Marlin 30AR in30-30 what else?

[Frank46]

Well went to the first gun show here in lafayette loosiana. Not a bad show, plenty of mil surps. Saw a beautiful mint K31 with blonde stock and bayonet for $380.
The next prize was a M95 steyr in 8xwhatchamacallit with bayonet for $189 and you get to remove all da grease. I found a orphan marlin 30Ar (what the heck is an AR?. in almost mint condition with those horrible tunnel mounts.A deal was struck and she's now mine. Really nice shape with actual hard rubber buttplate, impressed checkering and a first here in loosiana NO RUST anywhere. Now the fun starts. the previous owner must have had a fixation about these mounts coming loose. Don't know what he used but after breaking on screwdriver bit. Out came the heavy artillery in the form of a Dewalt electric drill and a freshly sharpened 1/2" drill bit. Opened up the hole where a special bit would go through. Only now the whole handle goes through. Got the 4 mounting screws out. Looks like airplane glue or somthin like that. Mission was a success. There oughta be a law that says if something has to be taken apart then don't use locktite or glue. Stock has a few small dings, finish is fine. Not much wear on moving parts. She's home and a keeper. Frank

[waksupi]

Frank, if you apply heat, most of those will loosen up.

[imashooter2]

The 30A( ) series guns were special run 336's made for department stores. They came with hardwood stocks in lieu of walnut and used a forearm cap in lieu of a barrel band. They also had a simple pressed steel rear sight and carbine style front sights with no ramp or sight hood. The stocks were usually not checkered, though some examples are. I have a 30AS that I bought new back in the 80's. IIRC, it was $25 - $30 cheaper than the 336 that was right next to it. To me, the smooth stock, carbine front and lack of white line spacers made the gun look cleaner and more like a lever rifle "should".

You've bought a great rifle. Enjoy it!

[Buckshot]

.............Of course you don't need one, but GPC has NOS 30AS barrels, round taper turned with the dovetails cut, threaded and chambered for like $50 I think it was. Oh yeah, no Micro-Gruv :-)

...............Buckshot

[Frank46]

Waksupi, I drilled out the acess holes on thetunnel mounts so's I could get a screw driver in and get at the screws. Go all of them off and found the previous owner had glued the mounts on with some glue. Most of thats gone as well. Put on a williams FP336 rear sight, cleaned the bbl (no copper) and now she's good to go. Will have to slug the bbl to find out what the bore dimensions are and go from there. There was one winchester 94 in 32 win spl. Dealer wanted $475 for it.
For what I paid for the marling I'm happy and did not contribute to the fantasy of paying for over priced winchesters. The fantasy part of course related to the dealer who set the price. Will probably be there the next gun show. Frank