Model 1893 With Unusually Late Serial Number

[Dstavlo]

Hello all,
I have a model 1893 in .32-40. It appears to be all original and unmodified. What's unusual is the fact that it has an extraordinarily high serial number. Based on my research, the highest known number for an 1893 is somewhere in the 353,000 range, but my gun is numbered 448,939 - nearly one hundred fifty thousand numbers higher than the highest known serial number! I know it's not unusual to see some models that are slightly outside of the known serial number ranges, as guns that were sent in for repair sometimes had new tangs fitted and numbered, or discontinued guns were occasionally assembled from spare parts leftover at the factory for special requests. But a number which is so far out of the known production range seems particularly unusual. The number is definitely factory original as it was struck with Marlin's dies. Any ideas what the story on this may be?

[Regnier (gunrunner)]

Dstavio;

The high number you refer to is about from 1906. The Marlin Firearms Company owned by the Marlin family continued production until December of 1915 when they sold the company. That is about another 10 years of production, and your serial number will place production of your rifle about 1914.
Bill Brophy studied the serial numbers of all models for his book about the Marlin Firearms Company and recorded numbers for quite a while.
I have a copy of his lists, and at some point in time, he recorded a number in the 463,000 range. I do not recall what model that was at this time, will have to check. This number does make sense when the added production from 1906 is taken into consideration.

[marlinman93]

Hello all,
I have a model 1893 in .32-40. It appears to be all original and unmodified. What's unusual is the fact that it has an extraordinarily high serial number. Based on my research, the highest known number for an 1893 is somewhere in the 353,000 range, but my gun is numbered 448,939 - nearly one hundred fifty thousand numbers higher than the highest known serial number! I know it's not unusual to see some models that are slightly outside of the known serial number ranges, as guns that were sent in for repair sometimes had new tangs fitted and numbered, or discontinued guns were occasionally assembled from spare parts leftover at the factory for special requests. But a number which is so far out of the known production range seems particularly unusual. The number is definitely factory original as it was struck with Marlin's dies. Any ideas what the story on this may be?

When looking at Marlin serial numbers, one needs to remember that all models made are in the same total numbers. So although that sounds like a much higher number, it's shared in the total of 1893, 1894, 1895, 1897, etc. models. So it doesn't take much time to reach an extra 100,000 rifles in a short time frame. And of course the end of serial number records was not the end of those models. Marlin continued to build and sell these rifles for many years, and subsequent owners of the company started their own serial numbering, which further complicates and confuses collectors.

[Dstavlo]

Thanks to both of you for this clarification. I'm not a Marlin expert by any means and my knowledge is limited to what I could research online. This is where I got the 353,000 range as the highest number listed - the sites I visited all referenced this figure as the end of production for the 1893. I'm not sure why this is, but I'm very appreciative to you both for clearing up my confusion.