1954 Marlin 39A/ Mossberg scope

[bandit1250]

I put a Mossberg 4X scope on my '54 39A back in December and never took it out to do any shooting with it after putting the scope on. I took some shots with it a couple days ago and it seems to work well. This scope I bought is old but was still in the box in mint condition and looks old school on the Marlin and I like that. It is very clear and has the adjusters on the eye piece so it can be moved back and forth to suit where you need it with out the turrets being in the way. This 39A is a factory side drilled on the barrel that they did from '54-'56 with the 39A's sold at Sears. Today it is hard to imagine Sears actually sold guns. I bought this rifle at Cabella's for $195 because it was checkered by some one and that is why it was priced low along with maybe Cabella's was not aware some of these were factory drilled for the side mount and they thought it devalued the rifle. Normally never any deals at Cabella's. I use this as a hunter 39A and I have wood to change out the checkered wood but I haven't really talked myself into making any changes to this rifle other than I will fix that spot by the butt plate where the wood is chipped and some one put glass bedding in the chipped out spot. I call this my "Sir Henry scoped" rifle. I know he likes these older style scopes like Weavers and this Mossberg scope is every bit as nice as my old Weavers and that is good.

[RetiredSeabee]

That is a seriously good deal coming from Cabela's. The 39a's I have seen there have all been way over priced.

[Sir Henry]

Wow! I like big time.

[North Country Gal]

Yeah, you stole that one, even off you bought just as a parts gun.

A lot of people make that mistake when they see that barrel mount, thinking it was done by the owner and just assume that it devalues the rifle. Sure, some of that was done by owners in those days, but for many years, Marlin themselves offered the service to owners and, as you say, even shipped some rifles that way. Our 1946 39A has that very mount and given that the mounting screws are 8-40 thread size (Marlin is the only company that used that thread size for scope mounting, everyone else uses 6-48), I suspect it was a factory job. Just something very nostalgic about that old mount.


I recently replaced the old Weaver B4 scope with a new, cheapo Tasco 3-7x 3/4" tube scope from Wal-mart and you know what? The gun shoots great.

As for the checkering, unless it's really bad, I'd be tempted to leave rather than replace that old stock finish and patina. I think a redo on the finish would hurt the value more than the checkering.

[bandit1250]

NCG, The checkering actually is not a pro job but not bad at all. I was going to swap the wood to one of the sets of 1897 Century Limited wood I have a just put the wood from this rifle away. This gun just works so well I haven't wanted to mess with it. The holes older Marlins that were not drilled at the time the rifle was made could be sent back to Marlin and drilled for the Weaver side barrel mount for around $.50 cents or so a hole. The good old days were great. :lol One way to tell if they were maybe done at the factory is how neat the edge of the hole is at the top. Factory holes have a very nice smooth edge and not burred like gun shop holes. The ones that were sold at Sears from '54-'56 were drilled when built and the holes most likely will be blued inside and not left in the white. NCG the Marlin you pictured is a very nice example of a very fine well made 22.

[North Country Gal]

They really don't make them like that anymore. So true.

[ditto1958]

Yeah, you stole that one, even off you bought just as a parts gun.

Yup. Don't go back to that Cabela's any time soon, cuz the cops will be there looking for you!