Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions Bastard children of Marlin

Definitely. I have a JC Higgins Model 50 bolt action in 30-06. The action is a commercial FN Mauser. The barrel is chrome lined and was made by High Standard. It is *very* accurate. If it had FN on the barrel instead of Sears it would be $1400 new, $600 used. I got it for $250.

I also have a Voere semi auto 22 that is worth $350-400 with a Ted Williams rollmark added to the barrel. I bought it marked "Sears 22 - $99".

I love house brand guns.

I own both a 336 Marlin 30-30 and a Western Auto Revelation 30-30.
The Revelation shoots better,and has prettier wood.
I am constantly cruising Auction Arms and GunBroker for Marlin "bastards" as you call them..I also look for the Winny "Bastards' like Ted Williams and such.
I even got one one time that was a Mossberg "bastard".I believe it was a WesternField.Wish I had not sold it as it is a bit of a rare find.

Here's my Glenfield Model 30. I think it's pretty nice looking.

That is nice looking..I prefer the 2/3 tube look as opposed to the full tube.

It's too bad that today, the notion of a "department store label" mean "junk". There was a time when the major chain stores were proud of their names, and they sold some very fine stuff. The FN Mausers imported by Sears are a good example. I had a Heym-manufactured Mauser that was sold under the "Western Field" label (Montgomery Wards), and I had real trouble selling it. It was a beautiful rifle; had Mauser proof marks all over it, but people thought, "Hmm, store gun--must be junk."

(I sold it because I'm left-handed and it was a right-handed bolt; never got used to it. Broke my heart to let go of such a nice piece of precision equipment.)

Sears sold some really nice rifles. They turn up in pawn shops pretty cheap now and then (found a Sears Marlin with a classic Japanese-made Bushnell scope for $170 or something; a "Ted Williams" Winchester 94 set me back all of $100).

I have recently come across a Marlin 30 that is very similiar to Swampmans above picture.
The price seems good.
The owner told me the serial number starts with AO.
What year was this rifle manufacturerd??

There was no "AO" prefix. It's probably "AD", which would indicate the year 1968.

Aardvark, I recently sold a western auto revelation. It was mfg by Mossberg.Not a bad little rifle.

Mine was stamped into the receiver 1 OF 1000

I researched it high and low and only came to the conclusion that it was a Mossberg 472...I thinks someone had some extra time and metal stamps on their hands...I even am a member of the Mossberg Collectors Association and no one there had ever heard of the 1 OF 1000 guns.