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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 striped 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.
Before
After
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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.
If you can see the big picture, you are not focusing on your front sight.
Ah, the home is graced with a real beauty now! Congrats to you for doing the "right" thing. I agree, to have covered up THAT wood would have been a shame. Impressive, to say the least!
Griff,
SASS/CMSA #93
NRA Patron
GUSA #93
There is a fine line between hobby & obsession! AND... I'm over it!!
No I ain't ready, but let's do it anyway!
Wow, I remember when you posted the pictures of it last year and thought to myself, now that is a project rifle!
Great work, it looks fantastic. Guess it wont be your truck gun unless your headed for a BBQ
ScottS
"No arsenal, no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."
-- Ronald Reagan
Wow! That old gal has found a loving home. Best of all, you're not going to make a safe queen out of her.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
Thanks guys. 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.
If you can see the big picture, you are not focusing on your front sight.
I've take home some pretty rough looking orphans, but I have to say I'd have probably passed on this one. That stuff looks just like rust in the pics.
You did a great job. How did the cost of having it reblued locally compare to sending it back to Marlin?
"I have reached up to the gun rack and taken down the .30/30 carbine by some process of natural selection, not condoned perhaps by many experts but easily explained by those who spend long periods in the wilderness areas."~Calvin Rutstrum~
"You come to the swamp, you better leave your skirt at the house"~Dave Canterbury~
John
Family, blue steel & wood, hot biscuits, and fresh coffee.
Luke 22:36 Romans 12:17-21 Ephesians 4:26-32
"Life brings sorrow and joy alike. It is what a man does with them - not what they do to him - that is the true test of his mettle." T. Roosevelt
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Member Of The N.R.A.-North American Hunting club-Syosset Gun Club
The entire rifle is very nice but THE WOOD is just outstanding and realy makes the rifle. What's so great about it is that you went through a lot of time and effort to restore it to a thing of beauty and now you are going to shoot it. Just as it shoud be. Good on ya.
I think that you are, unfortunately, never going to find a "truck gun" if you keep putting that kind of care into restoring neglected rifles. That gunk in the action was apparently no match for your skills. And what really amazes me is that wood. It's hard to believe that Marlin could take a piece of wood like that and manage to hide it under all of that dull factory finish. You can barely see the grain in the original photos and it looks like most other Marlins on a dealer's rack. But the after pictures really reveal what they originally had to work with. Just stunning. An excellent job.
Nice, you've got a fine looking Marlin there now! Congrats. Never ceeces to amaze me what beauty lies beneath the finish of Marlin stocks. Great job!
Steve
"The Original Point and Click Interface was a Smith & Wesson."
Life member of NRA, USPSA, ISRA, AF&AM Pontiac #294
LIUNA #996 for the last 32 years, retired after 34 years.
Great job! There are some real treasures to be found among those beaters sittin' on the used rifle racks. I recently rebuilt a 1957 336RC that I picked up cheap. It now means more to me than any that I could have bought new.
Don
Congrats to you for doing the "right" thing. I agree, to have covered up THAT wood would have been a shame. Impressive, to say the least! 
she sure is a beut now.
