The Marlin 39 Club

[JustsayMo]

Welcome White Wolf and Saintdel. Glad to have you on board you both have the best kind of 39's, the kind with history! Better yet your's has known history. Thanks for sharing and we hope you'll post some more adventures, range reports and more history that you make with those excellent rifles!

[Nematocyst]

Davera, Apo, Wolf, Saint, welcome.

I am consistently overwhelmed by
the quality that this rifle attracts.

Davera, that image (#1168)
is an instant classic.
It graces our club walls.

Two gun match, indeed.

Nem

[Fingolfin]

Just joined the club! Prices on new 39As skyrocketed here so decided to hunt for for an older one. Unfortunately i'm not very patient, but am happy with my purchase so far. It's a 1981 model in great condition. Gun, sling, scope mount, and hard case cost me $340 plus shipping.

Now for questions.

1) I'd like to mount a receiver sight on this, namely a Williams FP. A bit confused about which model to get, want something that doesn't require altering the rifle permanently of course. A picture of the the receiver is below.

2) I'd also like to look at putting a square post ramp ala Garand or AR-15 on the front sight. Any recommendations? I've searched around some and gotten a few ideas, but as this now 48 page thread demonstrates, there is a lot to sift through.

3) The gun came with a scope mount. The top was factory tapped for it?

Here is a pic of the side of the receiver:



Bad lighting but here is the rest:



Can't wait to shoot it.

[CB900F]

Fingolfin;

Yes, the top of the reciever is factory drilled & tapped for the mount. If you don't want the mount, PM me, I'd be interested as I know I'm going to mount a scope on mine.

If you need replacement screws for the reciever, go to Numrich, they'll have them.

900F

[DJR]

Fingolfin said:

Unfortunately i'm not very patient

Wow! Patient or not you won't do much better than that. Nice rifle.
Congratulations.

DJR

[Nematocyst]

Fingolfin, welcome. I agree with DJR (and I suspect most others in here): for $340 + a ship, you done real good.

I'd also like to look at putting a square post ramp ala Garand or AR-15 on the front sight.

That's a very interesting idea. I'd never thought of it, but on first consideration, almost intuitively, it sounds like a reasonable idea, even if I can't yet articulate why other than the one that's on mine now doesn't work for me; it's too skinny.

I understand the thinking behind skinny. With .22, things one is pointing at are small. (E.g., squirrel head.)

But for me, it doesn't lend to fast target acquisition. (Of course, I'm one of the heretics that's put a scope on his 39A ...)

So, I'm curious: what motivates you towards that square ramp post? Not a criticism at all, just curiosity and wanting to learn something new.

Nem

[Slugless]

For me a square front sight post works better with a rear peep, e.g. an AR-15.

In a peep there's a dark or light circle at the center of the field of view; the circle is caused by diffraction of light. (In a ghost ring the circle is larger and more diffuse, in a target aperture it's more pronounced). The top of front sight goes in the middle of the diffraction for proper sight picture.

It's easier for me to split the circle with a square front post than split it with a front bead where I'm trying to position the top tangent of a circle (the bead) in the center of a circle (the diffraction circle).

The sight pic has been part of the trouble with my Mountie. I did order a Skinner square front sight but didn't swap out sights for the match. I got a smaller aperture instead to make the geometry problem easier. Worked okay judging by the results but it's still more difficult than a square post.

The bead works fine with the factory rear sight. One problem with the peep is that a light colored circular target spot can actually disappear in the diffraction...

[Nematocyst]

Slug, that makes sense. I'm understanding your description with peep sights.

Please help me understand this point better, though:

(In a ghost ring the circle is larger and more diffuse, in a target aperture it's more pronounced).

So does that mean that a square post might be less effective with GR than peep?

[Slugless]

I find ghost rings in general to be much less effective than peeps, but I mostly target/beer can shoot, only occasional small game hunting. My rabbit killing has been done at, say, 20 - 30 yards over open sights, never an aperture sight. I think any serious hunter or soldier who uses apertures would state that a peep is less effective than a GR in the field. The next time I go rabbit hunting with a Skinner equipped 39A it will be with a medium aperture, 0.08".

The problem with ghost rings (for me) is that finding the exact center of the ring is hard because the diffraction is so diffuse. I have read that 'your eye automatically corrects to center the post' but that's not the case for me. With practice things will line up automatically but the field of view occluded by the barrel is part of the sight picture that my brain uses to center the post. Good shooting takes practice.

[Fingolfin]

That's a very interesting idea. I'd never thought of it, but on first consideration, almost intuitively, it sounds like a reasonable idea, even if I can't yet articulate why other than the one that's on mine now doesn't work for me; it's too skinny.

I understand the thinking behind skinny. With .22, things one is pointing at are small. (E.g., squirrel head.)

But for me, it doesn't lend to fast target acquisition. (Of course, I'm one of the heretics that's put a scope on his 39A ...)

So, I'm curious: what motivates you towards that square ramp post? Not a criticism at all, just curiosity and wanting to learn something new.

Well i'd only want the square post after putting an aperature sight on it like the Williams model. I agree with Slugless that the round posts work better with barrel mounted buckhorn sights.

On an aperature like the AR or Garand I think it's easier to line the target up, or at the very least more familiar. More of a preference than what is "better".

[DJR]

Got a poll going over on the Marlin Owners site. I know there are some Marlin employees that pay attention to what is posted over there and you never know, with enough interest we might see the reintroduction of a short 39. Pop over and cast a vote.

http://www.marlinowners.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=27652

DJR

[Fast Frank]

Well, now that the Valentine's Day Massacre is over, maybe we should BUMP this thread back to the top.

[JustsayMo]

Hey pards, lets get the St. Paddy's day challenge going. I'll be happy to honcho it again unless someone else wants to.

Did we hammer out a format in the other thread? Lets set the rules and go have some fun shootin' our 39's (and other lever action rimfires)

[Fast Frank]

After the butt kicking my rifle took from the borrowed rifle, I'm going to have to do something about the scope.

I'm in, but I doubt I'll do better than last place. I'm going to call Leupold tomorrow.

The shamrock idea was cool, but I don't remember anybody coming up with a good way to scoer it.

[cp1969]

The next time I go rabbit hunting with a Skinner equipped 39A it will be with a medium aperture, 0.08".

The problem with ghost rings (for me) is that finding the exact center of the ring is hard because the diffraction is so diffuse. I have read that 'your eye automatically corrects to center the post' but that's not the case for me. With practice things will line up automatically but the field of view occluded by the barrel is part of the sight picture that my brain uses to center the post. Good shooting takes practice.

Do you still have the hood on the front sight? If you pick that up, I think your eye will center the rear aperture with what it perceives to be the center of the 'circle' formed by the front sight hood.

Solution to that is a smaller aperture in the back or take off the front sight hood and try it that way.

[Fast Frank]

I fired off an email to Leupold.

Let's see if it's possible to get my scope fixed up and still have time to shoot this match.

Maybe I will have to shoot it iron sights...

[Nematocyst]

Originally Posted by Mo

Did we hammer out a format in the other thread?

Originally Posted by Frank

The shamrock idea was cool, but I don't remember anybody coming up with a good way to score it.

Johnmcl and I tossed around a few ideas via PM.

We didn't completely arrive at any idea ready for prime time, but were mostly considering the idea of using a shamrock for a target (for the complexity of target, as opposed to a single dot or circle, just to make aim point more challenging), but then going for tightest group.

We agreed that trying to put one shot in each subleaf of a shamrock might prove ... difficult and even more difficult (read time consuming and technically challenging) to score.

I'm good with anything. It's more about the fun and comradeship than the target.

I'm also fine with Mo doing it again (great job on the last one, as for Jag in the first one), or letting someone else step up.
I'll not volunteer to honcho this one... still too busy at work ... but will participate in this one come hell or high water.

Having said that, once I get a little time (work continues to eat my lunch), I'm planning to develop a new contest: a contest about designing targets for shooting matches.

Basic idea: each person will be encouraged to develop one or more odd ball, alternative (more than a dot or bulls eye) target(s) for the mighty 3x5 (or other formats), along with rules for scoring at particular ranges, then take them to the range and try them out, and take them home and score them, then share the description of the process on line. (We'll do that in a separate thread.)

I, for example, still want to try out a "shamrock-like" target, perhaps composed of three to five quarter- or half-dollar sized (coins) circles with one shot per circle at x yards (range to be determined), scored in a way that center-most hits in each circle are 0. Lowest score wins.

I think it could be fun, and help get us away from the same kinds of targets that we mostly always use.

Nem

[Fast Frank]

Originally Posted by NEMO

but will participate in this one come hell or high water

That's what I'm talking about!

[Carl N. Brown]

For a long time, me, my son and my cousins meet at the old
home place where my dad and uncles and aunt grew up
(all is left is the chimney of the old home place).
We ride ATVs on the mountain, shoot guns, BBQ and talk.
My cousin Heath brought his grand pa's Marlin 39A which had a
Bushnell scope on it. I set up a target and and put a magazine
full into a target at 25 yards --- the hole could be covered
by a quarter. Another weekend, I brought my 39M Mountie
with a Weaver V22 3-6x scope and duplicated the target.
(OK the group from the 39M was a bit larger than the 39A's,
but still less than the diameter of a quarter for a full magazine.)
IF I had to coose only one gun, the keeper would be my 39M.

[Nematocyst]

- -

[DJR]

Looking forward to the shamrock shoot. Thanks JustsayMo for hosting the Valentines match, I think everybody had a great time with it. I did for sure.

I've been computerless for the last four days so I'm trying to catch up.

DJR

[JustsayMo]

John and I are working out the details for the next match. He's proposed a target that he'll post later. The goal is to keep it fun, involve as many as we can and get us shootin' our 39's

For those who are hankering to stretch out the yardages some, what about a 3x5 at 50yards for a side match?

We'll have this rolling by the weekend so plan on buying your favorite ammo this week.

[johnmcl]

Hi all,

Here's the target under consideration for the March match. Mo will come forward with mo' details. For you long-range guys, just you wait for mo' in April..

five spot target.pdf

John

[Jaguar]

John,

Is that supposed to be printed on a 8.5 X 11 in standard sheet of paper? That would be a good target in my opinion, easy to print and easy to mail. It is fairly large, are you still wanting to do 25 yards of move this one out to 50? I would be okay with either, as you can see from my entries, I need as large and as close as I can get.

[Nematocyst]

I printed it out on a standard sheet of 8.5 x 11,
and posted it on my wall near my computer to ponder.

Interesting target, interesting possibilities.

Look forward to reading rules re shots per circle, range, etc.

...3x5 at 50yards for a side match?

Sounds like fun.

Now, on to page 49 ...