Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions Rescued a 1975 336 .30-30

Rescued a rough looking JM stamped 336 from the local pawn shop. The metal and the wood were rough and the buttstock and forearm looked like two different types of wood. Missing the rear sight altogether.

I tried re staining the wood but it just didn't look good and after I took care of the rust on the barrel and action, decided that the whole thing just needed painting. I used a flat brown paint and put black spider web over it. I painted the metal a semi-gloss black to make it look sort of like gloss blueing and it looks good from few steps away.





I put the rifle back together and was ready to shoot it so I put a redfield revolution 3-9 on it that I had handy to go to the range. I tried Remington core lokt 150's and they didn't shoot well at all. The Hornady leverevolution 160's looked good.



But the 170 Federal Blue Box looks like a winner and at a price of $13.00/box locally I will stock up on them. The 6 shot group is a composite of 2 3 shot groups shot to the same point of aim. The high shot I blame on the guy next to me with the short barreled AR that was blasting my ears all morning. I adjusted the scope to hit dead on at 100 yards and shot the group aiming at the bottom of the diamond.







Not too bad for $140.00 rifle and a few dollars worth of spray paint.

I know the 3-9x40 scope is too large for the rifle but at this point, and since it is shooting so well, I'm not changing anything until after season. I may have the metal professionally coated next spring since I'm not happy with my spray can job.

That's a perfect "truck gun" and a nice find!
Bet you can't wear it out!

Nice work!

Thanks guys, just looking at the pics again I noticed how rusty that butt pad screw looks. I'll have to touch that up, or find a couple of new ones.

Bob.

Looks great!


I rescued a 1980 model just the other day myself. I topped mine with a steel tube k2.5 with post/crosshair reticle.

Very nice find and restoration project !

Pretty is as pretty does, and yours looks decent in any case! Nice to see a good gun rescued and put back in service. Wish I could find a deal like that!

Nice find.

Nice snag for $140.00. I had a rescued Marlin 336 for
$40.00 many years ago, did not have enough respect for Marlin rifles to keep it........my big mistake.


Doc

Love it! I've been dreaming of finding a neglected 336 and rebuilding it. Perfect!

I posted pictures here a year or so ago if another 336 I found in a pawn shop. It was much nicer than this one, looks wise, but did not shoot nearly as well as this one. Someone came along and offered me more for it than I had in it and I sold it to them. I have missed having it ever since. Around here, if you keep an eye out you can find a decent one in the pawn shops as long as they are willing to deal on the price. Some of them are priced so high you'd be better off going and buying the cheaper 336 new from one of the big box stores.

I'll post more pics hopefully during the upcoming season with a decent buck.


Now I just have to find a nice 35 Rem to go along with this .30-30.

Bob.

.30-30's are always fun.. Nice work..

Looks good and shoots great.

What did you use to paint the stock and metal?

Fotis,

I used either krylon or rust oleum flat brown, krylon webbing and matte clear on the wood parts. Semigloss black on the metal. It's a 20 footer! Looks better from 20 ft than up closer.

I got a little anxious to put it back together and didn't let everything dry before I did and messed up several spots. After our season is over in a few weeks, I am going to re-do this gun and paint 3 remington ADL's with the joke they call blueing and am thinking about using gun kote or one of the "better" coatings. But I've had really good luck with krylon as long as you let it cure before handling.

Working on getting a deer with Marlin, but work has been getting in the way.


Bob.

What does the JM stamp stand for? mine has it.

john marlin. it is what was stamped on all marlins before remington took over. jm's are generally considered to be superior in quality than REM's.