Marlin pistol grip to straight grip?

[FergusonTO35]

Hey guys. I'm planning to convert my Glenfield 30 from pistol grip to straight grip stock. From what I understand, all you need is the straight grip stock, finger lever, and trigger plate/lower tang. Now, do these parts interchange across the centerfire Marlin lever action rifles and carbines? I've read in a few places that they do but just want to be sure.

[Salmoneye]

Now, do these parts interchange across the centerfire Marlin lever action rifles and carbines?

Pretty sure that the 'Texan' hardware crosses over all 336 series, but I do not believe that you can use the parts from an 1894 to make the switch...

The die0hards at MarlinOwners.com can answer that, or probably a google search as I know I have seen this discussed at length over there...

BTW...

Harry Ferguson was a genius...

[FergusonTO35]

Yes, he was. I did some bush hogging on my TO-35 last night in fact. If I ever make it to the UK I'll definitely visit the Harry Ferguson museum.

[Salmoneye]

I have an 8N that still hogs, and without that Ferguson lift, it would be pretty much a Farmall (I said ducking)...

[FergusonTO35]

When I was a kid we had a TO-30, which is basically an 8N with position control and an OHV engine. I like the old Fords too, great little tractors.

[Ziptar]

Now, do these parts interchange across the centerfire Marlin lever action rifles and carbines? I've read in a few places that they do but just want to be sure.

You can swap around the butt stocks from the models 39, 336, 1894, and 1895 with minor fitting.

The finger lever, and trigger plate/lower tang are specific to the 336 and its clones.

[FergusonTO35]

Thats what I was thinking, thanks.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Or you can remove the curved portion for the pistol grip on the lower tang.

All of the curvature for the pistol grip is built into the lower tang's lower portion. The upper portion of the lower tang, the part that actually mates up to the stock, is strait.

It would take an hour or so to file off the excess but it is certainly doable. However it will still take out the serial number.

Another alternative is to keep the pistol grip, and do something else to alter the look of the gun, like refinishing the stocks.

In the case of my 1958 336 .30-30 I completely reshaped the clubby fore-end so it looks like like something other than a club, and refinished the stocks with a nice oil finish that I took to a much higher level than usually seen on generic Marlins.

I had originally intended to cut the barrel to 16" but decided that just refinishing it was a better way to go and required less outside services.

Randy

[FergusonTO35]

Yes, mine is pre-'68 and has the serial on the lower tang. If I ever did this I would ask my gunsmith about the legality of restamping the number on the receiver and let him do it. As far as the pistol grip itself goes, I think it doesn't look out of place on the half magazine Glenfield 30. The full mag tube/barrel band guns are the ones that cry out for a straight grip stock, I've never understood why Marlin didn't make a straight grip option a regular catalog item. It certainly wouldn't take much to do it. I'm hoping a beater Glenfield or Marlin 30 shows up around here for cheap so I can put a straight stock on it.

[rbertalotto]

Look in contents here:

www.rvbprecision.com

[izzyjoe]

I've never understood why Marlin didn't make a straight grip option a regular catalog item.

marlin did make a straight grip. they called it the texan, and there was the marauder, the 30 TK. they made several of them, but they did'nt make a whole lot of them.

[6pt-sika]

We had what would have been a really nice 336 Texan in 35 REM in the shop last week some idiot had left out behind the barn in a soft case for about 6 months to a year !

Now it's nothing but junk metal and cracked wood !

This one was an early to mid sixities rifle and while I'm not a big 35 REM fan anylonger I woulda tried to pick this one up if it had been for sale and in decent shape !

[6pt-sika]

I have a Marlin circa 1967 336-44 . In some books they call it a 336 Magnum and in others they call it a 336T also . Whatever one cares to call it this style Marlin in a 44 MAG is my favourite 44 MAG lever action . This is actually the second of these 336-44's I've ever owned and both were made in 1967 .

Be kinda cool to have the same thing in a 30-30 and 35 REM .

[FergusonTO35]

Texans and the few other straight grip 336's are really rare around here and fetch big bucks on the auction sites. Also, I strongly prefer the forearm retained by a tenon and forend cap rather than a barrel band. As far as I know all the straight stock 336's used barrel bands.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I was also looking at turning my 1958 336 into a take down gun with the 20" barrel and half mag and then a second 28" barrel and full length mag in 38-55.

I would retain the pistol grip:

If you look at enough pics of the higher end guns that were produced by Winchester and Marlin you will see just about every configuration imaginable.

A good place to start is on Trunbulls website that has a gallery of high end Marlins as well as high end Winchesters.

It's a good place to get ideas on what looks good and what doesn't.

I personally don't like leverguns with button magazine tubes as I think it makes the barrel look spindley.

A pistol grip on a full length magged rifle looks great IMHO.

Randy

[FergusonTO35]

Different strokes for different folks. I prefer button/half mags and pistol grips on longer barrelled rifles, especially if they are scoped. For carbines, I prefer straight stocks, full length mags, and receiver or dovetail sights.