The Marlin 39 Club

[AStone]

I've been reading about this ammo shortage, and for .22 especially.

I know this question is slightly off topic for this thread, but not too far since it affects us.

Without going down any conspiracy theory trails here , what are the reasons that are known or hypothesized for the shortage of .22? Let's not get into an argument that could raise the ire of mods. I'm just curious about the word on the street.

 

[bigtubby]

Rejoined the club this morning. Picked up a 1960 39A Mountie blueing is thin, broken butt plate, rear sling swivel gone, missing front sight hood, missing rear sight elevator. Now the good parts, it is a 39A Mountie, has a decent scope on it, has a beautiful tiger striped stock and it was $300.00

 

[dfariswheel]

Without going down any conspiracy theory trails here , what are the reasons that are known or hypothesized for the shortage of .22? Let's not get into an argument that could raise the ire of mods. I'm just curious about the word on the street.

Following Occam's Razor, the reason for the ammo shortage is an insane buying binge.
Even .22 ammo is being snapped up as fast as it arrives.
In many cases the ammo is being bought, then sold to others at scalpers prices, or it's being hoarded for the future.

A friend was in a gun shop a few weeks ago and watched as two men almost got into a fist fight over a small can of percussion pistol primers.
People are afraid that "They" will ban not only guns but also ammo and that they won't be able to get any more.

Result, a buying binge where EVERYTHING "gun" is being snapped up irregardless of any actual shortage.
Since everything is being snapped up....there IS a shortage.

 

[tubeshooter]

My own personal thought is that it is simply the economy of scale and ease of storage for .22lr.

Simply put - it is so much easier to buy/store (and scalp ) 500 (or 5000) rounds of .22lr than it is any other caliber.

Factor in a lot of brand-new shooters and thousands upon thousands of .22lr firearms out there... and there you go. Or rather - here we are.

Plus, it's non-reloadable. That's a factor, too.



As we can see, centerfire ammo is coming around a lot quicker than .22lr. But everything will even out after awhile. Methinks a lot of people will not get caught with their proverbial pants down going forward as far as .22lr is concerned...

 

[Fast Frank]

I agree with the above.

CCI has made public statement that they are in full production, so the ammo is being made.

I recently asked the guy at the gun range if the ammo shortage was hurting his business, and he replied that it's about the same as before.

He said that he sells every box of ammo he puts on the shelves, and the amounts he receives has not changed from last year.

He stated that in the past, he normally sold 100 rounds each to ten people, and now he sells 1000 rounds to one guy- fewer total sales for the same amount of ammo.

I'm hoping that it doesn't last much longer, and I'm not shooting my guns unless I can buy ammo for the outing first.

The good news is that 12Ga is available, and some of my buds are into busting clays.

It's not quite the same as shooting my 39s, but it's fun. I'll do that for a while.

I'm confident that things will be more normal at some time in the future.

 

[AStone]

Thanks for opinions, guys. Makes sense to me.

I think if I was CCI, or some producer of .22, I'd up my production capacity and take advantage of the run.

But then, I'm a biologist, and business types won't let me into their meetings.

 

[dfariswheel]

I think if I was CCI, or some producer of .22, I'd up my production capacity and take advantage of the run

And there is where there's either a great opportunity or a great risk for a manufacturer.

If you think the expanded market is going to stay expanded, you can build on to your plant, buy new production equipment, hire and train new workers, and contract with suppliers for more raw materials.
If you're right, you increase your sales and profits.

If you decide not to expand and the market stays bigger, your competition reaps the profits and you can be in trouble from loosing market share.

If you're wrong and the market fails to stay expanded and shrinks, you're in deep trouble after spending all that money only to not need the capacity, but you still have to pay for the new plant expansion and idle equipment.

One of the most risky and ulcer-inducting decisions a businessman has to make is whether to risk an expansion or not to.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

Check me on this, but I seem to remember that just a few years ago (5 maybe?) Olin/Winchester built a new ammo plant in the south & closed the one in Illinois. I don't know if it was rimfire only that got moved, or the full gamut of Winchester branded ammo. Anyway, at the time it was the newest state-of-the-art plant in the country and I imagine that's still true today.

It would be hard to believe that in the 2013 ammo crisis, that plant is not operating at full capacity. But it's a rare old day that I see, or even hear of, new Winchester .22 hitting a local store. I don't know what's up with that, but I'd sure like to buy a case of the 22LRPP. Several of my guns love the stuff.

900F

 

[AStone]

I'd love to see stats on the following.

1) Number of .22 bullets/year fired from 1980 - 2010,
complete with time series showing the trend
(which I'm betting a nickel will be nonlinear,
like the stock market.

2) What proportion of those each year were shot through a 39.

The former probably exist. The latter probably do not.

Curious about a guess, though.

Really. What proportion of all .22 rifles in the US are 39s?

 

[texasred777]

Nematocyst, very interesting questions. I know there are a lot of 39s out there. I have one. When I bought it, used in 2011, I bought a rail attachment for a scope. I've shot the little rifle MANY times, but haven't added the rail or a scope yet. Brings me to my thoughts about proportion of 39s to all .22: I have, I believe 11, .22 rifles and 2 revolvers. Only 1 is a 39. I know a lot of gun owners have several 39s. I think I read about one forum member (maybe not this forum) having something like fourteen 39s! The ratio would be very interesting to know regardless of what it is. Let us know if you find out.

 

[snaffle]

Hey Guys,
I just had a positive Remington experience. I purchased a 2005 39A NIB in 2007. A good gun, accurate, feeds all ammo, fit and finish pretty good, a five pound trigger (blah) that has smoothed out to 4 pounds. Way back when, I purchased a Skinner Sight and put it on but I had to adjust it way left to get it to shoot straight and it just didn't look good so I went back to the buckhorns and have been happy just kicking cans around. Last month I put the Skinner back on and sighted in, again shots hitting right and had to move the sight way left but I do shoot better with the peep sight so I finally sat down and figured out the whole thing. Seems that the barrel was over torqued on installation so the front sight was off to the left, no problem with sights on the barrel but mix the barrel and receiver together and you get problems. So can this be fixed? I've heard that messing with the barrel is a risky proposition. So I call Remington, get a real nice North Carolina guy on the phone and he instantly pegs this as an "indexing" problem, "sure send her in it'll take 10 minutes to fix". Off she goes to Ilion, NY (Remington country) and seven days later I have a Skinner Sight that is centered and shoots with the barrel. They also figured that the headspace was excessive and installed a new bolt and firing pin and then polished the chamber and for good measure installed a new finger lever (for unknown reasons). No charge, seven days of no gun and a firearm returned to me better than new with a 10 shot test target. I am happy. Should Marlin have got it right in the first place, sure. A good second effort, though.

 

[AStone]

^ Wow! That's encouraging! Maybe Remington is turning things around with this venerable rifle. I sure hope so.

Thanks, Snaffle, for sharing that.

 

[lastofthebreed]

39A Owner

Found this thread a few days ago and have been reading a few pages a day. Lots of fun to read about other folks 39s. I got mine just a couple of weeks ago and it has been a blast to shoot. Older model, made in the '70s, with a period 4X scope mounted and a period carrying strap.

Squirrels better look out this fall as I plan to fill up my freezer with them so as to see me through a long, cold winter.

 

[AStone]

Welcome to the club, Last.

You have assimilated yourself.

 

[Tomcat47]

Should Marlin have got it right in the first place, sure. A good second effort, though.

awesome news... this is refreshing news since the acquisition opened a can of bad worms for Marlin. I just knew they would straighten it all out... and soon the complaints will hopefully be a thing of the past....

Love my Marlins ...

 

[tubeshooter]

I also want to chime in and say that I'm glad to hear the company made it right for snaffle.

I also had to send mine back at first - and this was well before Remington got on the scene, back in '07 I believe. They fixed me up also.


A lot of people have really been piling on with the issues that cropped up with the new ownership and factory move. So I think it is only right that when the proper corrective actions are being taken, that should be noted as well.


Thanks snaffle; very High Road of you to share. Glad to hear you got straightened out!

 

[Fil]

My Marlins


My Marlin 39s, the newest to me is the TDS. =) Sorry about the dark photos.

And all my Marlin .22s.

 

[Orion8472]

I was looking on gunbroker at 39a rifles for sale and there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest from buyers. Some, with nice characteristics, going for less than I had seen similar ones go for not all that long ago. Is it a case of "people loosing interest in the Marlin lever 22", or "no serious buyers currently looking for one"?

 

[dfariswheel]

Probably no one is looking right now.
With the buying binge, most people sunk their money in AR-15 carbines and ammo.

 

[johnmcl]

DF,

I think you're right that no one is buying 22 RF rifles these days. One reason is as you asserted, that people spent their money on Glocks and ARs. They are now rifle rich and cash poor. I also think the relative scarcity of 22 RF ammo is driving the lack of interest in all RF rifles, not just Marlins.

I have a friend at ATK. He told me that the CCI plant went from 4M rounds a day to 13M rounds a day. They are producing 20 hours per day with a daily 4 hour maintenance window.

 

[Wildlifeforever]

Trucks Broke & My Roof Leaks.

Now I went and done it. Problems solved. So what did I do?.
If you think I fixed those things You would be wrong. I did the only
thing I could do & that is you guessed it. Got me a new lever thingy.
1897 Annie Oakley Marlin and at a decent price too boot. Used of course.
Here are some pics not mine but of actual firearm. Enjoy.

 

[redclay]

Wildlifeforever, take comfort that you have done the right thing. If you had fixed the truck it would have just broke again. The roof only leaks when it rains. "Annie" was a once (or two or three) in a lifetime offer.

 

[OldWolf]

I was very happy with my 1981 M39A (bought it new in ’82) and have been enjoying it immensely using it on silhouettes. So what did I do? I saw a nice 1960 39A at the LGS and bought it. Even got a Skinner ready to go for it. Originally thought I would put the Skinner on the ’81, but it is shooting so well with the factory irons I have decided not to disturb it. I am looking forward to seeing how the new peep does on the ’60.

This IS the time to be buying nice old .22’s. The 39 IS the quintessential lever action .22, so you cannot go wrong buying them now. At the very least, look at your purchase as an investment to cash in on when you are too old to shoot anymore.

I have been getting ready rid of guns I don’t use or want anymore and putting the funds into well-built guns made in the USA. Aside from the 39A I mentioned, I have recently picked up a lot of Winchesters such as Pre ’64 M12, 62A and 1894, and built like pre ’64 SX1s and 9422s.

I have even been toying with the idea of selling my AR, I haven’t shot it in more than 3 years.

 

[CB900F]

Old Wolf;

Around here, Great Falls MT., there seems to be a boom market in Winchester 54's if that interests you. As a friend & I were comparing 39's I happened to notice the somewhat odd looking mdl 70 in his safe. When I asked about it, it turned out to be a Winchester model 54 with an original Lyman Alaskan on it in Stith mounts! After seeing that one, I began to notice more of them. Scheel's here must have about a half a dozen 54's in the used rack.

Now then, the question! Is a Marlin 1894M, .22 magnum, in the 39 family or not? Even though it's named 1894, it's not a side-loader so the action body is much more 39 than 1894. The only obvious difference is the height of the bolt body compared to the model 39. And if you're not lookin' for it, it's easy to miss that point of identification.

What sez the membership?

900F

 

[Hanshi]

Bought this M 39A in the early 1960s. It has been used and fired a LOT. Still in excellent shape for a 50+ year old rifle. Complete with a Williams receiver sight.
I'm a die hard 39 fan and would have dozens of them if I could afford it.