MatthewVanitas
Member
Greetings,
I went to the gunshow up in North Austin today, took a .380 Mak to trade. In the first 30 minutes, found a guy with a Marlin 39A labeled $239. I ended up giving him the Mak plus $20. The bore looks great on it, shiny, smooth, and Ballard-rifled. The outside on the other hand... pure truck-gun. The finish is all patina (minimal pitting though), the wood is all dinged, and Bubba carved some design into the stock.
Lever is a little stiff (carried but never fired? undergreased?) and trigger pretty good. I'm not too keen on the rear sight, so inclined to put on a buckhorn or tangsight, or at least file the notch deeper. Serial is K1527XX. I'll definitely write Marlin to get my Owner's Manual.
That aside, any advice on what to do with this sucker? I have no idea how lever actions work, and probably would have been smarter to get a brand-new $99 Marlin 60.
I take it that there's no problem with refinishing really beat-up wood? I'm inclined to get some brass-tacks, put on a Southern Cross (the constellation), since I was in the 1st Marine Division until recently. Marlin's website offers rebluing for $60 on their .22 autos, but $110 on their leverguns, so that's a little steep for me. I can live with patina, but the wood is pretty heinous (though solid and all-there).
The buttplate needs replacing, but www.gungrip.com has one that looks exactly like mine: "Marlin Model 39 oversize" for $15:
I just took some pics, but my digital camera appears to be mis-reading. Mostly wanted to post and see how I did, invite any suggestions. Especially to see if there is any reason I shouldn't refinish/reblue, etc., or if there are certain parts I should check for possible replacement. Should I avoid even disassembling it and cleaning it until the Owner's Manual arrives from Marlin? Thanks for any info, sorry for lack of pics at the moment.
-MV
I went to the gunshow up in North Austin today, took a .380 Mak to trade. In the first 30 minutes, found a guy with a Marlin 39A labeled $239. I ended up giving him the Mak plus $20. The bore looks great on it, shiny, smooth, and Ballard-rifled. The outside on the other hand... pure truck-gun. The finish is all patina (minimal pitting though), the wood is all dinged, and Bubba carved some design into the stock.
Lever is a little stiff (carried but never fired? undergreased?) and trigger pretty good. I'm not too keen on the rear sight, so inclined to put on a buckhorn or tangsight, or at least file the notch deeper. Serial is K1527XX. I'll definitely write Marlin to get my Owner's Manual.
That aside, any advice on what to do with this sucker? I have no idea how lever actions work, and probably would have been smarter to get a brand-new $99 Marlin 60.
I take it that there's no problem with refinishing really beat-up wood? I'm inclined to get some brass-tacks, put on a Southern Cross (the constellation), since I was in the 1st Marine Division until recently. Marlin's website offers rebluing for $60 on their .22 autos, but $110 on their leverguns, so that's a little steep for me. I can live with patina, but the wood is pretty heinous (though solid and all-there).
The buttplate needs replacing, but www.gungrip.com has one that looks exactly like mine: "Marlin Model 39 oversize" for $15:
I just took some pics, but my digital camera appears to be mis-reading. Mostly wanted to post and see how I did, invite any suggestions. Especially to see if there is any reason I shouldn't refinish/reblue, etc., or if there are certain parts I should check for possible replacement. Should I avoid even disassembling it and cleaning it until the Owner's Manual arrives from Marlin? Thanks for any info, sorry for lack of pics at the moment.
-MV
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