Same here Strugl4xsc...I'm about Marlin poor with several pumps and levers but only one Model 39. "S" prefix vintage so I gotta be careful with the ammo...

 

Great post. Glad you are loving your 39! Good luck at keeping those great groups!

 

Very nice!

 

How did Marlin go from making those beautifully slim forends to the pregnant bass bellies in the 50s-present? Excellent looking rifle you have!

Mine appears ready to spawn hahaha

 

Yeah,not everyone is a fan of the fish belly forend, I am pretty sure that it was a cost cutting measure,much less fitting work front and back of the forend. The stock on the formentoined 39A is thin like the old ones.

 

Don't have a 39 but have a 1897;

 

The old Marlin add says "Man sized

semi beavertail forend" That's all we ever talked them due to the flat bottoms.

 

Fairly sure it was an intentional design ment to give good grip while shooting . They do feel good in the hand.

 

I like the way my '51 39A feels when holding it. Feels a little like my 10/22 stock, or my JC Higgins model 31.

 

Page from Marlin catalog . Semi Beavertail forend.

 

They are also my favorite .22 rifle. Both mine are 60s era and would not trade for anything newer.

 

I’ve gone plum crazy with them.

 

Good Lord! The museum in Cody is jealous!

 

Good looking specimen. Nice shooting too!

 

1939 was first year of the semi beavertail 39A

 

I prefer the old style so much I’ve considered whittling an old 339-A down to that size.

Just can’t decide. I’d like to see one done really well first. And I believe it wouldn’t look right without shaving some off each side of the pistol grip area of the stock.

Then there is this… the receiver fit and end-cap fit will never replicate that of an old 1893 or 1894 in how it just flows together.

 

The model number you posted must be a typo, but check out Treebone Carving website pictures and it will show up how nice a change the old style stocks make on these rifles. The cresent steel buttplate maybe the most beautiful ever designed.

 

Here’s my ‘51 peanut and it was never engraved, such a crazy overbuilt masterpiece of gun ! I added a skinner peep sight on mine. I love mine and it shoots “straighter than the road to hell”

 

I’m not sure if my 39 is the rarest, but I gotta be in the fight for oldest by the serial number. Serial is <2000. Still pretty. Anybody?

 

beautiful stock!

 

very pretty 39,been a while since I looked up by s/n,have you researched the date? I have 1892's and 1893's so in that sense 39's are young. Yours is in very nice condition.

 

I have. From memory the 39 was from 1922-1938. Given the production rate mine was likely 1923-24