Serial #'s Marlin Old Stock Rifles, sold in 2007

[Hugger]

I thought I would share some info about the old stock rifles sold last year (late winter - early spring 2007) by Marlin.

Maybe they already knew the company was to sold ??? I don't know. They cleaned up the factory and sold rifles that had been around the factory for many years. I talked to Marlin last year and that is more or less what I was told. They had rifles that had been kept for various reason, examples, special order guns that where not sold and guns they just kept around to play with.

They were sold to distributors and ended up in gunshops for sale. I do not know the number of guns that were sold and do not have a list of what was sold. I did get lucky and found two of them.

One thing to note here is the new serial number prefix that was used when these old stock guns were sold. If the gun was pre 1968 and did not have a serial number one was stamped before they were sold to distributors.

The prefix for these guns is AE.

The AE prefix is not listed on the Marlin serial number/date lists. So if anyone is looking to date a Marlin made rifle that has a AE prefix they will not be able to date when it was made with the AE prefix, it will just tell you is was sold in 2007 from old factory stock.

Hope this helps.

[Regnier (gunrunner)]

Hugger;

Thank you for sharing that information. I will add it to my little black book I carry to the gunshows. It is a lot smaller than a laptop computer, and easier to carry.
Obviously, there will not be a lot of these guns around as Marlin did not keep all that many guns after production ceased. Many of the guns sold were guns used for testing, and the reasons you cited.
Thanks again......

[Hugger]

No, I don't think the numbers would be high. I have been meaning to call Marlin to see if they will tell me how many there were. I have two of them, the highest serial number is AE041. The guns that already were serial numbered and sold from old stock were not re-numbered. Just the rifles that had no serial number. Models like the 336 and 39A already had serial numbers.

Here's a few pictures of the two that I found last spring.

This one is a J.C. Higgins Model 103.18. It is actually a Marlin Model 100 made for Sears from 1936-1941. It came in a new Marlin box but the rifle has Marlin Factory inventory tags still on it. The rifle is like new but does show signs that it was fired, but not much.


This shows the new serial number AE041


This one is a Marlin Model 99C. This one was made 1961-63, the first ones were drilled and tapped for a scope base like this one. The 99C's had a grooved receiver starting in 1964. The wood on this one is rare for a 99 even back in the early sixties and it came with the Marlin Micro-Vue scope. It has been fired and has a few marks here and there. It is serial number AE012 and came in an old marlin box with writing on it rather than the inventory tags like the J.C. Higgins.

I ask Marlin about this rifle and was told it is believed it was a "special one" ??? that they kept around for some reason. When I ask why it showed use, she said they used to allow the office people to plink at lunch time or to borrow rifles. So I guess that could be true.





Nothing spectacular about either rifle, just a nice piece of Marlin history that had been at the factory all those years before being sold to me for the first time.

[Hugger]

I heard that there were some nice older lever actions sold last year as mine above. Did anyone get lucky and find one?

The Gander Mnt store where I bought mine said they had three old levers but they went the first day they had them on the rack. I was a day late.