1889 Marlin 44/40 rifle
I have a Marlin rifle model 44/40 from 1889 that was shipped from the factory in April of 1894. I am tring to find out more information on this gun. I think the gun was in the military and according to the book I have there were only 260 manufactored.The numbers on the stock and gun read 3413XX, with the "1" sideways between the 4 and 3. I know this is not the serial number, but not sure what kind of number? The condition of the gun is about 75%. I'm just tring to find out any information you may have and possible a value for the rifle. If you know anything about this model please help me out. Thank you, JoJoGun
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JoJo.....go here and ask the same question.....they will know....
http://www.marlinfirearms.com/cgi-bin/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Marlin+Collectors+Corner&number=6&DaysPrune=30&LastLogin=
max
load the old ones with the old tools.....0 -
As you know the shipping date-I presume you have a Cody letter.
If not, purchase one if available. The stock numbers sound like "Rack
numbers". Anything is or was possible. Let your imagination go wild.
My old "Brophy Book" suggests that only M1889 Muskets w/ 30" barrels
and only (64) were manufactured-were in the serial no. range of 72476
(date- (08-01-1892) The serial No. 72477 in .44 was shipped-02-06-1894
and No. 72487 was (no caliber designation) was 02-27--1892.
Suggestion was shipped to the Chinese Army. The serial numbers do not
agree with yours. Perhaps IS will come around with a completely
responsible answer. My reference is: Marlin Firearms by Lt.Col William
S. Brophy, USAR, RETD.--ISBN 0 8117-0877-2 DATED-1989. 1010 -
First, what is the actual serial number. What is the barrel length, and the stock configuration?
FFL Dealer, Class 07/02 Mfg0 -
JOJOGun,
I am some what confused by your question. The number which you gave is not even in the Model 1889 range. You say that the rifle was shipped in April 1894. How do you know this? There were 4,498 rifles shipped in 1894 and the highest serial at the end of the year was 116,008, over 200,000 different from the number which you give. This is all from Marlin factory records. What is the real serial number of the rifle? If the serial number can not be read off the bottom front of the receiver or the trigger plate, remove the butt stock and the number will be found either in the inleting for the top tang or on the end of the stock which fits into the receiver. The number which you gave was 3413XX, with the 1 laid sideways, this gives us 34-3XX which could be read 34 of 3XX. As 101Airborne has correctly stated, two of the 68 muskets are believed to have been sent to China as samples. There is no record of any purchase of the model 1889 by the U.S.Government. However, some mines and prisons bought Marlin rifles for their guards,also, some large ranches provided rifles for their workers. That could explain the marking "34 of 3XX".
You need to provide us with a lot more information then you already have. We need to know the real serial number, the barrel length (rifle was 24", carbine was 20" and musket was 30"), The finish (blue or casehardend),octagon or round barrel and full or half magazine. It would also be nice to know if the rifle ejects from the top (model 1888) or from the side (model 1889). Remember that we can only see this rifle through your eyes. The more that you can help us, the more we can help you.
Wishing you the best of luck, Scout0 -
This is what cody firearms museum sent. Model 1889 serial number 945xx 44caliber barrel length 24 inches shipped from factory april 25 1894.The gun is a lever action round barrel that ejects from the side. The numbers that are stamped in the stock and the reciever are 3413xx. I hope this will help. Thanks Joe 0 -
JOJOGUN,
Ok, the serial number that you posted (945XX) makes sense. It would indeed fall in the year 1894. If it was shipped in April or not could be argued, but, that is not really important. There were 55,119 model 1889 rifles produced in the ten years that this model was in production. Of these 20,984 were in caliber .44-40. By far the largest number of these rifles had octagon barrels.
It looks to me as if you have a standard model 1889 rifle, with a round barrel. What the number 3413XX or 34-3XX means, I don't know without something else to go on. It looks to me like this rifle was part of a group, but, a group of how many and for what purpose is anyone's guess unless there is some other marking that would give a clue.
As to value, at 75% and not being able to prove that the rifle is anything special, I would put the value somewhere around $400-$500.
Hope that this has been of some help. Scout0
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