The 336 Club

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336 puzzeled

hi. i'm new here and looking for some expert advise. what i have is a 336 rc 30-30 but it looks different than most. it has a straight stock, brass saddle ring, and brass trigger. is this rare or is it made from leftover parts? thanks mike
 
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if it is texan shouldn't it read 336t it has a 20" barrel i thought i would trade it, my local dealer said it is worth $400 your thoughts.
 
Any good, modestly priced 336 loop levers somebody can point me too? I've been poking around but seem to only be finding them in the $100-$150 ranges, which seems a bit high for just the lever itself.

Any clues? Stainless is a plus ;)
 
Marlin 30AS, .30-30...

Coastal bear hunt, British Columbia, 2010.

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We spent most of the trip doing Captain Morgan poses and running around like scared little girls every time we saw a bear... ;-)
 
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I blame my 39A....

Ever since I got my new-to-me used '09 vintage 39A, I've been on a levergun kick, reading up as much as I can on them, and not limited just to Marlin, I've read up on Henry, Winchester, Browning as well, but one thing has always been consistent, I've always liked the 336 series of levers, the solid build, balance, pointability, totability, they're the 39's big brother....

Tonight, I was perusing my local gunshop's online inventory when I saw they had a used 1894 Cowboy in .45 Colt, Aha!, I thought, the perfect companion for my Ruger Blackhawk Convertible SA revolver in .45 Colt/.45 ACP, and since the gunstore is a quick 5 minute drive away, I decided to stop in.

As I checked out the lever action section, I wasn't able to find the .45 Colt lever, but I *DID* find a 336 that called to me pretty strongly, sure the bluing was a little thin in spots (typical wear spots) and it had just the tiniest bit of almost undetectable rust freckling on the left hand side of the reciever, and okay, maybe the wood (looks like walnut, but without the Marlin Bullseye in the buttstock) had a bit of honest handling wear and wasn't shiny and new, but something about it felt right, it shouldered naturally, the lever throw was ball-bearing smooth, it had both a set of aftermarket Williams fiber-optic ramp sights *AND* a Williams peep reciever sight....

Even better, it had no infernal crossbolt safety, instead, it had the proper half-cock notch, and best of all, opening the action and shining a light down the barrel revealed a *PRISTINE* Micro-Groove bore, the outside looked a little rough (I'd estimate external condition at around 89-90%), but the important stuff like the pristine bore, and the nice, crisp trigger pull, made up for insignificant and easily fixable bluing and wood finish wear

So, I put it on 7-day hold, so I can think about it, and plan what I'm going to trade in towards it, problem is, I'm running out of tradable fodder, as all my other firearms would be hard to replace or expensive to replace if traded, the only ones I could easily part with and not miss would be my H&R Pardner Compact 20 Ga. and my Savage 93R17-GV, both are mass produced and easily replaceable guns....

the 39A will *NEVER* get sold/traded as it's my current favorite, neither would the Marlin 25 (original model 25) as it was my first gun, given to me on my 16th b'day
My CZ-452 Trainer has a YoDave trigger kit set to a crisp 1 LB pull, and as CZ has discontinued the 452 and replaced it with a less desirable 455, it'd be far more difficult to replace
My Yugo SKS, albeit a mass produced milsurp, was bought used in *unfired* shape (a problem I have since solved, she's a really nice shooter and loads of fun), and prices on SKS's of any flavor are getting unreasonable, so that one would be difficult and expensive to replace if traded

I could easily get rid of the H&R and Savage and not miss them, besides, I really like the BTV series models better, not the boring G series, besides, the fun is kind of wearing off on the Savage, there's nothing it does that I can't do with my .22LR's, it's expensive for paper punchin', and the CZ shoots just as well as it at 50 yards anyway, and I rarely go beyond 100 yards with either of them, and the biggest varmints I'll have to deal with on the farm are foxes, woodchucks, racoons, and coy-dogs, the .22LR can handle up to woodchucks easily, foxes with proper shot placement are doable but less than ideal, and that's where the SKS or Marlin 336 would take over, humanely handling large foxes, coy-dogs/coyotes, and white tailed deer.

for my purposes, a .17HMR is too narrowly focused, great (but expensive) for 'sploding surplus/rotting/expired produce and canned goods, 100-yard paper-punchin, but too powerful for small varmints like FTR, and too messy for larger varmints like woodchucks/racoons, and IMO, less than ideal for large varmints unless I can get a perfect brain or boiler room shot...

....sorry, got off on a tangent there
anyway, the price was right, $285, for a classic non-safety 336 with excellent bore and just some minor external "beauty marks", so now it just comes down to how I'm going to fund this purchase/trade, as my self imposed rule is that in order to get a new toy, I have to trade at least one of my old toys, and right now I have some redundant firearms

I'm a minimalist at heart, and I don't like stocking too many calibers, right now I'm above my current ideal of .22LR, .45 (Colt and ACP, since they can share many reloading consumables I count them as "one" caliber anyway) 12-gauge and some variety of .30 caliber rifle, right now I have to stock the following calibers and I want to simplify;
.22 (S, L, LR)
.17HMR*
12-gauge
20-gauge**
7.62X39***
.30-30
.45 (ACP and Colt)

* Aside from fun, I'm not seeing a use for this caliber that couldn't be handled by either .22lR (Velocitors) or .30 Cal (7.62x39 or 30-30)
** Don't strictly *need* 20 gauge either, but I like it, it's fun to shoot and great for training new shotgunners, so it stays, I just don't maintain huge stocks of ammo for it
***If I got the .30-30 this would be a redundant caliber, it is cheaper to practice with than .30-30 though, and the SKS has a slight capacity advantage over the 336

Just need some time to think, sorry for the rambling
 
Oh, and that 1894 Cowboy .45 Colt? I found the LOP and overall dimensions too small, short, and cramped for me, felt like a youth-length gun, I'm only 5'8", and not a big guy (*wide*, yes, but not "big" as in tall or husky), but I honestly felt cramped on it, too bad, as I wanted to like it, nice octagon barrel, and eats the same ammo as my Ruger Blackhawk .45 Convertible, so I passed on it, plus, it was too expensive anyway....
 
So who else uses the hammer spur with iron sights? When I took the training wheels off my 336 and graduated to a Williams ap, I was so used to the spur that I just left it on there! I've never had it snag on anything, and it feels less likely to slip.
 
I like the spur with, or without, a scope. I prefer the flat curved one like the 39, but the knurled dowel kind will work :)

Let's hear it for the North Coastal Woods and Cap'tn Morgan. Keep the rust away if you can :)
 
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I have been gone too long too many posts to catch up on. Glad to see this is still an active thread. I used to be know as MDig but I'm not sure what the password for that account is or where the email goes so I just re registered.
 
So who else uses the hammer spur with iron sights? When I took the training wheels off my 336 and graduated to a Williams ap, I was so used to the spur that I just left it on there! I've never had it snag on anything, and it feels less likely to slip.
I use the spur with Williams sights too. It was on the gun when I got it, and I just got to using it even though I only had a scope on there for month. I carry it with a round in the chamber, so all that I have to do is pull the hammer back as I shoulder it. Even with a glove over my thumb, the spur gives lots of surface area there, making the hammer almost impossible to miss.
 
Ok so I don't know if my gun qualifies under the 336 club but I owen a marlin 30A (Bi-Mart version) but from what I have bin told it's the same thing just cheaper furniture on it and crappy iron sights that's why it came with a cheep scope. I took the scope off and I was wondering were can I get a rear ghost ring sight for it and a better front sight post. The ones it came with a garbage.
 
I'm thinking my next purchase will likely be the start of a lever scout build.

Marlin 336 .30-30...

-XS scout mount
-Leopold scout scope
-XS rear peep sight
-Leather cuff w/ round carrier
-carry sling.
-leather lever wrap
-POSSIBLY a large loop lever, (but I'm not sure on this modification quite yet. The gun I handled in the store seemed comfy, but I don't have any range time with it.)
 
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