POTD: Marlin Model 19 – Riding the Pump Gun Wave

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a Marlin Model 19 slide-action shotgun, an early 1900s pump that came out of a messy chapter in American gun history.

Back in the 1890s the pump shotgun market was a legal minefield. Francis Bannerman owned the Spencer pump patents and took Winchester to court over its Model 1893. Winchester won, and that ruling cracked the door open for everybody else. Marlin jumped in with the Model 1898, an exposed hammer takedown pump.

The Model 19 is basically an improved 1898, built from 1906 to 1907. The neat feature here is the hang-fire safety lock. After the hammer falls, the action stays locked shut, and only the recoil of a fired shell releases it. The point was to keep a shooter from pumping the gun open on a slow round and having it go off with the breech unlocked. With the ammo of the day, that was a real worry.

I would go as far as saying these early Marlins get overlooked next to the Winchester 1897, but they were solid guns for their time. One word of caution though. Marlin itself later warned owners against shooting these old pumps, so this one is better off as a conversation piece than a duck gun.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Marlin Model 19-S Slide Action Shotgun.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5034/1328/marlin-model-19s-slide-action-shotgun. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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