

Speculation is that once receivers started being manufactured at the Ilion, NY, plant the prefix became MR.

This was done in conjunction with the sale of Marlin, and subsequent move to the Remington Arms plant in Ilion, NY.

Sometime in 2011 the serial number prefix became MR. No commercial manufacture from sometime in 1941/’42 until 1945, due to WWII production & retooling.

(Notice there are no “I”, “O”, or “Q” serial number prefixes in use. If your rifle has the single letter “V” serial number prefix, that indicates a 1962 year of manufacture. Only those manufactured from 1941 through 2011 which have serial numbers on them and with the caveat mentioned elsewhere in this blog. Please note this list is NOT INCLUSIVE of all Marlin firearms. The serial number, depending on the model of rifle, will either be located on the upper or lower stock tang, bottom of the receiver, or side of the receiver.īelow are the manufacturing date codes, which are the first one or two characters of the serial number. In addition to the first two characters of the serial number, it’s also imperative in many cases to know the model number. In order to find the year of manufacture one needs to know the **first two character’s** of the serial number as a minimum, either letters, numbers, or a letter number combination. Some people are under the belief that all one has to do is “subtract the first two digits of the serial number from 2000 and that is the year of manufacture”. There is some confusion about how Marlin Firearms used their serial numbers to ID the year of manufacture. Second letter = Year: E-2010 F-2011 G-2012 H-2013 I-2014 J-2015 K-2016įYI: The B representing January may look more like an R, and the I representing 2014 may look more like a number 1 due to impartial stamping.Marlin rifle with serial number on top stock tang, behind hammer. This time, look for 2 letters that decode as follows:įirst letter = Month: B-Jan L-Feb A-Mar C-Apr K-May P-Jun O-Jul W-Aug D-Sep E-Oct R-Nov X-Dec So how do you date it? I take no credit for this, only passing along what a fellow Marlin enthusiast shared on the website:Ĭheck for yet another mark on the side of the barrel near the receiver. You should see REM stamped somewhere on the barrel to confirm that it's a Remington/Marlin make. You will find other marks on the side of the barrel near the receiver to further confirm. Initial production and quality control was terrible based on the complaints I've read from disgruntled owners on other sites. There were issues with the quality of the first few years of production using this serial number, so be wary. From my understanding, the MR serial number refers to Remlin (aka: Remington/Marlin) production, which you likely already know.
