Marlin 336 Scope Thoughts?

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Thunderchicken

Thunderchicken

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i just got what I think is a really nice 336A which is supposed to be from 1948–the first year of production. Bluing is nice, wood is nice, bore looks really clean and the action seems to work smoothly. I haven’t fired it yet. I paid $500, just so everyone can have the fun of telling me what a bad deal I got. I am not a very good dickerer. I always wanted a lever-action .30-30, and having one ten years older than me seemed too good to pass up.

Now for the question: this is a pretty nice gun, it has original iron sights, and I am not as young as I used to be and am thinking of putting a scope on it. I would like to avoid unnecessary butchery (though it is not especially historic, I guess), so what is a wise way to go about this? I will also entertain the idea of leaving it as-is with the expectation that my grandson will use it for deer when he grows up ... he’s six now, so that’s kind of a long-term thing.

I read a lot (maybe 15 percent?) of the MASSIVE 336 club thread but I failed to gain enlightenment on the issue of scope mounting. I did see a lot of super cool peep sights and would not be against putting something like that on, either. I am having cataract surgery in the near future and don’t know how a peep will work with my new peeps, though! Anyone with experience on that would be appreciated too. Thanks for all thoughts.
 
I have an old 336 that has a Marlin scope and mount, I believe it is 1 3/4-5 1/2 or something like that. It works great. Don't know the actual maker but is marked Marlin. I have peeps on another Win and Mar and my 75 year old eyes handle them well.
 
My Grandpa had a Weaver K3-1 on his, it was a 3 power scope with a 1" tube and 1' objective lens. It fit the gun well, it was not tacky or overly unattractive on the top of that gun but when it became mine I eventually (15 or 16 years later) took it off to try a Williams peep sight, WRGS 336 I think. I really like it combined with the red fiber optic front blade, at one tie I had lost the peep aperature and I installed the Williams Firesight rear.... which I just never could pick up with my eyes and shoot it. I ended up putting a new peep on the back and love it again. My 10 year old son who will shoot anything I put in his hands and shoot it well really likes this setup and wants to hog hunt with it in 2 weeks.
This is what I have put on mine: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...ns-with-fire-sight-front-sight-aluminum-black
 
I don't think a 30-30 reaches out far enough to require a scope so would keep the stock iron sights or some kind of aftermarket peep setup. I admittedly don't like the aesthetic of a scope on a lever carbine. I just use mine for fun because the range of a 30-30 is a little limited where I tend to hunt and I might have a different take if I actually used it for hunting.
 
I mounted a Bushnell 1.5-4.5X scope on my Marlin 30-30 using Millett mounts. It holds same zero year after year of hunting under diverse conditions. I paid less than $80. for the scope from an eBay supplier. I zero my rifle so that bullets strike 2 inches above point of aim at 100 yards which puts me right on at about 150 yards. 30-30 is a keeper!

TR
 
I have peeps on all my lever-actions... the Williams FP is a good one, won't break the bank, and is easy to mount. If the front sight disappears, you can drift in a Williams FireSite... a florescent fiber optic thingy that works very, very well. I'm just not a big scope guy...

Having said that... I bought my brother a 336 many years ago; when I was doing load development for it, I did mount a scope on it (to minimize input error, so to speak.) Your 336 should be tapped on top for a mount... and it's easy enough to find something that works. I don't think anything over 4x would be necessary, but it just depends on what you are doing with it.

The lever-family... all with Williams on them... My personal 336 is 2nd from the right, I just sold it last week to a friend of mine.

dqykfhol.jpg
 
Yup peeps are the way to go. I don't own a lever gun with out one in it. Even with bad eyes they are 100x better then normal sights. If you have to have a scope, the 1-4 are nice. I would not go any bigger, get the normal weaver one peace base and good rings that are not to big.
 
if the rifle is a waffle top do not drill into the top. the old waffle tops are hard to find that have not been drilled. if you drill the waffle top you turn the rifle into a $300.00 rifle. no better/special than any other 336. the rifle should have two holes on the left side. get a williams peep sight for the rifle and mount it on the left side.
 
I prefer the looks of a lever gun with just irons. Adding a scope detracts from the aesthetics. But there is no denying that optics are far superior to any iron sight, even peep sights. And as I age I don't shoot irons as well as I did when I was younger. If you're going to scope it I'd stay with something that fits the rifles size. On most carbines I think a compact 1-4X20 is about ideal with nothing bigger than a 2-7X32. I don't think some of the bigger scopes look right at all and are certainly not needed. The stock design of the levers makes it harder to use a scope, especially bigger ones that can't be mounted very low.

But IIRC the 336A is the version with a longer 22" or 24" barrel. If I'm correct a bigger scope wouldn't look too out of place. A 2-7X32 or maybe even a 3-9X40 with the longer barrel.

But as others have said, it it isn't already drilled and tapped, don't do it. Keep it original.
 
+1 on the Williams, best thing for a lever gun, hell I got one on my 1894 44mag. assault rifle.:cool:
 
I really, really prefer the lever guns with peeps or irons as well, but my 336 .35 Rem came with a 4x28 mounted by its original owner.

The gun is a cloverleaf 3-shot 100 yard shooter with Remington 150 JSP Core Lokts (Single loaded), and groups are not much larger with the 200 gr RN Core Lokts. Without the scope, I highly doubt I can duplicate these groups (irons or peep).

Since the 336 is usually a 150 yards-and-less proposition, if you choose to scope your 336 IMHO there is no real need to go bigger than a compact 4x fixed or a 1-4x variable type.

Stay safe!
 
i am in the middle of my 35 rem 336, semi custom. the gun was a barn gun and rusted bad. i had it for about 10 years and killed many deer with it. like Riomouse911 mine is a shooter. i camo painted the gun,these pis are bad and the paint is mostly scraped off but yo may get the idea i was going for. the original butt stock was cracked many time, i was given a blank so i figured id do some stippling.
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troy fairweather said:
i am in the middle of my 35 rem 336, semi custom. the gun was a barn gun and rusted bad. i had it for about 10 years and killed many deer with it. like Riomouse911 mine is a shooter. i camo painted the gun,these pis are bad and the paint is mostly scraped off but yo may get the idea i was going for. the original butt stock was cracked many time, i was given a blank so i figured id do some stippling.
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Man, that's a veteran! Once you get it all dialed in post pics of the before and after :thumbup:.

I wish it could tell us some hunting stories, I'd love to hear a few :)

Stay safe!
 
Now that I look at it, I think it's a 4x32 scope....dang it now I'll have to dig it out to check :confused:.
The bluing was in great shape when I bought it but the stock was refinished by the original owner which is why it looks so shiny.
Marlin 336.jpg
 
Riomouse911 said:
Man, that's a veteran! Once you get it all dialed in post pics of the before and after :thumbup:.

I wish it could tell us some hunting stories, I'd love to hear a few :)

Stay safe!
Click to expand...
i hope i can use a friends hot bluing tank, if not maybe a cold blue. i may ask the gun shop i do some work for if i could use some cerakoat, he does not coat any more.
 
Riomouse911 said:
Now that I look at it, I think it's a 4x32 scope....dang it now I'll have to dig it out to check :confused:.
The bluing was in great shape when I bought it but the stock was refinished by the original owner which is why it looks so shiny.
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looks like a 4x, you could hit the stock with some fine steal wool will cut the shine down. bluing looks good for er age.
 
Use as small as scope as you can find. Especially a small rear ocular bell like a Weaver or Leupold. There is a lot of drop to a Marlin stock, so you want the scope as low as possible without interfering with the hammer.
Marlins are really the only gun where Leupold is my first choice since they tend to be small.
 
I’ve got 1-5 Leupolds on all my lever guns. My eyes aren’t good enough for open sights or the Williams peeps. The 1 power is great for close up running shots and 5 x good enough for the distance any of my cast bullets are going to be shot. Losing eyesight especially close up vision is not a lot of fun. Long for days to just use the old irons again.
 
Got a 2-7x32 Nikon Shotgun Slughunter on my 1895, just about put a similar Vortex Diamondback on it, but liked the ballistic reticle for the 45-70 better on the Nikon. The Diamondback went on my wife's 10/22. Have a 2.5-8 Armsport on an older .35 Rem. 336. Have had a couple with 1.5-4x as well.

I like the higher magnification and the slightly bigger objective doesn't hinder me from mounting it low. I found when I was pretty young that my eyes weren't adjusting that fast, and found I was limiting myself without a scope on a rifle. Nothing faster than a correctly mounted scope on low power. Except perhaps a reflex sight.

I mount them pretty low; as low as I can without the scope touching the barrel. The semi pistol grip Marlins work a little better with a scope than the straight grip.

Now the brass receiver of the Henry, straight grip, in .44 is better suited to a peep sight. Will probably pick up a skinner sight for it one day.
 
From the context of the OP and since I don’t think Marlin started drilling and tapping 336 receivers until the 50’s, I assume the rifle isn’t drilled and tapped for scope mounts. If it isn’t I thinkI would not not scope it. If it is drilled and tapped I’d definitely scope it. Mine used to wear a Fullfield II 2-7x35 and it worked great. It now wears a VX-3 1.75-6x32.


IdaD said:
I don't think a 30-30 reaches out far enough to require a scope
Click to expand...

I do.
 
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