The Marlin 39 Club

[dfariswheel]

The "B" prefix Marlins were made from 1940 to 1945.
These rifles have the rounded lever like newer rifles, and don't have the odd "S" shape to the bottom of the pistol grip.

A rifle like this will bring a high premium. As a wild guess, I'd put the value "around" $800 to $1200 OR MORE, especially on an internet gun auction.

These older color cased octagon barreled Marlin's are bringing very high prices these days even in rather poor condition.

 

[rimfirerick]

case colored 39a

Thanks dfariswheel for the information. This one has a round barrel and I don't recall the shape of the lever. I put money down on it and I have to wait till tuesday to bring it home, so I can't look at it. I already have a 1955 39a that I think it is a Mountie because it has the straight stock and lever. The case colored one was so striking that I couldn't resist it. So it will be 39a number 2 for me.

 

[AStone]

Rollis, good to hear you aren't going to cut it.
Sarcasm is good for the soul.

Nelg, Coach and Rick, welcome to the club,
and to THR.

R'man. Great news!
You're going to love the 39.
Levers rule, eh?

 

[RimFire45]

Newbie

Put me in. Just found you as I was looking for info on the 39.

I got mine from the wife of a good friend of mine that passed
away a few months ago. It's a golden 39-A Mountie with an "R"
SN prefix 1958 model I'm guessing. I shot the rifle several years
ago and never saw it again untill my friend passed away, and
his wife prsented it to me as a keepsake. The little gun means a
lot to me and I'll never sell it. Have not had it to the range but
if it shoots as good as I remember it's going to be my tree rat
gun from now on. It has about 95% finish and stock is great.
Has a Lyman receiver sight. I hope that works with my aging
eyes.

Thanks for the club, I' be spending a lot of time here reading.


RimFire45

 

[AStone]

RimFire45, welcome to 39-ville and to THR. We're glad you came.
You'll find THR to be a great place with amazing people and knowledge.
IMO, it's the best gun forum on the web.

Sorry to hear of your friend's death, but nice to hear of the silver lining.

Keep us posted on how it shoots.

Oh, and everyone in 39-ville seems to get a nickname eventually. If you have a preference, let us know. (E.g., Rim45, or Fire?)

Nem

 

[rimfirerick]

39A came home today!

 

[AStone]

Rick,

Congrats! That's great.

Looks like a fine rifle. Beautiful furniture; looks well cared for.

One question, and please pardon my ignorance (I'm relatively new to 39's, still a novice): is that really a "mountie"?

I thought Mounties all had straight stocks and shorter barrels, like this one.

Yours looks like a 24" barrel, and - of course - has a pistol grip.

Again, I could be totally wrong here, and will learn something new if I am.

Nem

 

[rimfirerick]

You are right Nem. This is not a Mountie. I do have a Mountie but this one is a standard 39A. It has color case reciever and it is said to have belonged to the same man since he was a boy. Probably the best looking older 39A I've ever seen.

 

[Nelg_Kir]

Suggestions please!

Recap: I recently bought a 1950 39A. I've never fired it, just started tearing it down. I pulled the stock and forend and refinished them with tru oil. I did this before I saw Dfariswheel's suggestion to use minwax ...next time.

So now I'm on to cleaning and rebluing. I've got the tube, sights and all of the small parts on the barrel side of the receiver off. I'm running into a little surface rust, nothing deep, and a LOT of "gunk". I think it will clean up fine.

What I'm wondering is should I replace the flat springs, ejector, and assorted small parts? I think they'll clean up OK and there's no damage except a slight burr on the "ejector screw hold down thingy". It seems these parts are awfully old and I want this thing to feed anything I put in it and then eject it cleanly.

Lastly, the crown has a couple very small dings, but OK near the hole. I'd have to have a real gunsmith do a re-crown so I'm thinking I might just leave it. If I leave it, how do I blue it without getting any blue down the barrel?

 

[dfariswheel]

Unless there's a good reason, don't replace any parts.

Marlin's were built for the ages, and the springs and parts seldom wear out.
So, unless a part is obviously defective, leave them in place.
Older parts are getting hard to find in good condition, and cost a lot.
Why replace something that doesn't need to be replaced.

There's no need to plug a rifle bore when bluing. Unlike other finishes, like parkerizing, bluing has no effect on chambers or bore, and the manufacturers don't plug them.
New guns have blued bores and chambers.

As long as you flush the chemicals out and lube the bore after bluing, the bluing will have no effect.
If you just can't stand the idea of bluing the bore, you'll have to plug it during the bluing operation.
This is risky.
While a .22 bore may not be big enough, the heat can expand the air in a bore and blow the plugs out, splashing highly corrosive hot chemicals in your face.

The real pros use rubber plugs at the muzzle and chamber, joined together with a threaded rod down the bore.
The plugs have nuts that screw on the rod, locking the plugs tightly in place.
Making up the rod, especially in the small .22 size is tough and time consuming.

 

[AStone]

Wow.

It's hard to find this kind of advice
at any price, let alone free.

I'm learning so much about these rifles ...

 

[Nelg_Kir]

Thanks again

Dfariswheel, thank you very much! I'll proceed with the parts I've got and get them as clean as possible. I'll also take your advice and not worry about bluing the bore.

Nematocyst, I agree this forum is awesome!

 

[AStone]

It has color case receiver ...

That's just wicked beautiful.

Anybody know how they do that?

 

[dfariswheel]

Note that there's case hardening and COLOR case hardening.
Case hardening is a process used to give a softer steel parts a very thin, extremely hard "crust" to prevent wear, but allow the part to take shocks without breaking.
You can't see case hardening.

Color case hardening is to both resist wear and to give the metal a nice decorative mottled coloring.
Color case hardening is very thin, and is rather easily worn off. Direct sunlight can also cause it to fade.

Depending on the process and materials used, the colors can vary widely.
Each of the old gun makers had their own process, and this resulted in different colors.
Famed firearms restoration expert Doug Turnbull researched the processes used by the old makers, and he can duplicate the colors for each makers guns for restoration.
If you'd like to have a Marlin or other gun color cased, he can do it:
http://turnbullrestoration.com/

There are several methods and many formulas for color case hardening.
Basically, the super cleaned parts are packed into a steel drum which is filled with various mixtures of charcoal, bone meal, charred leather and other materials, then the drum is placed into a furnace and heated for a period of time at high temperatures.

The mixture in the drum gives the steel that mottled colored coating.

 

[RimFire45]

Question?

Hi all.

Need you to point me in the right direction on parts info.
I have run accross a 39 1960 model and it needs a part
or two (rear sight, plug screws, ejector, Marlin eye).
I have looked at a couple of parts suppliers and I see
reference to "old" and "new" model. Question is what is
considered old or new? Is there a cutoff date or a model
change over, like rebounding hammer or CB safety to
indicate old or new?

Rim45

 

[dfariswheel]

Just what constitutes a "New Model" depends on the parts supplier.

Generally, your 1960 model would be classified as an Old model.
Some Marlin parts haven't changed over the years, and even then, most parts are interchangeable between models.

Marlin parts break down into the following eras and each break was "approximately when" changes were made to parts
The 1891, 1992 and 1897 models.
The Model 39 of 1922 to 1938.
The Model 39-A from 1938 to the end of WWII.
The 39-A from 1945 to 1960.
The 39-A from 1960 to 1987.
The Current 39-A with the rebounding hammer and cross-bolt safety.

Here's some top parts houses that carry Marlin 39 parts:

http://www.e-gunparts.com/ They carry parts as early as the Model 1891, and as late as the "really New model" current version with the rebounding hammer and cross-bolt safety.

http://www.brownells.com/ (New model only.)

http://www.jackfirstgun.com/ (PRIME parts supplier, but you have to actually call).

http://www.gun-parts.com/index.html/

http://www.poppertsgunparts.com/index.htm

http://www.wisnersinc.com/ (Some Marlin 39 parts).

http://www.hoosiergunworks.com/ (Some 39 parts)

http://www.parts4guns.com/ (Click on Marlin, then WAIT).

As for your specific parts:
The rear sight changed over the years, but most any Marlin rear sight will fit any Marlin.

Plug screws should be unchanged.

The ejector "box" assembly was steel up until the 60's, then changed to the current brass box with steel ejector.

The Marlin trademark "eye" is actually a target.
This is a little hard to find, but..... Brownell's carry it:
Part number 2... http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/schematics/schemmfg.aspx?schemid=283&m=9&mn=Marlin®&model=39A+

 

[AStone]

Note that there's case hardening and COLOR case hardening.

D'wheel, I'm thankful that you're hanging out with us here.

This is such an education.

 

[RimFire45]

Big Thanks

Thanks dfariswheel:

Your reply to my question on "new" "old" models has helped me a great deal sorting out what I have and what I need.
Glad you and the others are around to keep folks like me from making pricey
mistakes.
Please put me down for the first autographed copy of the book I assume
you are going to write and publish on the history and workings of the 39.

Have a great day!

Rim45

 

[AStone]

Please put me down for the first autographed copy of the book I assume
you are going to write and publish on the history and workings of the 39.

D'wheel, Rim45's got a pretty good idea there.
You clearly have the knowledge,
and you write very well.
Even a biologist like me can understand
your directions quite well.

Ever thought about it?

Hell, half of what you need to put in it may be in this (and other) thread already.
You could just cut and paste.

 

[rimfirerick]

39A book

Hey Guys,
If Dfariswheel writes the book I will surely buy it. Until then, is there a good book that I can get about Marlin rimfire levers? I want the one that Dfariswheel read, Ha Ha.

 

[dfariswheel]

Sorry, no books in the future.

What I know, I got from other, older shooters when I was starting out, from a lifetime of buying and reading books and gun magazines, and from owning or working on guns.

Own three or four Marlin's, work on a few, read an American Rilfeman article on the history of the 39, and suddenly you're an "expert".

 

[AStone]

Hahahaha...

I know what you mean, D'wheel.

For years, decades really, I've defined "expert" as someone who knows more about something than I do.
Doesn't necessarily mean they know everything, but at least they know more than I do about that "something".

In that sense, we're all experts about something relative to somebody.

 

[rimfirerick]

Marlins are hard to research.

I've been collecting for about 25 years. I don't focus on one particular area of interest, but I have several. I enjoy guns that have history, quality, and are fun to shoot. I have a few Winchester pump .22 rifles. There is a very good book that covers that area very extensively. I have some military 1911's and there a lot of books out there about those. Marlin 39's fall under the "history, quality and fun to shoot" catigory. I have read an article or two about them but I have not found very much literature on them.

 

[dasch]

Can't hold down ejector for cleaning

This is a great forum. I'm very glad I found it. Been reading for a while, but now it's time to jump in!
While preparing to clean my 1952 39a, I tried to lock down the ejector by holding it down while turning the little screw as shown in the manual. I could not get the little screw to hold down the ejector as it is supposed to. The screw turns freely, but doesn't seem to do anything.

Any ideas? Should I just clean from the muzzle end?
Thanks!

 

[AStone]

I have read an article or two about them but I have not found very much literature on them.

Rick, I'm hoping that we can start posting in a bibliography about history of the 39A into the club library here. (That is, when any of us finds an article on the history of the 39s, post it here.) I've got a couple bookmarked, but can't remember if I posted them up yet or not, so I'll put them up again soon, regardless.

Dasch, welcome to 39-ville, and to THR (greatest gun/2A forum on the web, IMO).

As for that ejector hold-down screw, I often have some slight amount of trouble with mine, as well. It took me a few times to get it right. The key for me was using a small nail with a dull point - not a screwdriver - to push the ejector as far down into the ejector trough as possible (until it "bottoms out" against the bottom of the trough). Then, use a screwdriver (preferably from a set of gunsmith tools) to turn the screw about 50 or 60 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise, so that the slot of the screw is just past the top of the ejector.

If I use a second screwdriver to try to push the ejector down, unless it's a tiny one with blade held parallel to the length of the ejector, I can't push the ejector all the way down into the trough; if I don't push it far enough down, then the screw edge doesn't catch the ejector lip and hold it down.

I find using a "point" (like a dull nail point) rather than an "edge" (like a screwdriver blade) easier to use because the point falls into the little "dip" in the ejector near its end and is more stable so that I can push it down more completely. YMMV.

If that doesn't work for you, then there may be something else wrong, and others more knowledgeable than me will have to help.

Please keep us posted.

Nem