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