Nope it’s legit

 

That offset stamp is seen on the later 1990s and 2000s Marlins. I have a few Marlins with almost indecipherable stamps dating from that era. I don't think the JM with oval proof stamp was used much after the 1970s IIRC.

 

Simply put, No.

What makes people think there a market for stamping obvious (all the roll stamps are visible and a proper date) Marlin made rifles.
Maybe 50 percent were perfect JM stamps.

 

I’ve had some wild stamps on my guns. Just a J, just an M, had a 336 that had a perfect stamp except it was maybe half the size of the others, double stamps, the whole deal

 

double stamps

Had this JJMM stamped 39A (1948) at one point.

 

It's legit. I've got the same stamp on my 1894, serial # 92219xxx.

 

Looks normal to me. I have had several with poorly struck stamps that you can barely read and have a 35XLR that doesn't have a proof mark I can find.

 

There's a lot of variation in JM stamps. A lot.

 

Too bad they weren't more careful when stamping their barrels so it would be easier for shooters to spot a counterfeit. Someone could pass a non JM barrel as one by hitting it with a sloppy stamp and get away with it.

 

Puzzled here. Perhaps I lack imagination.

Why would anyone bother to counterfeit a Marlin rifle?

Anyone doing this would need a receiver and stock set. So they essentially need a Marlin rifle to start with. And any replacement barrel would need the company roll stamps and the proof stamps, in addition to the JM cartouche. That's a lot of trouble to go to for a replacement barrel. And fitting a replacement barrel isn't easy or cheap either. There's a lot of machining to do on a Marlin barrel--cutting a chamber, ejector cuts, dovetails, hangers, etc.

I don't see how counterfeiting one would be worth the effort or how it would be profitable.

Are we thinking of Khyber Pass Copies here? I really doubt they made many Marlins.

I very well may be wrong. But if anyone have them, I'd love to see photos of counterfeited Marlins.

 

Just a thought, but why do people try to cheat others at anything? Because they can. I can see it happening for no other reason than the novelty of seeing if they can get away with it. If JM barrels have a sloppy stamp to begin with, then I can see someone re-stamping JM over a Remlin barrel stamp if it weren't too obvious since I don't know what a Remlin barrel stamp looks like. Of course you make a good point against that happening since it really would be more trouble than its worth to even attempt it. And then most, if not all, gun owners would never go there in the 1st place.

 

Really tough to fake the stamps on a newer Marlin where serial numbers easily identify what year it was made! I doubt someone is going to pull anything off on even a halfway savvy collector this way.
I own one of the original factory JM stamps with oval. Got it from one of the officers in the MFACA years ago. Never used it, as I only got it because of the stamp's collector value to me.
I've also got the catalog stamp used back in the 1800's for the printing of the 1893 image in old catalogs. I have actually printed with it, just for fun and to see how it looked.

 

People will cheat you. I bought a black powder rifle from a guy, his house was dark because “the baby is sleeping,” with him whispering and his wife sitting right there holding the baby. . It looked pretty nice, what I could see of it. Which was the outside. Wrapped it up, took it home, found the inside of the barrel totally rusted. Complained online, one guy was calling me a liar and an idiot, claiming that I didn’t know how to clean a barrel ( I had TRIED over and over again, but it didn’t help at all.), so I offered publicly to meet him and he could buy it and prove me wrong. I went to meet him in a mall parking lot, and I could NOT believe it when the guy showed and bought it! You’d better believe that I checked every inch of the next one, with bore lights and all!! Never heard another peep from that guy. Just remember; if the baby is sleeping and the lights are low, run like hell.

 

Yep, those circumstances would surely raise a huge red flag alright. Glad you were able to recover your losses from the scam.

 

The "Stamp" certainly looks Sketchy, Several are saying you're in good shape with what you have. My feeling is that it looks as though possibly someone used maybe a chisel? to make it. As far as why would anyone do such a thing is quite simple: MONEY. Whatever happens, hope it shoots well for you. There are plenty of Excellent gun dealers out there, and there are others, not so much.

 

I think it's legit. The JM stamp on my Marlin 336 and 1894 are near perfect, though.

 

To me it looks like someone used an DC current electric pencil to "fix" a lightly or partially stamped barrel at the lower ends of the J and M letters . A DC electric pencil erodes the metal from the barrel with an electric arc, where a stamp will raise the metal right next to the stamp by displacing the metal from the impact. If done pre-polishing there may be no raised metal, but if stamps after polishing there should be a raised edge.

A DC pencil was used to number Springfield M1922 2-piece bolts and M1903 Springfield National Match gun 1-piece bolts to the actions serial number. I have seen many humped guns with numbers that were done by a vibrating pencil like police used to use to engrave SSNs on valuables.

LIkewise many WW2 Mausers often have fake markings match the story or to boost values.

Why do it? More money. Counterfeiters and forgers are often the own worst critics, and try to 'improve' their work, or make a key feature more noticeable, but just makes detection easier.

It this gun altered? Who knows, but it does not look like an impact stamped marking.

 

And then you see this.

RP

 

This image, inspite of its Wow! value is a great depiction of how a stamped proof will raise the edge of the surrounding metal, which will show wear before the background. Notice the edges of the letters are raised and show wear to the bluing.

Another feature is a misaligned stamp will show a gradually thinning (in this case to a point) towards where it loses contact, and is not a clean break like on the JM marking in the original post.

 

Some of the JM proof marks are comical. Maybe that would make a good coffee table book - a 100 or so of different JM markings.

 

It's good to see the variations of stamps but I believe it was doctored at some point also. The oval is very faint while the JM are very pronounced. Was it done so at Marlin would be the question? Is it an older built rifle, refurbished or re blued?
In polishing the marks can be less strong, it's up to who's running the piece thru the polishing wheel. If it was a light stamp I could see where it could be polished away and touched up by the means Bill in Va mentioned.
I've not compared mine but it would be a good reason to pull them out and clean and oil while doing so.

 

That looks to me like it was made by a dremel tool instead of a legitimate JM stamp.

 

Thanks for the input, gentlemen. From reading all of your replies, it seems that two things are obvious: 1.) The quality of the stamp seems to have followed the business trajectory of the company, and 2.) it’s probably irrelevant. I once owned a .44 mag. purchased in 1974 that would shoot a hole-touching group at 50 yards. The one in the picture doesn’t do that well, but it may be the result of many factors. But it’s still fun to shoot and I’m glad I have it.

 

My 1970’s era 925 & 1968 99M1 doesn’t have a JM stamp on them at all. Curious.

 

My 1980's Camp 9 Carbine has no JM stamp and neither did my 1990's model 60?
What rifles got JM stamps exclusively??
I wonder?