Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions Finished 336 project...

I picked up some nice Marlin's at a local pawn shop over the last few years, an 1894M 22 WMR that I flipped and regret but I did clear 400.00, a 39M Mountie that I kept and this 336A 35 Remington about four years ago that was seriously neglected. I wanted a Davidson's 336D 35 Remington as a little sister to my 1895G that was also sent down the road with no regrets. But the cost of the 336D was ridiculous so I bought the 336A with a plan that didn't include paying others for work I should be able to do myself. I far prefer Marlin's that secure the forearm with an end cap and short magazine tubes.






I bought dies and bullets from Midway and lots of brass off the 'fire. After mounting a Redfield 3x9 spare I took it to the range and it shot ~1.5" at 100 so I called it a keeper and time to get to work. The 24" barrel was problem number one, no way was that necessary on a 35 Remington.




I chopped the barrel to 22" but it didn't look right and again at at 20" and it looked about right.

I had never drilled and tapped a barrel and the jig added too much cost to the project. It took a lot of time to locate and setup the barreled action on a China'loca drill press that would have taken probably a short period of time with a jig, but it didn't cost me 25.00 a hole at the local shop either and it's straight.








The forearm was pretty clean, the buttstock on the other hand was dinged, dented and oil stained, and pretty ugly after stripping and bleaching it.






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Another view, and I ditched the white line spacers.






I bought the Manson tool for this project and it worked like a charm, faced off at 90 degrees followed by the 11 degree target crown for that added edge on the bone stock 30-30's (grin)

Yes, it added to the cost of this project but I knew that I would use it for many other rifles and it has paid for itself 2X-3X now.

I also ordered a replacement front sight hood from Midway.






The stock and forearm were finished with Waterlox several years ago, they both turned out sweet but apparently I didn't take photos. I had to replace the bullseye and I still need to repair some minor chips in the side of the butt plate with some black epoxy but I will get to it later.

All the parts and pieces have been bouncing around the safe and the barreled action always in the way for at least two and half years. I bought a black Cerakote kit but never found time to build an oven or media blasting cabinet. I had a 55gl plastic soap barrel taking up space so I decided to make that a temporary cabinet and toss it after I was finished because I needed to blast three Montana barreled actions. The blasting cabinet project started but stopped for a few months as I got sidetracked with my Jeep but one afternoon I dedicated to finishing the Montana's, mounted the plexiglass window, cut arm holes and once I started blasting I remembered the Marlin so I blasted it in preparation for Cerakote. I figured the Cerakote kit was worthless and really didn't want to mess with it at this point but I wanted to finish the project and shoot it. I called a local shop that wanted about 175.00 to Cerakote and twice the cost for blueing and paying others to finish it would defeat a primary goal of the project. A co-worker suggested cold blue and personally I have never had good luck with the process, but I watched a bunch of videos and decided to order Oxpho-Blue and give it a shot.

The Oxpho-Blue took two weeks through Amazon but arrived early in the week. I don't have a lot of time in the evenings and stop by my parents often to visit my mom, she is battling cancer and doing well but it's a 30 mile roundtrip after I leave the office and takes up time. After returning from my parents Friday night to visit my mom and my aunt and uncle who flew in from KC, ironically, my aunt is battling cancer but also doing very well, I started with the lever and a part of the action. I probably coated both parts six times and the color appeared more a dull gray than blue. It could have been the minimal FL lighting or my eyes and brain were tired because Saturday morning both parts looked pretty good. Knowing I would spend a good twelve hours at my parents yesterday but wanting to finish the bluing I started about 7:00 after breakfast.

By noon it was all together less the front forearm cap screws and the rear sight adjustment ramp that was missing when I bought it. It's a Marbles sight but there are several types of adjustment ramps but I will find a replacement and I need to put a 45 degree chamfer on the end of the barrel because I didn't own that cutter at the time I bought the kit.

I think it turned out nice and it's ready to go. I will load up some more 200gr Pro Hunters, mount the Burris 1x4 EER that lived on the 1895G and go play next weekend.

Great work

Absolute classic. Well done

Very nice. Havent had a project like that for myself in a while, used to do one every year. The cold blue looks like it turned out well, if it doesnt hold up, try rust blueing. No start-up cost except a bottle of solution.

Nice project. I would have chopped the barrel a little further, but it looks great as is. Enjoy that one, gotta love pre-crossbolt safeties.

that turned out nice!

That turned out really nice! I'm gonna start on my 36g after deer season in January. I hope mine comes out similar to yours. Can't decide on cerracoat, hot tank bluing, or blue wonder which I used before with good results. Your rifle looks really good!

Beautiful job.

Beautiful!

Why no barrel crown?

Looks awesome!

Thanks guys.

Angus', it has an 11 degree crown.

So, what you've got is basically the Deluxe version of the 336SC (sporting carbine) That's the Monte Carlo on the stock.. That has a 3/4 magazine and a 20" barrel. Marlin made those in the '50s and early '60s, IIRC

. I have a 1960 plain one, in .30/30. Mine shoots great, as is. I should refinish the old goat, but I kinda like the patina and well-earned wear marks. A little character doesn't hurt 'em. I got mine a couple years ago. It kills stuff real dead.

I like it alot

Nice work!

Very nice !

Thanks I see the crown now. Looks great!