Well, effective today, I join the ranks of Marlin 39A owners. I have admired the 39 since 1990, when I first fired one owned by a friend of mine. Of course, it was always easier to justify buying, other less costly .22s. The problem was, none of the other .22s that I own(ed) ever presented that "adult-heft" we so frequently associate with centerfire long guns.
So, some months back, I set my resolve literally to save my pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in emptied coffee jars and to buy a 39A. About 6 weeks back, I finally had enough "coin" saved to buy a 39A. Problem that presented next was locating one. For the past month or so, I have called every local firearms establishment just about weekly, in an attempt to locate a new 39A, heck, even a nice used one. Seems when folks buy a 39A, they hang on to them.
Well, the sales persons kept telling me that they could order one, and when I inquired, they told me all of the suppliers were backordered, 3 to potentially 6 months?! Holy cow! That means I likely wouldn't be able to use it for small game season. That didn't seem fun, but seemed the price I was going to pay to get my 39A...you know, that whole "the early bird", well, I was the late bird. As I picked up the phone to call back to the dealer and have them order up a 39A for me, I thought, I'm going to try one last call to Gander Mountain in Utica. OMW, they had a 39A on the rack...one, and only one.
So, I gave the salesman my name and assured him I would be there directly to take ownership of that little gem. An hour later, I was walking out the door with my Marlin 39A, and a dandy new sling for it to boot. When I got home, I unboxed it, cleaned and oiled it, put the sling and shouldered it for the first time to fire some Aguila Colibri in my 20-yard indoor range. It didn't feel like I recalled some 18 years back when I last shouldered one. It felt better, because this one is mine.
I loaded up 23 rounds of Aguila Colibri (1 in the chamber and 22 in the tube), and tried it out. She printed a nice little cluster of about 1" at 20 yards, but that was of course that was seated, unsupported and using iron sights. To say the least, I was thrilled with the feel and the function. The accuracy was as good, and truthfully even better than I could possibly have expected for that type of ammo.
So, now I have my 39A, my small game license and ammo.
The sole decision I have to make now is to take this sweet little 39 hunting with iron sights, or to mount a nice little scope on her. Anyhow, I just thought I would post here and thank all of the folks who have taken the time to make posts and upload pictures. All of the posts and pictures here really reinforced my desire to purchase my own 39. I'll be sure to make my own additions of posts and pictures here as I put her to use, at the range and in the field.
Doc2005
Here's her pic:
I think I finally may have found the culprit.
This rifle is going to prove to expensive! I've already gone through over 500 rounds of Aguila Colibri with it! Everytime I get bored, I pull out my 39A and fill my empty time with meaningful me-time. 
I feel as-happy-as the birthday when I got my first lever-action BB gun.
