And Then There Were Three...

Jeff Higgins · 04-06-2009, 05:55 PM

Marlins, that is. I finally found the 39A I've been looking for at the gun show on Sunday. It's the Mountie edition, featuring the 20" barrel and straight grip; this one manufactured sometime between 1959 and 1963. It's in remarkable condition for a gun that old, and appears to have been shot very little and carried even less. Bluing is 100% and the stock is very close to that, with only a couple of small scratches. Here it is with its big brothers, a Cowboy Limited in .45 Colt and an 1895 in .45-70. My life is now complete.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

Nice find. I actually ordered a Henry's H001Youth as the 39A is too long and heavy for the boy. And I find it a bit muzzle heavy as well. I just searched for a 39D (the 20" barrel) and there is a fairly clean one on gunbroker. There are guys who have cut down the 39A and I'm considering that as well. Another option is swapping a shorter barrel (you can find 20" octagonal .22) but you still have to modify the tube.

KarlCarrera · 04-06-2009, 06:14 PM

Very nice collection, I'm jealous, and VERY nice weapons. From the picture all look to be in very good-excellent condition! Get the "socks" to store them in, (and a vault) shoot em' and keep em' clean. The ammo will be expensive but with-out it..... 1-2,000 rds a piece (at least) will 2x the value easily, if you decide to sell. I buy and don't sell. Congrats, good choice.

Karl
88 Targa

competentone · 04-06-2009, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

My life is now complete.

Ha!

When it comes to collecting "assault weapons" (antique or modern) the acquisition of "just one more" can never make one's life "complete."

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

I was going to ask you your sights of choice but looks like you have ghost rings on them. I'm going to put them on the 1894 and 870. I have them on the Mini14 and find them really easy to sight. I was able to sight out beyond 200m pretty easily with them. Not so much with the Marbles...

Have you tried their XS Express handgun sights?

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

Very nice! My father is giving me his Marlin lever-action rifle in .35 Remington. I'm starting to reload for it now...

Jeff Higgins · 04-07-2009, 05:35 AM

Yeah, a full size 39A is a bit big for a kid. Hell, it's a bit big for a grown man - that's why I was so tickled to find a nice Mountie. It balances really nice with the 20" barrel. .22's are funny that way; the very small hole through the barrel makes one of a "normal" diameter and length exceptionally muzzle heavy. Not wanting to give up diameter (because it looks funny) we give up length to get the balance back.

As far as ammunition costs (for the .45 Colt and .45-70), mine are exceptionally low. As a dedicated hand loader and bullet caster, it just doesn't get any cheaper. I can shoot centerfire calibers with cast bullets for less than folks are paying to shoot their .17 HMR's. Much less.

The sights on the two centerfires are indeed the XO Sight Systems ghost rings. I love 'em. They are very easy to see in low light conditions, like in our dark Pacific Northwest woods, or in a dimly lit hallway in the middle of the night...

The original plan was to equip my 39A with the same sights. That went out the window as soon as I got serious about finding one, and started handling them at the gun shows and the gun shops. I found the standard full size rifle to be too big for my tastes, and I decided I wanted the straight grip. That narrowed it down to the Mountie, whose production precedes these silly notions of scoping lever guns. The receiver is not drilled and tapped for scope mounts, and the ghost rings use the rear scope mounting holes. Oh well, it does have the holes drilled and tapped for the old Lyman or Williams receiver sight, the ones that mount on the left side. Not as clean and compact as the XO sights. They can, however, be made to function as a ghost ring by simply removing the apperature. Us peep sight guys were doing this years before the old Ashly Outdoors coined the term "ghost ring" and began to market them, by the way.

I don't own any handguns with XO's express sights. I have a home-made approximation of such on my Charter Arms Bulldog Pug in .44 Special. I found their ramp front to be almost useless, so I milled it off and cut a dovetail in its place. I put the biggest white bead front sight Lyman makes into that dovetail. It settles into the groove on the top strap quite nicely, and makes for one hell of an easy to acquire close range "combat" (or self-defense) sight picture, even in low light. I have shot a number of buddies' guns with the XO Express sights, and they work in a similar fashion. I really like them for fast, close range work. They are rather imprecise for any long range shooting, though. Pretty frustrating once you get past 25 yards or so. As an aside, I also modified my little Pug in this manner over 20 years ago, long before Ashley (predecessor to XO) came out with their Express handguns sights. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.

on2wheels52 · on2wheels52's Garage

"this one manufactured sometime between 1959 and 1963"
fwiw, a '59 would have S prefix, a '60 T, '61 U etc.
Jim

Jeff Higgins · 04-07-2009, 12:24 PM

Thanks, Jim - that's good information. I'm going off of what the seller told me, but who knows where he came up the information. I say that because there actually is no letter prefix to the serial number. Any ideas? It precedes the drilled and tapped receiver, has no crossbolt safety, and is a Micro-Groove gun. It's marked "Marlin Golden 39A", along with the "Mountie" marking.