Make: Marlin
Model: 1889 Deluxe New Safety Repeating Rifle
Serial Number: 67235
Year of Manufacture: 1892 / Antique
Caliber: .38-40 Winchester, .38-W
Action Type: Lever Action with Full-Length Tubular Magazine
Barrel Length: 24" Octagonal
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a beaded blade, dovetailed to the barrel. The rear sight dovetail is filled with a blank. The upper tang is installed with a folding peep tang sight.
Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are two piece checkered walnut with an S-shaped bottom semi-pistol grip, straight comb, crescent steel buttplate, and capped forend. The number in the tang inletting matches the receiver and left side of the upper tang. There are scattered compressions and scratches. The checkering is well-defined. The checkering on the bottom of the forend near the receiver is more smoothed at the peaks. The stocks rate in about Fine overall condition as refinshed.
Type of Finish: Blued receiver, barrel, trigger, and magtube. Case color lever and hammer.
Finish Originality: Original
Bore Condition: The bore is mostly bright with sharp rifling. There is light intermittent erosion. In this writer's opinion the bore rates 7/10.
Overall Condition: This rifle retains about 70% of its metal finish. Most of the finish on the magtube has worn to a light mottled patina with stronger blue preserved in the protected areas. The blue on the barrel and receiver is strong with light muting on the leading edges. There is light intermittent oxidation. There is good case figuring in the protected areas with muting on the edges and high handling portions. The screw heads are sharp to lightly tool marked with strong slots. The markings are crisp. Overall, this rifle rates in about Fine condition.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly. We have not fired this rifle. As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: This rifle comes with a CFM Record Search confirming this rifle was shipped October 12, 1892 chambered in .38, with a 24" Octagon barrel, and pistol grip stock.
Our Assessment: The Model 1889 was a pivotal Marlin design, introducing the solid-top, side-ejecting receiver architecture that became a defining feature of Marlin lever actions for generations. Designed by Lewis Hepburn and marketed as the “New Safety Repeating Rifle,” it improved upon the Model 1888 with right-side ejection while retaining the convenient side-loading tubular-magazine system. Chambered for popular cartridges including the .38-40 Winchester, the Model 1889 competed directly in the sporting-rifle market of the early 1890s and became the immediate technological ancestor of Marlin’s highly successful Model 1894.
Serial 67235 is a particularly attractive antique example, documented by its CFM Record Search as a .38-caliber rifle with a 24" octagon barrel and pistol-grip stock, shipped October 12, 1892. Its matching-number checkered pistol gip stock, tang sight, strong remaining barrel and receiver blue, and traces of case color give it substantially more collector interest than a standard Model 1889. The rifle retains about 70% of its metal finish, with honest magazine-tube wear, a mostly bright 7/10 bore, and a correctly functioning action. Combining documented factory configuration, desirable .38-40 chambering, and solid surviving condition, this is a handsome example of the rifle that established the basic receiver architecture still associated with traditional Marlin lever guns.
