Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions Gun show find

Well I'll be dipped. Danged if I didn't finally find the 336 I've been looking for. At the local show today I found a straight-stock 30-30 with an 18" barrel. Gold trigger, no saddle ring, no safety. It looks to be about a 1981 vintage 336 in about 90% plus condition. It's been tough wiping the sh**t-eating grin off my face.

I found one too. Mine is the standard model 336 in about 90%. It had some kind of cheap scope on it and a cracked stock so I bought it right. In cleaning it up the cracked stock wiped of with a little cleaning fluid and the scope is now in the trash. Looks good now. I had in mind making a conversion to 307 or 308, but it looks so good I think I'll leave it alone. 30-30s can be loaded up pretty stout in these Marlins anyway.

This one has a serial number of 210256XX. Is there a way to determine the year of manufacture? I cannot believe Marlin has made 21 million of these guns, something doesn't look right. I am a Winchester collector, just getting interested in Marlins mostly because of you "loonies" on this forum!

keep your powder dry,

Jim

Jbledsoe,
The year of manufacture can be found by subracting the first 2 numbers of the serial number from 100. In your case, 100-21=79. Your rifle was made in 1979. Some earlier models had letter prefixes which changed each year.

Obviously, with this serial number scheme, the serial numbers are not sequential from year to year. Marlin has actually produced just over 4 million rifles in the 36/336 family.

Jim - I also have a couple of Winchesters in the safe but I never really use them. One is my Dad's old 94 (circa 1920 sumpthin') and the other is a 1907 92 in 38-40. The 94 has sentimental value and the 92 is pretty much a collector that I'll let go of one day. However I've also had a couple of Marlin 1894's over the years that I really enjoyed. I just sold my 357 to my cousin for pest control on the yotes, coons and bobcats that like his chickens a little too well.

I've been keeping my eyes open for a pre-safety 336 with a straight stock for some time. I'd have jumped on a 35 just as easily as I did the 30-30. I'm glad I was able fill the Marlin void in my safe so quickly and I really look forward to shooting it. I picked up a couple of boxes of the Hornady Leverevolution ammo yesterday to give it a try. I sure wish that Hornady would sell those new bullets to reloaders.

Jayhawker, thanks for the info on the serial number. I have a 69 vintage 336 and the SN begins with 69-XXXetc. but the 21 million didn't make sense. Thanks again.

Olywa, Hang on to your Winchesters, they are going up in value quickly. Brian Pearce, who lives near me, says that Hornady cain't keep pace with sales on the Leverevolution loaded ammo and until they catch up there will be no bullets available to handloaders. Hornady says sometime in the spring of 2007---maybe.

Keep your powder dry,

Jim

well good for you!!

I love gun show finds. In November, I found a 1957 Marlin 336 RC straight stock carbine in .35 Rem. I snatched it up quickly.

congrats remember patience is a virtue i waited 2 1/2 yrs to find a gun i was looking for

Could I be real nosey and ask what you paid for your Marlin? I found the same model, based on the serial number info here the one I found was apparently made in 1980.

I want to make an offer on this one I found and am trying to research what would be a fair offer.

olywa,

Great find, that's one cool configuration...Congrats.

Jim - The asking price was $330. and I would have paid that or tried to dicker down around $300. But I had a nice Ruger 96/22M that the guy took as an even trade. I miss my little Ruger but not as much as I like my new (to me) 336T.

Thanks for your reply. The one I found a few days ago was listed for just under $300. With your answer and the reply to my "Blue book on 336T" post it seems that's a fair price.

I rented a table at a gunshow this weekend to try to move some of my stuff. If that rifle is still there next week I might see if they'll take a few more bucks off of it, but even if they don't at least I know I'm not getting shafted on the price.