Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions Refinishing a 336

Howdy-
I've inherited a 336 30/30 from my grandfather which needs a good refinishing job of the wood and metal. It's from approx 1971, has been hunted with most of its life and now needs a bit of TLC. I worry about taking it out in inclement weather due to concern about the stock possibly soaking up moisture. Any recs for someone that could get it back into "factory new" shape?

Also any peep sight setups that come recommended? I'm using this rifle in the SE for whitetails only.

Thanks

Williams peep rear, Ashley-style front sight (I think that Ashley sold the product to another company and the name escapes me).

That's what goes on my 336s.

Good luck!

Talk about refinishing the wood, I got started and stripped all the wood on my 336 yesterday and did some wet sanding with 220grit but still have more to go. What stain has anyone used? I was thinking that I would not use any stain and just oil it up good with sanding inbetween coats or should I use a clear spray Polyurithane over the bare wood?

David there are plenty of good "peep" sights out there. Williams makes one that mounts on the top, Lyman has one that mounts on the side. I like the XS sight which is the old Ashley. It's more of a Ghost Ring than a Peep and has a post on the front. It's what I use on my 45-70 (my bear gun) because it's so fast. I've tried the peeps with both the brass bead and the fiber optic sight but prefer the XS.
As far as refinishing you really want to be careful regarding rounding off edges that's one of the most difficult things. I personally prefer Oil finishes with plenty of time between coats. you also might consider oiling the inside of the stock as well to keep the moisture out and if you are real concerned about the blueing (or metal ingeneral) car wax works well to protect it. Don't know that I would do a lot to the old gun as much as savor the memories of your grandfather. Many of those old marks are marks of history. I've got an old Marlin 35 Rem that's from the 60's (64 IIRC) and I won't touch it. I like that history.

jerdog53: Birchwood casey puts out a complete kit.
It`s called, Tru-Oil Gun stock finish kit it goes for about $16.
May be of some help.

I refinished my 1961 336 in .35 rem using Miniwax's tung oil.

As far as the stock finish goes, try snake oil at:

http://www.oldwestsnakeoil.com/where_buy.html

I think some of the folks on the savage gun post will vouch for the product. Makes a nice finish.

I tried the TRU oil and it would never fully set up it was always tacky so after about a week of that I wipped all that would wipe off and hit it with a MinWax clear spray pollyurathane, it turned out nice but was way to shiney next time I'll use a satin.

You can rub the shiney off with some rotten stone and linseed oil on a piece of felt. Brownells sells it.

David,
Go to the "savage collectors" section of this here 24hour campfire and open "Snake oil or lemon oil." There is a photo of a number of guns treated with Snake oil, one of which was a stained stocked Win model 71. The snake oil took out the blotches on the stock.

Not a 336, but did refinish my 39A this past winter. Used a stripper then sanded what was left. I've never much liked the white spacers so took those off and did a little extra sanding on the grip cap to get the fit right. I used a medium walnut stain, Minwax I think. Every night for a week I'd hand rub tung oil into it, and 'tween each coat I'd use 0000 steel wool. Hint...leave the butt plate and grip cap on while sanding.



As for leaving the "history" in the stock...I'm sure my old Gramps would more than likely call the the dings and dents in his guns screwups than memories. If he had his druthers I'm sure he'd just as soon they weren't there. But to each his own.