Marlin was into the 'commemorative' kick like most all the other firearms companys in the 70's. The Century Limited and the others they put out were tough to sell at the time. They made a lot of them something like 30 or 35K of the Century Limited. The Article II rifles and carbines were somewhat rare by comparison being produced in the 6K and 4K numbers respectively.
I still remember those little Marlin horse & rider medallions that got epoxied into the side of the Century Limited rifles,,they were laying all over the floor of the assembly area where they fell while being handled.
Anything that hit the floor stayed there,
The cleanup guy came around every hour with his big floor mop and swept them and everything else that hit the floor away and into the trash.
I think I have one or two I saved as souvenirs.
The amt of parts that was trashed was disgusting.
The Model 39 was a great rifle and carbine for sure, I personally like the earlier M97,,not much difference in the two though to be honest. Just some styling in the wood and metal work that the early guns have that I like. The M97's are 22 std vel only though.
