Lever Gun Project

Boar Hunter

Senior Member
Hayseed, your 336 project has gotten me interested in a similar project. My hunting partner has an older 336 in .35 Rem that I have committed to buy. I like short rifles and I especially love lever rifles. In my imagination, I would shorten the barrel to 16.5, maybe shorten the magazine tube to 4 rounds, strip and oil rub the wood, and finally add a Leupold 1.5x5.

Easier said than done!
 

mark-7mag

Useless Billy Director of transpotation
If you go to youtube and search for "marlin 336 re-assembly", you will find a 5 part tutorial from a guy called "willwood487." I haven't watched the videos, but I expect that is about what you are looking for. If you do take it apart, make sure you have a gunsmith screwdriver set(doesn't have to be a fancy one). Don't do it with a regular screwdriver, or you will mess up the screw heads. Also, here is a schematic of the 336: http://www.urban-armory.com/diagrams/marlin33.htm . If you need to, use the schematic part numbers/names and make notes as you disassemble. If we were closer, I'd be glad to help you.

Thank you!
 

hayseed_theology

Senior Member
Hayseed, your 336 project has gotten me interested in a similar project. My hunting partner has an older 336 in .35 Rem that I have committed to buy. I like short rifles and I especially love lever rifles. In my imagination, I would shorten the barrel to 16.5, maybe shorten the magazine tube to 4 rounds, strip and oil rub the wood, and finally add a Leupold 1.5x5.

Easier said than done!

That sounds sweet! I took mine hunting last night. I love the short length. When you get started, you need to start a thread and take pics so we can follow your progress.
 

hayseed_theology

Senior Member
Update 9/6/14

After I finished up this project, I toted it in the woods during deer season but never took a shot on a deer. I wanted to redo the crown with the proper tools. I recently got the tools to work on "Another Lever Gun Project."

So, I decided to fix the crown up on this puppy last night. The tool is pretty simple. Go slow. Keep cleaning up the chips. Keep oiling it up.

Crown came out well.

I finally tried some hand loads in it today. I did the ladder test. I was shooting at 50 yds because of the 2.5x scout scope. I feel like 100 yds introduces too much aiming error on my part with that scope. I am very happy with the results. The load is 150 gr Speer Hot Cor bullets being pushed by WW748. The best group was .476". I can do some more tinkering with it, but I am pretty happy with an MOA group at 50 yds out of a lever action.
 

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hayseed_theology

Senior Member
So, I've decided to revisit this project. Since I finished it, I have been pretty happy with it. Still haven't taken a deer with this particular rifle, but it I have enjoyed carrying it in the woods and shooting it at the range. That said, there are two things I would like to change: the scope rail and the furniture.

I really like the scout setup. It's a ton of fun to shoot and points very easily. But the scout scope is not perfect for every occasion, and so, at times, I do wish I had the opportunity to switch to an optic mounted in the traditional location. So I am going to swap the Weaver Scout Rail out for an XS Lever Rail to give me more options as far as mounting an optic.

I have grown less happy with the color that the wood came out, and I have grown even less pleased with the spacer and recoil pad. Cutting the stock too short still eats at me. So, I placed an order with Boyd's Gunstock Industries last week. I watched eBay for weeks looking a deal on some walnut stocks but I finally got tired of waiting. I decided to spend a little more and get something a little less traditional.

Stay tuned. Hopefully I will have a few minutes to work on it after the new stocks come in.
 

mark-7mag

Useless Billy Director of transpotation
Looking forward to seeing it
 

hayseed_theology

Senior Member
Quick update:

I placed my order with Boyd's on March 8. The stocks arrived today, so that's right at two weeks with economy shipping. That is considerably quicker than many of the reviews I had read online.

I ordered 4 pieces: a buttstock and forend set for this Marlin and a set for an H&R Handi Rifle (upcoming project). Unfortunately, the buttstock for the Marlin was not correct, so it's gotta go back. I will say that I had no trouble getting a hold of a customer service rep at Boyd's over the phone. She directed me to email them with the order number and pics of the mistake. Within a couple hours, I received a response from another customer service rep asking if I wanted a partial refund or for the mistake to be corrected. I chose to get what I originally ordered and paid for, so they sent instructions for sending it back and are supposed to email me a return shipping label. I was worried about trying to return it because I had read some horror stories online about their customer service, but I have been quite pleased with their response so far.
 

hayseed_theology

Senior Member
The buttstock arrived today. Boyd's corrected the mistake in a timely manner. Overall, it looks pretty good. The bolt hole in the tang looks to be drilled a touch off center. I think I can work with it, but worst case scenario, I drill it out some and add a pillar.

Here's a little sneak peak of the stock. Like I said, a little less traditional, but I think it's gonna be pretty cool.
 

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hayseed_theology

Senior Member
7/16/17 Update #1

Three months after receiving the stocks, I finally had a few hours to put them on the gun. Before the stocks, I swapped out the the Weaver Scout Rail for the longer XS Sights Lever Rail. Some folks have issues with alignment, but my installation was about as simple as they come. I like the fact that it offers multiple optic mounting locations.

The Boyd's forend went on pretty easily. It is very snug and doesn't rattle like my factory one did. The buttstock took some fitting. I'd say about an hour and a half of slowly filing and chiseling by hand then test fitting. A Dremel is a much faster way... to ruin a new stock. Patience is your friend.

The Boyd's stocks are designed to fit various years and models of Marlin lever actions, so a little bit of finish inletting and less than perfect alignment is to be expected. The fit is snug, but the wood is a bit proud on the receiver and the tang. This gun isn't a show piece, so I'm not terribly worried about it. But, I wouldn't buy a factory gun with those tolerances. I could shave the wood down, but then I have to refinish everything. So, I will leave it for now.

I ordered the stock with Boyd's laser cut checkering. The particular style of checkering I chose was a scale pattern. Combined with the pepper laminate stock color, it is not your traditional lever gun furniture, but I am pleased with it.

Pics of the new stocks and lever rail.
 

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hayseed_theology

Senior Member
7/16/17 Update #2

Pics with the scout setup.
 

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hayseed_theology

Senior Member
7/16/17 Update #3

One pic with a 3-9x40 mounted in the traditional location.

And just for fun, the last pic is digital night vision with an IR illuminator.
 

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DannyW

Senior Member
Great post, I read the whole thing and looked at every picture. Very much worth the 20 minutes it took. Expert descriptions, detailed narrative, and well documented with pictures. You should take a little time to compose a booklet with the pictures and information to be kept and then handed down in the family with the gun. I bet a great-great grandson would get a kick out of receiving the gun someday along with the story of how it came to be.

As a hobby for myself and a few good friends, I work on guns myself. Mostly woodwork...repairing cracks, fine tuning stock to action fit, oil finishing the wood. After you do this yourself a few times, and see how painstaking and time consuming it really is, it makes you wonder how gunsmiths make a living, don't it?
 

hayseed_theology

Senior Member
Great post, I read the whole thing and looked at every picture. Very much worth the 20 minutes it took. Expert descriptions, detailed narrative, and well documented with pictures. You should take a little time to compose a booklet with the pictures and information to be kept and then handed down in the family with the gun. I bet a great-great grandson would get a kick out of receiving the gun someday along with the story of how it came to be.

As a hobby for myself and a few good friends, I work on guns myself. Mostly woodwork...repairing cracks, fine tuning stock to action fit, oil finishing the wood. After you do this yourself a few times, and see how painstaking and time consuming it really is, it makes you wonder how gunsmiths make a living, don't it?

Thanks for kind words! Great idea of the booklet to go with the gun.

I agree. Gunsmithing is a great hobby, but like most hobbies, it requires more time, money, and patience than I anticipated. I would love to do it to make some money on the side, but the cost for insurance and tools is prohibitive for the weekend warrior. And like most hobbies, I'd probably grow to hate it if I was dependent on it to pay the mortgage and put food on the table.
 

hayseed_theology

Senior Member
Well, I sold the Lever Gun Project. It was one of my favorite rifles that I owned, but I needed to thin the herd a little and that gun didn't have any sentimental value (unlike others in the safe). I had swapped out the M8 for an FX-II. I had to take some decent pics to sell it, so I figured I'd post them here as the end of the journey.5D00F3F4-C2CE-4B06-8872-0F726DDE17EC.jpegAB17E091-6AE3-479D-A218-A54387D3F80A.jpegFC23E7DA-F82C-4072-92C8-CEA7F45F9229.jpeg370F3D01-5B74-47D6-8F93-1F7534C18BBB.jpegD87442A5-9EFD-4CBC-BB42-021A99B2239A.jpeg
 
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