An idea I've toyed with off and on for a couple of years is getting a carbine-length
Marlin Model 39 (or just finding an abused one and cutting it back to 16.5") and getting a scout-type mount for a no-batteries-required dot sight, like a Trijicon Reflex. I think that would not only be fun to shoot and awesome on tin cans, but it would be a regular squirrel-murdering machine that could be stowed in a case less than two feet long...
Oh for the love of G-d please don't do that to a Model 39...
ReplyDeleteFind one of the Mossbergs, I beg of you...
Don't forget minimum OAL on a rifle is 26" unless you wanna go NFA.
ReplyDelete(Yes, I feel stupid telling you this, like the lab assistant trying to correct Einstein. But if you're taking the bbl to 16.5", that sounds like an "avoid NFA" move to em...)
Perlhaqr if I remember correctly the Model 39 can be taken down into 2 pieces for storage. It would still be legal length when assembled. Of course if I am wrong someone will be along shortly to correct my error.
ReplyDeleteRey B
The M39 deserves it. Maybe it would weigh under 30 pounds after you cut down the barrel.
ReplyDeleteI kid! I kid!
I think it sounds like a great idea. It's not like there's a shortage of beat up Marlins out there. And didn't everyone pooh-pooh Jim West's Co-Pilot...right before they started copying it?
I have a later '30s model 39. I removed the leaf sight and replaced it with a Williams peep. It's much better now! :-)
ReplyDeleteHrmm.
ReplyDeleteI'd have thought you'd be trying to find a beat-up Browning BL22 :)
The tubular mag might make cutting it back a little hard. I want to thread one for a can and put a dot on one myself.
ReplyDeleteI saved a 1926-era Model 39 from a friends basement, where it had been through a couple of floods. The wood was spectacular burlded walnut, but when he hauled it out of the take-down case the barrel and both sides of the receiver were fluffy with red rust. I almost cried.
ReplyDeleteI cleaned it up for him, and you could see the remnant of what must have been beautiful case-colors. He didn't want it, and I bought it. I later found out that the very early Model 39's can NOT be shot with "high velocity:" ammo; they tend to crack their bolts. I wasn't going to stock a bunch of pricey CCI "standard velocity" (or shorts) at 10x the price.
My wife loved shooting it so much we had to go out and get a new 39A for her, since we only shot the antique one a few times. It was still center-of-squirrel-head accurate.
I ended up donating it to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center's Cody Firearms Museum. Curiously enough, the take-down case (Brauer Bros) was much more rare than the rifle!
So if you get one, I'd recommend one of the (much) later models. Didn't they make it as the "Papoose" for a while in the '70's?
Used .22lr, 20" Texan straight grip carbines are out there. Pricey, and purty dang nice, themownselves. But, not too much of a starter stretch to reach y'r ideal.
ReplyDeleteIs it a straight grip, or the SPG version of a 39, you crave? The straight one looks neat,and handles quickly. The SPG can be mod'd -- wood-wise -- to a surprising state of thin handiness.
Which ever config that suits you, I can recommend a good 'smith within driving distance of you, over in Ohio: Gary Cleland at Cleland's Outdoor World, Airport Hwy, Swanton, Ohio.
I mention him specifically because he has made several of the shorty Marlins that you describe. He makes the niftiest little short-magazine tube, a with button tip. Just ask him about the custom 39 he made for his wife and very capable shooter, Teresa.
If you want a version that no one else is likely to have, get the short bbl, button mag, 19th century -slender forend and Treebone 19th Century buttstock. Just killer lookin'.
I like'um all. Francis Sell's little .25 Tomcat whitetail rifle that he designed,executed and wrote about years is still a hot topic among certain Marlin folks.
An ordinary and commonly available 20" bbl'd, stock config 336 Sporting Carbine can be: half-mag'd, all the wood retro-slenderized to match the edge of the metal contours, and svelte'd down to mouth watering hand and eye goodness.
Takes that chubby Marlin clunkiness right into sleek-it Winnie 55/65 territory -- depending on what direction ye seeketh.
Marlin recently took a trick out'o that hat for a .45-70 Alaskan - -somthin'. In SS -- short bbl, SPG. And ya know, it's a bit difficult to reconcile the kinda oppositional design elements, but it is one nice handling 'heavy lever'.
anywayz, 336SC's were so cheap here inthe Mich deer woods Midwest, that they were cheap fodder for custom work,and lots of entertainment to play with.
O'course, the real classics are the Ballard rifle'd, relativle slender, 24" bbl 1940's and 50's RIFLES. Unsung offhand magic,them. .35Rem balances especially nice, with that hollow pipe.
OK, ok. too much time on'puter, here, when i shoulda been taking a nap..but..geeeez...MARLINS,ya know?
Aw...cripes: neshint
that's it -- you rX sit up nights hatching near-catchy 'magik woids',doncha? Other sites don't gettum this good so often.
J, t R
Snzzzz----zzzz--z
For the shocked in the audience, I probably should have specified that a 39A would be just fine for my purposes.
ReplyDeleteThe only mod I've made to my 39A is the Leupold IER 2.5X scope from my Steyr Scout. I think this is the same scope http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/scopes/fx-ii-riflescopes/fx-ii-2-5x28mm-ier-scout/
ReplyDeleteWAY better than the stock iron sights, especially with 47-year-old eyes...
I believe a Marlin 1897 is what you might be looking for. It is the carbine version of the 39A. There has to be a used one somewhere. I intend on putting Skinner Sights on my 39A, as soon as I am done outfitting my EBR's. Terry
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, I had exactly the same idea, but substitute "1895G" for "39" and "hogs" for "squirrels."
ReplyDelete[grin]
WV: thenacc. Yeah, I got it.