Marlin 39A’s legend is secure
- kb5947
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Wikipedia mislabels it, but Marlin’s 39A set a
hard-to-beat standard for more than a century
By KELLY BOSTIAN
AI-powered searches and the first paragraph in Wikipedia tell a fib about the Marlin Model 39A. It’s not the “oldest and longest continuously produced shoulder firearm in the world.”
Then again, some of those searches inform readers that it was called a lever-action rifle because it was operated by “a lever on the side of the gun.” AI will likely learn the term “side-eject” and repair that faux pas at some point—maybe not.
Be it the oldest and longest-running, or not, one title for this rifle is beyond reproach, and that is “American Legend.”
The Marlin 1939A holds hallowed ground in firearms history, right on down to the creative firearms-history-making collaborations of John Marlin and Lewis L. Hepburn, and consummate celebrity shooter Phoebe Ann Mosey, known as Annie Oakley.
Those who possess vintage examples of the Marlin Model 1891, 1939, or 39A truly own a valuable piece of American history.
Pick up a rifle like the first-year production 1939 model 39A that rolled into the J Gray’s shop recently, with its rich checkered walnut stock, original Marble’s buckhorn rear sight, and the case-hardened steel receiver with that distinctive knurled take-down screw on the side, and it’s a “wow” moment for any lever-action fan.
To anyone born in the past century, this is the firearm that made the name Marlin synonymous with lever-action rifles, even if the company did build other great lever actions, every other kind of weapon, civilian or military, and sold millions more of its Model 60 semi-auto .22s.
Reliable references all tie the 1939A directly to Hepburn and Marlin’s Model 1891, their first .22 caliber rifle, famously used by Annie Oakley in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
The year 2020 saw the last of the 39A, when Remington, which owned Marlin at the time, ceased production. Chat-room banter still hints that new owners Sturm, Ruger & Co. may revive the 39A, but so far they’ve focused on the 1894 and 1895 centerfire models in .357 magnum, .44 Remington Magnum, .30-.30 Winchester and .45-70 government.
Simple math says Marlin’s first .22 caliber rimfire, which premiered in 1891 and faded away in 2020, had 129 years of continuous production.
Thank Craig Boddington, writing for Guns & Ammo in November 2020, for setting the record straight. Although it’s a small topic within his historical look “Celebrating 150 years of Marlin firearms,” with credit due to the Marlin Firearms Collectors Association (marlin-collectors.com), the oldest and longest reputation of the 39A (or 1891) is debunked.
John Marlin and collaborator Lewis L. Hepburn, whose patents are many and varied, introduced the 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1895 models in quick succession, Boddington notes. The 1891 was primarily a Hepburn design, with Marlin holding the patent on the magazine. It was initially released with tube-loading or side-loading options, and also optionally chambered in .32 rimfire or centerfire. Uniquely, Boddington notes, a supplied firing pin could be swapped in for the centerfire option.
Boddington draws the same connection between the 39A and Annie Oakley’s Model 1891 as other historians, and even notes that the rifle was the first to accommodate .22 short, long, and long rifle and .22 shot shells, which likely appealed to the sharp-shooter aiming at glass balls on the fly at close range.
First labeled the “Safety Repeating Rifle,” Bodding notes that many shooters didn’t like the lever-activated safety, which created some play in the trigger.
Its successor, the 1892, which didn’t appear until 1896, was essentially identical but included a different trigger system that precluded firing unless the lever was fully closed. That feature continued on the Model 39 and 39A as another feature that ties that succession of Marlin .22s together, Boddington notes.
The afore-mentioned famous knurled screw on the side of the rifle, which allows quick takedown, also appeared in the upgraded Model 1897.
Then comes the catch Wikipedia missed. The 1897 was discontinued in 1915 because of World War I production demands, and the new Marlin Firearms Corporation issued the Model 39 in 1922, a rifle essentially identical to the 1897, but modified in 1932 to accept high-velocity rounds. In 1939, the designation became the 39A.
Bodding then sets the record straight: “Another Hepburn design, the Marlin Model 1893 was essentially an improvement of his 1889, with different bolt lock-up and a two-piece firing pin. It has a longer action, introduced in blackpowder .32-40 and .38-55 Win., but was also stronger and suitable for smokeless powder, with .30-30 Win. and .32 Win. Special added later. The Model 1893 was, and is, Marlin’s longestrunning and best-selling lever-action rifle with five model changes to date: M93 (1905); M1936 (1936); M36 (1937); and M336 (1948). Changes were primarily cosmetic until the 336, which replaced the traditional Marlin square bolt with the round bolt found on today’s Models 336, 444 (1965), and 1895 (1972).”
So, there you have it.
We’ll leave it up to the internet to decide whether the 1893 is actually “the world’s longest continuously produced shoulder gun.”
This one can be viewed for sale in the J Gray’s collection on Gunbroker.com.
