonderful little gun, square lever, IIRC. I got it from a fool on a trade; he wanted a short .22 lever, and I had one, a Palomino, Ithaca? He was happy and I was very happy. So I still miss it.

Come to think about it, I've owned my 39A longer than any other gun I have.

I think my dad gave it to me when I was around 12 or 13 years old.

Matter of fact he gave me every gun in the pic I posted.

Those old Stevens, one was his dad's, and the other was my great grand dads on my moms side.

How in hell have I gone 75 years without having one of these?
The theory of relativity is easier to understand.

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Foster Positivity.

Nice find, great looking walnut on that one.

Marlin had a Custom Shop of sorts in the old factory when they were still in New Haven and it was in operation up to WW2.
Special order guns, wood work, checkering, engraving could be ordered. But a good portion of the work was done outside of the factory, especially the engraving. The same engravers that famously engraved for Winchester in the pre and post WW2 era had also engraved for Marlin.
Wood work was done in house but some checkering was also farmed out. Most all checkering was done outside the factory post war.

When MArlin moved the North HAven in 1968/69,,there was no in house checkerers, special stock makers, engravers, ect.
Any special guns were made outside the factory.
Robert Kain of Vt. engraved a good number of the 336/39A sets that were done right about that time. His mark/signiture is a R with a small walking cane engraved thru it.
He had help with the project.
Some unkn engraver guy named Winston Churchill, also from the hill country, Vt.
Churchill did quite a few of the sets. He marked those he did with a WC underneath the stock on the frame IIRC.
There were a few odditys lying around the Service Dept that had Kain's or Churchill's engraving on them. I remember distinctly a Model 49DL 22semiauto with scroll and game scenes.
There were others. A 39A with just a small amt of scroll.
They told me those were pieces done as test and 'see if they would sell' pieces. Just sitting then on a back shelf. Wonder where they are now.

Special wood came from the Marlin Wood room. Especially fancy stocks came thru every once in a while and were set aside for special projects.
They usually got nothing more than an extra coating of the spray-on finish they were using and maybe a rub-down or two. Checkering was done outside the factory usually. No one left from the old days that could or wanted to do that work.

But surprisingly most of the outside checkering was still being done by a husband & wife team that had been doing that since just after WW2. The Arthur's did work for Winchester, MArlin, Hi-Standard, Colt,,just about everybody that still wanted hand checkering.
Harold had worked at Winchester in the 'Wood Room' pre-WW2. His wife Mildred, had not worked at Winchester but checkered as fast or faster than Harold did.

Impressed checkering was all the rage at the time but there was plenty of hand checkering work around. ,,and no one wanted that job!

They both worked at Pedersen Custom Gun in the early 70's. Millie still did checkering and taught some others the art.
Harold was a shop manager though he also would join in and checker when needed.
Unfiltered Cigarette dangling from his lips as he rapidly checkered the patterns with his old 2 handed Winchester multi lined tools.
Great people, I miss them.


Marlin/ North Haven made up a few other special guns as time went on with hand engraving and checkering. One-of's,,all farmed out work AFAIK.
Milestone guns, ect. 'Name' engravers usually.

Then a couple yrs ago,,I think since Remington took over,,they set up a 'Marlin Custom Shop'
What it is actually is Dakota Arms in Sturgis doing the work.
Marlin has it's dealers become 'Custom Shop' dealers and take orders, fill out the paperwork for the specs, take payments, ect. Then Dakota builds the gun on a plain off the assembly line MArlin.

Remington Custom Shop is now set up the same way. Dakota Arms in Sturgis doing all the work. Remington Custom Shop 'Dealers' doing the middle man paper shuffle.

More than you ever wanted to know most likely...

Nice rifle, nice story and a nice job on the wood. I've had a few of the older Marlin 39's in recent years and always wondered why Winchester 94's were such a big deal compared to the 39's. Marlin has always been a great gun manufacturer, very consistent in their quality.

Mine is a mint 1965. An elderly gentleman, well, older than me, knew his time was growing near. He asked me to help get rid of some guns for him. After I set him up with a few PPTs, he gifted me this 39. Now my son will not only get my Apache Black Nylon 66 but an even more classic .22 to go along with it.

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

Mine I think is from ‘52. It is the one year model that has the brass crescent on the pistol grip.

I've owned several over the years and deeply regret every one I sold. I'm currently the owner of exactly one Marlin Golden Model 39A, manufactured in 1981. This one won't be getting away from me.

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

ETA:

I finally got around to taking a picture of my latest target. For any of you real riflemen out there, please be aware that I've never considered myself to be any more than sub-mediocre when it comes to shooting rifles.

[IMG][/IMG]

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

I've said a few time, the only 4 guns a normal person really "needs" is a...

Marlin 39A
Remington 870
Winchester 70 in 30.06
S&W Model 10

I can't think of anything in the US that these 4 wouldn't cover.

Well in a normal times anyhow.

True...but we are in anything but normal times...so I would substitute an AR15 for the 70 and maybe a double stack 9 for the 10.

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

You have lived a very deprived life. Larry

I have a Golden Model 39A. It was Manufactured in 1964 and came with a Vintage Marlin Micro-Vue 4X Scope,
Larry

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

Posted before. My 1958 Golden 39A. Bought at estate auction in 2017. Looked to have been stored away for many years. Installed a Simmons 4-9x32 scope. Excellent condition. Even got the original paperwork and scope mount with it. Most accurate 22lr I own. (Remington 572, Marlin Model 60, and M&P 15-22)

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To the Marlin collector the JM is important and most feel it is a better quality than those without it. Shows the rifle was built before the Remington take over. Sort of like pinned barrels on the S&W revolvers (1981 or prior) to the revolver collectors. Until I bought my Model 39 I wasn't aware of the significance of the "bullseye" embedded in the stock. It indicates the stock is american walnut. Also so that the buyer could easily pick out a Marlin in the shop where there were a rack full of similar rifles. In older rifles the bulleyes is often missing and only a hole there (my 1958 was like that). You can buy replacements and put them back in like I did.

Probably the best shot I ever made was with the family Marlin 39A. My father bought it in the early 50’s and it gradually became my gun. To this day it stands Coyote duty by the back door. Anyway, our collection of song birds was being decimated by what my father called a butcher bird. A “butcher bird” is a type of shrike. I saw a few of them in East Tennessee when I was young, but haven’t seen one since. I digress. I was probably about 14-15. My father called for me and told me to “bring the gun”. He wanted that bird gone. Our den had a sliding glass door that overlooked our garden plot. There was the butcher bird, sitting on a corn stalk. He was a good 50 yards away. We were in a semi populated area, do I couldn’t just sling lead any old place. Chambering a LR, I carefully aimed. I finally squeezed off the shot and the bird disintegrated into a cloud of feathers. My father was stunned. He let out a short string of expletives, congratulating the shot. What I remember most is having impressed the old man.

Here are mine. A 39as that was my Dads only .22 rifle. He carved the deer. (I told him he should have carved a squirrel, the deer belongs on the 30/30.)

A 39a I bought used in the late eighties, it’s always been my go to .22 rifle.

And last but not least a Century Limited, I was thrilled to find. It’s from my birth year.

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Your dad was a talented woodcarver. Nice collection!

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Thanks. Here is a better shot.

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Mine has a D prefix ser. no., which puts manufacture in 1947. It has no JM stamp on the barrel or anywhere that I can find. I'm not sure if my dad bought it after returning from "the islands" new or used, I never asked about it when I was a kid; I just shot it a lot. Anyway, I asked on this forum about the lack of the stamp, and someone said that it doesn't matter; "it was your dad's so you won't be selling it, (true) and WE all know it is a real Marlin made in 1947, so, it doesn't matter. Don't worry about it." (Or words to that effect.) It's gonna be Sarah's, my youngest, when she wants it or when I die & get incinerated.

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Thanks all for the photos and stories about your Marlin 39s.
I've always been fond of the looks, quality and accuracy of the 39A and variants. The 39A in the photo with the 39D and 39TDS is from 1955 and has a Lyman rear peep sight, it is my favorite for standing back at the 100 yard line and plinking steel targets.







KO

Early Marlins were proofmarked with a JM in an oval on the bottom of the bbl.
The stamp is very small compared to what is normally seen on the rifles proof marked on the top of the bbl near the breach.

I'm assuming the final assemblers of the day would fit the bbl and the bolt assembly for headspace and at that point the bbl'd action alone would go to the Range for proofing.
The JM stamp was applied at that point to the yet accessable bottom of the bbl near the breech as the magazine tube and forend was still to be fitted.

Back to the final assemblers to be completed and the rest of the components (butt stock, forend, mag tube and fittings, sights, ect) placed on the rifles.

That JM marking cannot be seen (usually) as the magazine tube is in the way and it could not have been struck there on a completely assembled rifle/carbine,,even one with the forend removed.

Just to remove the forend,,the magazine tube has to come off first. You can see the problem.

The 'older days' of final assembly may have made for proofing the bbl'd action first before going forward with the rest of the assembly work.
I'd thought of proofing the bbl alone on a 'slave' recv'r. But that would mean the action & bolt would never get the benefit of a proof firing.

Winchester final assembled the entire rifle/carbine and then sent it to the range for proof. Proof marks are above the wood (started 1908 I believe)
The assemblers were just that,, the rifles total assembler.
No pre assemblys provided like bolt assemblys, trigger assemblys as used later.
Each assembler put each rifle together one part at a time.
That included mounting the bbl in the frame and headspacing.
They were expected to complete 3 per day depending on the model.
That info I got directly from someone that did that work at Winchester pre-WW1.

I just completed a Marlin Model 1893 30-30.
It's a SRC I put together from parts I had accumulated over the years.
..That bbl had the small JM proof mark on the bottom as well

Actually, the JM stamp is usually visible on the right or left side of the barrel near the receiver. This is true with all of my Marlin lever action rifles.

I prefer Marlins over Winchesters due their ease of cleaning. Most of these are Marlins and one is a 39A.

Very cool rifle. I would guess that it would be one of the last ones you would get rid of.

As a PSA that I saw years ago, not only can you replace the bullseye, but if the white spacer in the butt and pistol grip of the stock is looking shabby, you can easily replace it too. I have seen many that were not only discolored, but chipped or gouged.

Many of us will have white plastic laundry baskets around that have broken. All you have to do is take the screws out of the butt and pistol grip and remove the spacers. Find a nice flat spot in the basket and trace the spacer. Cut it out and, voila, you have a new bright white spacer.
Larry

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!