"HS" Prefix Marlin Model 39 Owner Survey

[flatheadrick]

Does your Marlin Model 39 with an "HS" prefix have a loading tube of the type used on the Model 39A (pullout bayonet with a slot into which to drop cartridges) or a loading tube of the type used on the older no prefix serial number or "S" prefix serial number Model 39s (a button that you press to raise, insert shells into an inner loading tube and then press the button to lower the outer tube)?

The only "HS" prefix 39s that I have seen (and I haven't seen that many) have Model 39A type loading tubes. I am trying to determine whether the ones I have seen have simply had their original loading tube replaced with a 39A style tube or whether when the "HS" prefix Marlins came out in 1932 in the midst of the Depression, Marlin changed the loading tube it used for Model 39s to the 39A type tube, probably as an economy measure since the older style tubes appear likely to have been more costly to manufacture.

Thanks

Flathead Rick

[Vintedge70]

I have an HS Model 39 from approx 1934-36 and it does have the button type like the older 39s. I think yours may have been replaced with the newer type to make it functional. I had an 1897 Marlin like that - a gunsmith replaced the feed tube with 39A one to make it functional again as none of the originals were available. I have an old button type around here somewhere but it would need some work.