The Marlin 39 Club

[SGW42]

Well I finally survived Ike as well. A week without power, two without internet. Been driving me nuts not being able here to come and read this thread (which I still have not been able to finish).

Also driving me nuts not being able to get out to the range again after my first time out with the 39A. I imagine the overhangs and benches at my local ranges have been blown to bits so I will have to wait a bit.

She worked great with the Federal 510 before (which I keep on hand for my Ruger Mark II and III), but now I have a brick of Winchester Wildcats I want to get through. Maybe try the Remington Target out that my Rem 581 bolt likes. And I finally saw some shop selling a brick of Winchester shorts...

Meanwhile I've been reading my Jack O'Conner book and trying to figure out my military sling (I think I finally have it right tonight!).

As if I didn't (happily) splurge enough on the gun itself, it's still costing me money. First a new leather sling, then a new case worthy of it. Then Marlin sends me a catalogue, and I'm looking at getting one of their centerfire levers, or one of their other .22s. I knew of Marlin, but had never really bothered to look at them closely until these threads here, and now that I own one, I'm convinced they are one of the greats. I need to get a 60 and 336...

And finally, another question I thought of. Marlin advertises a 19 round .22 LR capacity. When I tried this out at the range, the magazine spring seemed to get upset and I didn't want to force it. It's perfectly happy with 18 rounds in the tube. Is the advertised 19 round capacity with one in the chamber and 18 in the tube? If so, call me crazy, but putting my hands anywhere near the muzzle of a gun with a round in the chamber scares me to death. Does the lever just need to be open, or does my mag spring just need to be broken in, or something?

 

[philgb]

Hi from England

Just bought myself a nice Marlin Golden 39a Mountie !!!!

Gueeing from the numbers it was made in 1970 !

Took it out and fired off 100 shorts... good fun ! lol

Had a Marlin in 357 years ago but the 22 is loads more fun !

 

[SGW42]

Ordered a Skinner sight yesterday. Got an email this morning from the CEO (Tim's wife ) that Tim was out bow hunting until Thursday. They had a blued one in stock but for a brass one I'd have to wait. Said I'd wait.

I think that's pretty awesome, I'll have one practically made for me. Can't find service like that anywhere.

In the meantime I'll try out the stock sights some more, which I like, but am not as precise with as I'd like to be.

 

[ShakyJake]

Welcome from the Colonies

Hi philgb
A great warm welcome to the Marlin 39 club. Are .22 shorts less expensive over there than lr. Here in the states they are usually a bit more expensive than the cheaper bulk lr for plinking. Great to have you on board. Please check out and join in the monthly rimfire challenges that are posted. Loads of fun. Look forward to some pictures of your Model 39 and some background on both of you.
TaKe CaRe
Ted

 

[JustsayMo]

SGW42
The skinners are great. Mine works with the stock front bead. Tim will make the aperture any size you want. I went a little smaller ~0.020" below the stock size for more precision on paper targets.

That being said most of my Marlins are sporting their original irons. It took me a while but I did improve with practice. Just keep getting in the reps.

 

[Catherine]

Woo hoo!

I absolutely LOVE my new Marlin 39A! A big smooch to the new rifle. No pit bull lipstick but Chapstick! Smack! Grin.

We went to our range today @ Deer Creek and had a fantastic time!

She shot great from the gitgo. My husband thought that she was one SWEET rifle too. He owns Marlins and all kinds of guns but he never owned a Model 39A.

I shot the new Ruger Super Single Six too... the one with the pretty black grips not my other one. S W E E T. Ding, ding and ding the gong.

My husband shot the new Marlin but not the new Ruger yet. He was doing something with his other rifle. Targets and changed to another type of ammunition too. He was a 'dead eye' today.

Thanks again to the gentlemen @ my local gun store here in town. See my other recent post above about how great they are.

I am very, very happy. The weather was beautiful today too. I made it to the library before it closed, we had a nice dinner and the only thing missing was a SWIM.

Catherine

 

[jerry46]

Do most of you use scopes or open sights on your 39As? Which ever, what kind of each do you use?

 

[AStone]

SGW, congrats on surviving Ike. Sorry you had to endure that. Hope your range isn't too destroyed.

Congrats also on ordering a set of Skinners. I've not used a set, let alone owned them yet. Really look forward to your report.

Phil from England, welcome to the club! Hi ho, ol' chap. Glad to know you can get guns over there at all, let alone fine ones like the mountie. (We understand here your gun ownership privileges there are a bit restrictive, but I guess a 39M raises fewer eyebrows than, say, an AK. Please keep us posted, and let us know if you have any questions.

Katherine, thanks for the range report. I have to experience the range vicariously these days because I'm just too busy to get to the range. Great to hear such favorable impressions about it.

Jerry, I put a Nikon 4X rimfire on mine. I like to get really surgical with mine when hunting squirrels, and open sights or even aperture sights are less familiar to me than scopes, and less precise than crosshairs. I may change my mind eventually, but my eyes aren't getting any better.

 

[philgb]

Thanks Shakey

Thanks for the welcome.... not sure how much you pay for shorts over there, here they're about £5 sterling per hundred, they are a bit more expensive than LR but where I went for a play is surrounded by urban area so I was keeping the noise down.

Anyway, bit about me... mid 40's, been to the states a number of times, my sister lived near Charleston SC for a few years so I went there twice, done the mickey mouse stuff about 4 times ( yes I know... sad... and nothing like the rest of the US ).
I have a number of shotguns, a Remington 700 bdl in 22-250 and a Parker Hale in 270.... been shooting since a kid and like everyone else owned and sold more things than I can recall.

 

[Geno]

Jerry46:

I put the factory provided mount on my 39A, but I use both iron sights and scope. The following are the scopes that I currently use for my .22s:

Red Head Reddot
BSA Sweet 22, 3-9 with A/O and target turrets
BSA 36X
Millett 6-24

The BSA Sweet 22 is my favorite for the 39A.

Doc2005

 

[jerry46]

I have a 4X scope on my 39A right now and it shoots great. However, I have been thinking about a peep sight. I have a Lyman peep on my 336 and love it. It shoots great also, but I know my eyes aren't getting any younger. Thought I would get some input from the rest of you.

 

[Geno]

Woohoo!! I've been trying to locate a Leupold 6X A/O and target turrets for months...just found one. I can't wait to get that scope into my Steel Burris .22LR rings for my .22LRs. It should fit the bill for the heavy barreled 22LRs I have, and I can't wait to try it for hunting on the 39A!

 

[Catherine]

Hello again.

I will answer your question regarding scopes on my own firearms and especially on the Marlin 39A.

I don't use scopes on my guns. I use 'open sights' on all of my rifles and handguns.

Welcome to the other new Marlin 39A owners here. Have an outstanding day!

Catherine

 

[ShakyJake]

Rifle sights

Hi jerry46
Given the option I would go with iron sights on the 39. Love the aperature.....peep style rear sights. Have found the Skinner sights to be of some effectivemess for me. I wear trifocals and on top of that have Essential Tremors, in the family with Parkinsons, mostly in my upper extremities. This limits me to low power to reduce jump. My M336 came with Williams rear sights and I have kept it on and done fairly well out to 50yds if the target is at least 4". Just one of problems when body reaches 66 before you do. That is my story and I am stickin' to it.
(Who is old enough to remember that little ditty?)
TaKe CaRe
Ted

 

[SGW42]

I own four rifles and no scopes.

Last few trips to the range things are getting fuzzy.

Aperture/Skinners sights are cheaper than new prescription lenses, so....

 

[A square 10]

new here , found this thread and started in - gotta go back and finish reading everything leading to this page but in the meantime i thought id post my marlin 39A golden mountie ,

its a 1959 , the microgroove bbl claims its chambered for S,L, & LR but ive only tried LRs , i have other 22cal rifles both commercial and military trainers , but this is one of my favorites and easily one of my most accurate ,

ive scoped it because my old eyes just wont focus like they used to , it came with the rail i just added the rings and scope



sorry about the henry its just more convenient to store fewer photos with multiple peices

 

[georgeky]

Not new to me but here is one of my 39A's. bought it new in 2003 it is a shooting fool with factory iron sights. Caught this bandit along with another tearing up jack in my garden. They ran but I managed a good shot at 37 paces to end this marauders career in my veggies. The other one got clean away.

 

[SandyEggo53]

New to this forum, skimmed through most of the pages, but need to go back and re-read again. Lots of great info....great photos.

Been interested in Marlin 22s for years, my first rifle, when I turned 18, was a single shot Marlin (still have it). Also have a Model 60--lots of fun.

Been looking at the 39s for about a year, finally found a 39A Mountie from 1969, pretty good shape, so I bought it last Friday. Can't wait to pick it up after the 10 day wait is over.

It's getting harder to use the old iron sights with my "driving" glasses, but when I use the "middle range" glasses, I can see the sights, but not many targets past 25 yards....I've seen a lot of discussion on the peep sights, Skinner sights, ghost rings...how fast can you sight in on a target with a Skinner sight? We like to plink at cans, they bounce quite a bit, and we like to hit them while they're still moving--is that possible with the Skinners? or are those for slow, target shooting?

Thanks for all the info.

 

[SGW42]

I imagine with the apertures catching a small, fast moving target would be tough. I'm not sure, I've only used them for paper targets.

But, with most, you can unscrew the aperture entirely and use it as a ghost ring, which would give you a pretty much complete unobstructed view.

 

[ShakyJake]

fast framing peeps

Hi,
Send an e-mail to Mr. (Dr.?) Skinner. He will be happy to discuss with you the pros an cons of how fast they can pick up moving targets. His wife (CEO) is also quite knowledgeable. Will also supply different size inserts for you. He lurks on the marlin forum and occasionally here, I believe. SGW42 is correct you can turn them into a ghost ring. The secret is the eye will naturally tend to center front sight and target at least momentarily. As I have stated earlier I am pretty much at the point where I have to magnify, though holding out for some fun with the 336 and micrometer.
TaKe CaRe
Ted

 

[xd9fan]

permission to join the club!!

just bought that Marlin 39a and I cant believe the quality...the walnut is amazing.
Gotta wonder if Marlin makes money on these. I wonder what the production cost is?

Its one of those guns that make you ask "why the hell did I wait so long to get one?"

 

[jerry46]

First of all, if I didn't say it before, thanks for all the welcomes and the instructions from Mal H. Also, thank you all for the advice on open sights vs scopes. I think I mentioned that I have a 336 with a Lyman Peep on it. I like it. I sent an email to Skinner sights questioning whether the front sight normally needs changed when putting on one of their peeps ( like it did with the Lyman peep ). I got a response from Tim Skinner who said that their sights normally don't require a front sight change. This was good to hear. Now I am trying to decide between the Skinner and Williams peeps. Any thoughts?

 

[SGW42]

Learned something interesting today.

Went out for the second range trip with the 39A today. (Went great, ~250 rounds, not a hitch, Tim hasn't made my sight yet so still using the stock setup.) On my way home I stop by my favorite gunshop and chat the counter guy up about lever actions.

They had a 39A there and I looked it over. I like seeing how the fit and finish (and price) compare to the example I got last month. All's well and it looks nice, and I asked if Remington had had an effect on Marlin's QC yet.

Guy said everything he's seen looks fine, except they've noticed the Marlins coming in recently don't have the "bullseye" in the stock. And sure enough, I look and there is no bullseye in this brand new 39A I was looking at.

Hmmm.

 

[SGW42]

Ouch.

Just took my rifle apart to clean it. Ran the bronze brush through the bore, tight fit...when the brush cleared the muzzle the rod slipped forward and I ran my finger into the exposed, sharp edge of the receiver. Deep, bloody cut.

I think it was her way of saying "Don't feed me any more Winchester Wildcat, jerk!"

Be careful folks.

 

[JustsayMo]

they've noticed the Marlins coming in recently don't have the "bullseye" in the stock.

Hmmm is right. Thanks for sharing that.