Well, it's been almost one year since I walked into that dusty old pawn shop looking for a beater .30-30 to use as a truck gun. I found exactly what I was looking for and walked out with a 1970 Marlin 336 that was as crusty a rifle as I have ever seen. It looked like it had been in a flood or something or maybe just laid in the toolbox in the back of somebody's truck for 30 years or so. At some point it's previous owner decided that it needed to be painted gray. At any rate it had been seriously neglected but it wasn't a bad deal for $150 considering that it came with an older 4x Redfield widefield on top. Yes sir, this was going to be my beater truck gun for sure. Yet, there was still something gnawing at me about this rifle. I started cleaning it up a little and then decided that I would strip the stocks and paint them with truck bed liner for a tough finish seeing as how it was going to live out the remainder of it's days behind the seat of my truck. I completely disassembled the rifle and let everything soak in a bath of Kroil while I went to work on the stocks. I stripped them as I usually do with Easy-Off oven cleaner and after washing and rinsing I wiped it down good with denatured alcohol just to make sure there wasn't any oily residue leftover. It was at this point that the wood revealed itself. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. About 10 seconds later I knew what I had to do. It has taken almost a complete year but this rifle has returned to it's former glory. Stocks were stripped, sealed, wet sanded and finished with about 20 coats of hand rubbed tung oil. I replaced the Marlin bullseye in the buttstock because the previous owner used it as a marker for installing a swivel stud. I allowed them to cure several months before finishing off with carnauba wax in turpentine. While that was going on I cleaned the internals and took them to a gunsmith to be reblued. While there I had the barrel cut and crowned. I finally got everything back together last week and am very pleased with the results. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. And before anybody asks, yes, this is the same gun.
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And then there is the wood. Oh, the wood!
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This rifle no longer wear the Redfield scope and it has been replaced with the more traditional Williams WGRS with a Merit disk. Needless to say that she is no longer destined to be a truck gun and now holds a prominent position in my safe. Somehow, I feel a responsibility to take game with this rifle. She suffered through many hard years of abuse and neglect and now it's time for her to be used for her intended purpose. Maybelle (as I call her) will be going out for field trials soon and I can't wait to see how she performs.
The wood was what blew me away. I have never seen anything like that on a factory Marlin. Not a 336 anyway. All of the metal components soaked for a solid six or seven months in Kroil which really helped loosen up the gunk and there was LOT'S of gunk. Some sort of weirdo grease (not cosmoline) was all over the internals. It had dried out and was gritty. That's why the bore looked like it was rusted when in all actuality it was just that strange grease-like substance. Take a look at these other two pictures to get an idea of just how bad this thing was inside. It took lot's of elbow grease to get it nice and clean before taking it to my smith to be reblued. It's amazing what the right amount of TLC can do to an otherwise lost cause. The only problem is that I still don't have a truck gun, but I'm looking.
Hat's off to the fine folks at Bullseye Bluing in Columbus, GA for one heck of a reblue job.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
And then there is the wood. Oh, the wood!
Before
After
Before
After
This rifle no longer wear the Redfield scope and it has been replaced with the more traditional Williams WGRS with a Merit disk. Needless to say that she is no longer destined to be a truck gun and now holds a prominent position in my safe. Somehow, I feel a responsibility to take game with this rifle. She suffered through many hard years of abuse and neglect and now it's time for her to be used for her intended purpose. Maybelle (as I call her) will be going out for field trials soon and I can't wait to see how she performs.
The wood was what blew me away. I have never seen anything like that on a factory Marlin. Not a 336 anyway. All of the metal components soaked for a solid six or seven months in Kroil which really helped loosen up the gunk and there was LOT'S of gunk. Some sort of weirdo grease (not cosmoline) was all over the internals. It had dried out and was gritty. That's why the bore looked like it was rusted when in all actuality it was just that strange grease-like substance. Take a look at these other two pictures to get an idea of just how bad this thing was inside. It took lot's of elbow grease to get it nice and clean before taking it to my smith to be reblued. It's amazing what the right amount of TLC can do to an otherwise lost cause. The only problem is that I still don't have a truck gun, but I'm looking.
Hat's off to the fine folks at Bullseye Bluing in Columbus, GA for one heck of a reblue job.
