Hi,

I am nearing the end of my project Marlin 336, 30-30. It started as a pawn shop find for $150.00 and has had quite a cosmetic and functional transformation. I first tried working over a really beat up Remington Model 39 single shot .22 , made this;



Into This;




I was pretty happy with the results so I dove right in and started another. I started out by buying a cheap Ram-Line stock and fitting a decent recoil pad to it. I also filled the large void in the buttstock with expanding foam. I textured the fore end and grip of the buttstock with epoxy and filler, finally painting it with a "textured" type finish. It greatly improves the looks of the plastic Ram-Line stock as purchased. I also cut the barrel down to 16.25", re-crowned with recess and silver soldered a NECG banded ramp sight onto the new tube length. I like the way it looks on the lever gun, hope you do too! I have the rear peep sight on order and along with a Burris "Short Mag" IER scope on a Scout Mount with Talley QD rings I will have redundant sights appropriate for the caliber, 30-30 of course. Why mess with a classic? Laugh! I did a complete action job from barrel lap & polish to trigger job, it breaks cleanly at exactly 2 lbs.

It was a 1974 built gun so it really had a decent trigger when I started. All of the bearing internals were hand stoned and polished where appropriate. I even lapped the magazine tube for smooth operation. The mag tube was cut down to 13.5" and the capacity is now 4 plus 1 instead of 6 plus 1.

The little gun points and balances very very well. It is really light and should make a great truck or boat gun. I degreased everything including the screws, 40PSI of aluminum oxide and matte stainless steel Gun Kote baked on at 310 deg for an hour with a Mil-Tec lube bath afterwards gives it a tough, glare free industrial finish that requires little care in the field.

This should be a nice little deer or hog rifle. I cant wait to finish up my Marlin 45-70 GG in a similar fashion. I did have Bob Cogan put his industrial matte chrome on it. He is the master of this finish and it will serve me well on Kodiak , Afognak and Raspberry Islands in Alaska where I often hunt. I have always been a shooter but have really enjoyed these little gunsmithing projects.

I plan on customizing my .45 LC Bisley next. Enough chatter, here are the pictures of my beginner efforts in making a great gun even better

Started with this;



Here are the results so far;








[img]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp109/Tractorshaft/336_RH_WorkVise.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp109/Tractorshaft/336_RH_WorkbenchII.jpg[/img]

Hope you enjoyed looking at my new found hobby. What fun!

Thanks and God Bless

Jerry

NW Connecticut

Pretty cool.

BMT

I tell you what, if it's a "bubba" job, it's with a capitol B. Looks good!!!

That's really impressive! Love what you did with the old .22! Awesome!

Nice. Extremely nice! And I love the metal finish! Let us know how she shoots. And I have to agree with you on the front sight choice. Very good.

Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria!

Dang, some serious transformations, and, well done!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun (The .22 Rem model 33), here is the link to the thread over at The High Road forum if you are interested in it. Gunsmithing the Model 33 Remington .22

There are literally tens of thousands of these old .22's out there that could be fixed up and given to the next generation of shooters! Sharpen your chisels gentlemen and get busy!

Well done, TS. By the title of the post I was expecting something much different.

That is a nice looking rifle amd unique. Love the front sight. You do great Bubba(ring).

Damn! That is nice, nice work. The banded front sight really looks great on that stubby barrel.

Are you using the barrel band screw to hold the mag tube in? Or did you sink a little divot in the barrel for the magazine plug screw to go into?

If that is bubba work, I shudder to think what some of my own projects would be called. LOL!

Bubba done good.

Hi Jim,

I used a MAPP gas torch and a little silver solder kit I got from Airgas. I have the capability to do most processes but silver solder seemed an appropriate mounting solution. It was sized for a Ruger Bisley .45LC I was going to put it on but I like the way it looked on the lever gun. I had to put a .012 shim band inside of it to get a good slip fit and then clamped the ramp down onto the barrel with a little C clamp to get it soldered on. The little silver solder Kit is a great deal at the welding supply house for $5.00, come with about 10' of solder and liquid flux. I did clamp down the set screw before soldering it in place for added stability.

like this;

Hi Jim,

I am indeed using the barrel band screw to keep the mag tube in place until I finish splitting the front band in half and brazing a sling stud mount on it. I will then drill "Between" the barrel and the mag tube to reproduce the little half-circle that keeps the two together in the correct location and perspective.Those two, together should keep it from moving at all. I did think about dovetailing a little slot in the barrel and putting a "Key" on the mag tube like the Guide guns use but that would not give me the mounting location for a front sling swivel stud. You have a good eye for detail old boy! Its not quite finished but close enough for folks to get an "Idea" of what it will look like. I am headed out to the shop to do that very thing now and will post a pic for you when I get it done.

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!!!! Great work and thanks for the pics. Super .22, but the 336 trips my trigger. Life is good.

Thanks Sir Springer,

I dont know what it is about that little .22 project, but , everyone seems to like it! On a goof I put the ebony recoil lug inserts in when I had some material left over from the fore end tip and buttstock (Ebony also).

I had a lot of fun doing that little rifle. I am actually considering putting one of the banded ramp NECG front sights on it. It would really look like a "Dangerous Game rifle" then! Ha ha!

I just finished rebuilding an old lathe trying to learn how to turn metal. Its finished and running like a champ!



I may attempt to reproduce the sight on it instead of dropping 100.00 bucks for the real thing Have fun!

Bubba does great work!

Please post a pic when you get it all together.

Buba,
That looks fantastic ! For my aesthetics, I would mill off what you don't need of that scope base with all the notches in it.

Your taste may differ ! Enjoy and keep up the good work.

everybody knows all you have to do to bubba a 336 is to drill the bullseye on the butt stock for your rear sling stud.



very neat project, you aint bubba.

I'm thinking the infamous stock compass would be the crowning touch.

oooh, that would be sweet.

jb welded in place of course.....

I got news for you.....you ain't Bubba. That's some outstanding work, sir!

I wish I could have bought you a new Ramline stock set or traded you a new birch stock set before you bubbed up that nice walnut stock.

Bubba wept!
That's quality customization.

I read he replaced the walnut stock with aftermarket.

g

What is the make model etc on that lathe, and where can I get one? Nice work on both the rifles!

R.

That's not Bubba'd.

Let me show you how to properly Bubba up a gun....

Very nice work. You should be proud. I love the little .22 first rate.

Hi Fellas,

Here are some photos of the finished gun; It was a fun project. I am flattered at the nice comments. I appreciate your taking the time to give me your opinions, some of the specs are;

Model: Marlin "336"
Caliber: 30-30
Capacity: 4+1
Finish: Norrell's Moly-Coat over 60 grit Aluminum Oxide Bead blast with "Metal ready" phosphate coating, mil-tech "bath"
Stock: Ram-Line, textured, foam filled & epoxy resin reinforced at swivel stud & butt plate
Front barrel band & swivel stud: home made & recessed into shallow barrel cut.
Front sight: New England Custom Gun "Masterpiece" banded ramp w/Gold Bead insert
Scope & Mount: XS Scout base with Talley steel rings, 1X Burris Short Mag scope
Rear sight: Williams FP (On order)
Action: Tuned & polished, Bear proof extractor
Intended Use: Short range deer gun, hawg shooter, 4-Wheeler tag along.


here goes!







[img]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp109/Tractorshaft/336_2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp109/Tractorshaft/336_1.jpg[/img]

Ya'll have a nice day!

Jerry

Thumbs up. PM sent.

I think you just sold it.....

Nope - let the record show, I am interested just in the stocks.
Recopnizing the overall craft as it is, though.

Regards.

Tractorshaft:

Damn nice work. I hope you got a chance to shoot it today.

- Tom

I had first dibs on the stocks that came off of it.

Nice work. Lathe looks like a nice South Bend.

Good to see Bubba is alive and well. Nice work.

Well I am in serious lust.

The sling/barrel band to help retain the mag tube is a super neat idea! And...aw, heck, just love the whole thing!

That little rifle could serve more purposes than a hound dog.

He's got me thinking of making a Trapper out of a 1962 Model 94 30-30 that I've got. Unless I can sell/trade it for a Marlin 45-70, .44 Mag. or .357 Mag.

Had a like 30/30, should still have it. Would like something akin to that in 35 Rem.

Or .444....

I just read an interesting article on converting a 30-30 to .308 Win. Interesting concept though kind of "already done" with the .307 Win.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1270780/building_the_marlin_lever_action_308.html

Seems running FN bullets faster in a 30 caliber lever is an answer to a problem that didn't exist.

That will make a great truck/boat/snow machine gun. You have a great talent, enjoyed the pics.

That .307 did fizzle out pretty quickly.
In our camp in NY almost all of us carried .308's of some sort except for my uncle who had a nice 94 in 30-30. He punched a forkhorns ticket one year at about 80 yards and all we heard for years after was "The 30-30 is all you need DAMMIT". I was the radical back then, I carried a .280 Rem for a while due to Carmichels influence. The reason I mention all this is because Carmichel had a 30-30 with excellent wood that was a MOA rifle with handloads and I was seriously considering obtaining a like rifle for all my back east hunting. My uncle was right, most times the 30-30 IS all you need.

I'll run the 300 Savage 99's if I feel more is needed from a 30 caliber lever.

P.S. The Edge stock will be here this week, hoping the barreled action ain't far behind. A nice light 300 Savage bolt action.

IMO the 300 Savage is the perfect deer cartridge. I was never a 99 fan but in a light bolt gun.....now we're talkin'!!!

I will need to see pics of course. I'm currently living out my gun fantasies through others due to economic constraints...

That lathe looks like a sheldon, is it not? I have a 1948 model 10"x44" it looks good I've had mine for about 2 years now,haven't done much with it lately,I need more permanent place to put it,the garage is okay,but the kids we're getting chips in their feet from them getting tracked in the house

Hank

Hi Hank,

Thanks for the note. Its a 1945 Logan 10" that I bought a few months ago on Craigslist. It was a basket case so I got a good deal on it. Luckily except for a couple of very minor parts missing it was complete.

With the aid of Scott Logan and Logan actuator (Still in business!) I was able to get it up and running in short order. What fun! It is the perfect sized little garage machine. Its got a quick change gearbox along with a complete set of change gears so I can cut most any thread including most metric sizes (Close enough to work!). Here is a "After" photo for you. I have since finished the headstock and drive unit. Thats OD Green Molycoat on the bolts and knurled selector knobs!












I repacked the tapered "Sealed" spindle bearings after boiling them out in mineral spirits with a hypodermic needle in my grease gun. The little machine runs like a sewing machine and is too much fun!

Jerry

That's not Bubba'd .That looks great!

THIS is Bubba'd!
[img][IMG]http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c197/neilmitchell/000_0973.jpg[/img][/img]

Neil