I found my "vintage" Marlin lever gun - E prefix serial # - 1948! ?

[bedbugbilly]

Many of us on this site are “older” . . . including myself. The older I get, the more it sinks in that the time that lies ahead is much shorter than that which has passed behind us. A few years ago, I sort of drew up my “bucket list” of things I wanted to do. One was to reload and shoot 30-30s. For over 50 yers, I’ve been a BP shooter and consider myself very fortunate with the experiences I’ve had with that and the friends I’ve made along the way.

My only experience shooting 30-30s was years ago when I would deer hunt with my father-in-law in the U.P. of Michigan and that was over 40 years ago. I usually used his old Winchester 94 that he had bought as a kid in the very early 1930s. I always wanted that rifle for sentimental reasons but before his death, he gave it to his son . . . who promptly sold it for the money he could get out of it. I had others through the years but ever shot them and they went in the way for trades or other things I wanted more. A year ago, I missed a Winchester 94 that was made I 1898. My fault as I got busy but another one will come along sometime. I did buy a Winchester 94 “Ranger” to play with and that’s working our fairly well with the exception of some primer problems.

Anyway . . . I read the posts on here and it got me to wanting to add a nice vintage Marlin 30-30 just to have something of a different “flavor”. I had looked at a few but since I’m “old”, I really like the feel of a “good old gun”. You older guys know what I mean . . . nice walnut, great metalworking – from a bygone day where they just seem to have been put together better than some of the ones today.

Now what I know about Marlins wouldn’t fill a sewing thimble. I’ve never owned a Marlin but have owned just about every other make over the years of either long guns or pistols. Yesterday, I was at one of the LGS to consign a couple of guns from “thinning” things out and to pick up some powder and primers. Of course I had to take a gander at what they had in their racks as far as Winchesters and Marlins. There wasn’t much in the line of Winchesters that I took a fancy to so I began to work my way down about a half dozen Marlins of various calibers and ages. Several were nice . . . bone felt pretty good but the forearm had a long lengthwise split in it from the nose back a few inches. I got down to the last one and quickly noticed that the magazine was not the same length of the barrel. As soon as I picked it up, I fell in love with it. I had no idea of how old it was but it definitely was “vintage” and well taken care of. I opened the action to check it to make sure it was unloaded and the action was a slick as butter. I closed it and put it up to my shoulder and I felt like a teenager at the prom with the prettiest gal in school . . . I feel in love with it immediately.

So . . . I bought it! I knew very little about it but knew the barrel was not “micro groove”. After getting it home, I started doing some research and came up with it as a Model 336 SC – sporting carbine. Next was a search to see if I could find out the year of manufacture. I finally found a site where you could put in the “prefix letter” and it would tell you the year. Well . . . I was quite surprised when I put in the letter “E” to find out that the rifle is a 1948 date of birth – the same year that Marlin introduced the 336 to the public! Boy, was I tickled to find that out! (Serial number is E 37XXX)

I’m posting some photos in case any of you Marlin people would like to see it . . . we all love gun porn anyway.

I am thinking this is probably an “estate gun”. Whoever owned and used this took very good care of it as the stock and bluing are in nice shape with only some bumps, etc. that you’d expect from a rifle that was used for hunting. It just has good “honest wear” and that’s how I like my vintage firearms. The rifle has a Williams peep added to the receiver and the rear sight is gone – the dovetail is open so I’ll get a “filler” for that to make it look nice. The front sight has been replaced with a hi viz sight . I can just imagine the owner growing older and having more difficulty seeing the sights so he changed it out to make it better. I can relate to that! The rifle is set up for sling swivels and I presume it originally came that way from some of the early advertisements I’ve been able to find.

Now some will want to know . . . “how much did you give for it?”. Well . . . $390.00. Whether I got a deal or over paid isn’t really that important to me. I found a nice vintage rifle that will serve me well for the shooting and plinking I want to do. Yes, I could have found something cheaper but this rifle just felt “right” . Had I passed it up, I would have regretted it. It will be well taken care of just as the previous owner did. My wife and I don’t have kids but I already know the young man that I will be passing this on to when it is time and hopefully he will do the same. If my date of manufacture is correct, it’s a nice 68 year old rifle that still has a lot of life left in it.

I don’t load “heavy”. I am currently playing with “cat sneeze loads” in my 30-30 ranger as well as moderate loads – cast boolit only. I have a 118 FN mold I got from NOE and just got my 311-152 RN from NOE today. It is close to the boolit I’ve been casting from my old Ideal #6 tool which has been shooting well in my Ranger.

I’d like to hear from others as far as what they are shooting out of their 336 SC if they have one. Any information, comments, criticsm, straightenout or flogging would be greatly appreciated. What information I’ve found on the date of manufacture has been found on the internet and if anybody has more accurate information or different information, I hope you’ll share.

I know some like Winchesters, some like Marlins and some like others . . all for different reasons. Personally, I like both of them because they are both different and a “creature unto their own”.

Just wanted to share! Thanks!

[savage99nc]

Many of us on this site are “older” . . . including myself. The older I get, the more it sinks in that the time that lies ahead is much shorter than that which has passed behind us. A few years ago, I sort of drew up my “bucket list” of things I wanted to do. One was to reload and shoot 30-30s. For over 50 yers, I’ve been a BP shooter and consider myself very fortunate with the experiences I’ve had with that and the friends I’ve made along the way.

My only experience shooting 30-30s was years ago when I would deer hunt with my father-in-law in the U.P. of Michigan and that was over 40 years ago. I usually used his old Winchester 94 that he had bought as a kid in the very early 1930s. I always wanted that rifle for sentimental reasons but before his death, he gave it to his son . . . who promptly sold it for the money he could get out of it. I had others through the years but ever shot them and they went in the way for trades or other things I wanted more. A year ago, I missed a Winchester 94 that was made I 1898. My fault as I got busy but another one will come along sometime. I did buy a Winchester 94 “Ranger” to play with and that’s working our fairly well with the exception of some primer problems.

Anyway . . . I read the posts on here and it got me to wanting to add a nice vintage Marlin 30-30 just to have something of a different “flavor”. I had looked at a few but since I’m “old”, I really like the feel of a “good old gun”. You older guys know what I mean . . . nice walnut, great metalworking – from a bygone day where they just seem to have been put together better than some of the ones today.

Now what I know about Marlins wouldn’t fill a sewing thimble. I’ve never owned a Marlin but have owned just about every other make over the years of either long guns or pistols. Yesterday, I was at one of the LGS to consign a couple of guns from “thinning” things out and to pick up some powder and primers. Of course I had to take a gander at what they had in their racks as far as Winchesters and Marlins. There wasn’t much in the line of Winchesters that I took a fancy to so I began to work my way down about a half dozen Marlins of various calibers and ages. Several were nice . . . bone felt pretty good but the forearm had a long lengthwise split in it from the nose back a few inches. I got down to the last one and quickly noticed that the magazine was not the same length of the barrel. As soon as I picked it up, I fell in love with it. I had no idea of how old it was but it definitely was “vintage” and well taken care of. I opened the action to check it to make sure it was unloaded and the action was a slick as butter. I closed it and put it up to my shoulder and I felt like a teenager at the prom with the prettiest gal in school . . . I feel in love with it immediately.

So . . . I bought it! I knew very little about it but knew the barrel was not “micro groove”. After getting it home, I started doing some research and came up with it as a Model 336 SC – sporting carbine. Next was a search to see if I could find out the year of manufacture. I finally found a site where you could put in the “prefix letter” and it would tell you the year. Well . . . I was quite surprised when I put in the letter “E” to find out that the rifle is a 1948 date of birth – the same year that Marlin introduced the 336 to the public! Boy, was I tickled to find that out! (Serial number is E 37XXX)

I’m posting some photos in case any of you Marlin people would like to see it . . . we all love gun porn anyway.

I am thinking this is probably an “estate gun”. Whoever owned and used this took very good care of it as the stock and bluing are in nice shape with only some bumps, etc. that you’d expect from a rifle that was used for hunting. It just has good “honest wear” and that’s how I like my vintage firearms. The rifle has a Williams peep added to the receiver and the rear sight is gone – the dovetail is open so I’ll get a “filler” for that to make it look nice. The front sight has been replaced with a hi viz sight . I can just imagine the owner growing older and having more difficulty seeing the sights so he changed it out to make it better. I can relate to that! The rifle is set up for sling swivels and I presume it originally came that way from some of the early advertisements I’ve been able to find.

Now some will want to know . . . “how much did you give for it?”. Well . . . $390.00. Whether I got a deal or over paid isn’t really that important to me. I found a nice vintage rifle that will serve me well for the shooting and plinking I want to do. Yes, I could have found something cheaper but this rifle just felt “right” . Had I passed it up, I would have regretted it. It will be well taken care of just as the previous owner did. My wife and I don’t have kids but I already know the young man that I will be passing this on to when it is time and hopefully he will do the same. If my date of manufacture is correct, it’s a nice 68 year old rifle that still has a lot of life left in it.

I don’t load “heavy”. I am currently playing with “cat sneeze loads” in my 30-30 ranger as well as moderate loads – cast boolit only. I have a 118 FN mold I got from NOE and just got my 311-152 RN from NOE today. It is close to the boolit I’ve been casting from my old Ideal #6 tool which has been shooting well in my Ranger.

I’d like to hear from others as far as what they are shooting out of their 336 SC if they have one. Any information, comments, criticsm, straightenout or flogging would be greatly appreciated. What information I’ve found on the date of manufacture has been found on the internet and if anybody has more accurate information or different information, I hope you’ll share.

I know some like Winchesters, some like Marlins and some like others . . all for different reasons. Personally, I like both of them because they are both different and a “creature unto their own”.

Just wanted to share! Thanks!

A thing of beauty is a joy forever! Beautiful rifle


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[xdmalder]

Looks like you have a very nice waffle top. You don't have original front or rear sight on it but the receiver sight is worth $100 or so. You got a good deal on it! Don't D&T the receiver. Marlin people frown upon that

[MrWolf]

Seems you fell in love with her so who cares what it cost. I love my Marlins, enough so that somehow I ended up with a few duplicates 8-). Congrats on a great find.

[izzyjoe]

That's a great price on that 336, you'll love it!

[Prairie Cowboy]

Beautiful rifle. So that's what a waffle top is.

I was just thinking that in 1948 some hunters were probably grumbling and complaining about the round bolt replacing the square one, thinking that it was not traditional or the same quality. :?: :)

[Mk42gunner]

I like Winchester's for hunting, they seem lighter than Marlins to me, but there is something about the "Waffle Top" Marlins. Mine is a 1950 336A in .35 Remington. It came with a Lyman 56 receiver sight and a Marbles brass bead front. Curiously, it was also missing a dovetail filler. I made one from a broken long dovetail sight, it more or less is diamond shaped now.

The barrel dovetail was a little loose, so I had to tighten it a bit to get the filler to stay in.

I sure wouldn't mind finding a SC in good shape.

Robert

[4719dave]

nice find ..

[gnoahhh]

They are indeed nice guns. I picked up a 1949 SC for $150. Don't know why it was so cheap. I just paid the man and skedaddled. Now, round out your .30-30 lever gun education and rustle up a Savage M1899 or 99 in .30-30. If the Winchesters and Marlins are the Fords and Chevys of the lever gun world, the Savage is the Cadillac.

[FredBuddy]

Bedbugbill:

You will find a ton of information at "marlinowners.com", and a group of people much like this site.

I too load light loads for my 30-30's (and others), enjoy shooting them more, and especially enjoy introducing non-shooters to the sport with the pleasant recoil. And less expensive per shot than today's 22LR ammo!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Despite gnoahhh's experience, you got a deal. As with Winchesters, I think Marlins from that era have a certain something they don't any more, round bolt or not. I've always thought the less magazine the better, hanging onto the barrel and changing its point of balance, unless you plan on doing a lot of missing.

Marlin owners are well served by a book, Col. Brophy's "Marlin Firearms". It is an expensive great doorstep of a technical and company history, if that sort of thing interests you enough, written by their technical manager, rather than a user's book. But using a .30-30 isn't so difficult. My own vintage Marlin is a .32 rimfire and centrefire 1892 of about 1905, not the most practical rifle to feed, but I have formed a few rounds from 5lb. of primed but unloaded cases I bought when the Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House decided they would never prove that many 9mm. shotguns before the age of the raygun, and sent them to auction.

Some would say it is blasphemy to think of scoping a rifle like this, but we all get older, and I saved fifteen years of shooting for a friend once, by scoping his BSA rimfire. This rifle just scrapes into the era when you can get a scope that gives away next to nothing to modern ones, and some (well, there's me) would say have advantages. The 1950s Bausch and Lomb steel scopes had external adjustments, in far more durable mounts than the long target scopes, which come under their own name and also the Kuharsky brothers. They do come up on eBay sometimes as great bargains and sometimes the subject of a competitive feeding frenzy. But you are on safer ground with this specialist dealer:

http://www.bauschandlombscopemounts.freeservers.com/scopes.htm

You can leave the adjustments in the mount, and switch the scope between as many rifles as you like. No prizes for guessing why that idea vanished from the marketplace.

[beemer]

Several years ago I picked up a 336A (24" barrel with half mag) in 30-30 that had a 1949 date. The rifle was in excellent mechanical shape with what I call closet wear to the finish. Someone had drilled and tapped it for a scope but looks to have never had one on it. I put a Williams peep on it.

The only problem I had was finding a boolit with a small enough nose, I couldn't seat the boolit out to a normal seating depth so I reamed the throat lightly.. I really like this rifle but I haven't really worked it out yet. I have used 311291 and a Lee 170 flat nose and IMR 4198 with good results so far.

Dave

[W.R.Buchanan]

You done good on that one. Nice looking gun that wouldn't take much to clean up if you so desired. Mine is a 1958 model and it needed some TLC so I took it apart and struggled with trying to match the fore end and buttstock color for several years now and finally put it in the safe.

These threads got me re-interested and I got it out last night and am going to finish it up. mine is the first year of Micro Groove Rifling. but so what. It will still shoot.

I like these guns because they respond well to simple deburring and refinishing. They are simple to work on and become very nice afterwards.

They also have lots of inherent character as show by the one above with the Marbles Compass. In fact I might just inlay one into the Butt Plate of mine.

Any way you done good and when you do decide to sell it ask about $450 for it, I could easily get $600 here in CA for that gun if it was clean. If have sold several that I have "cleaned up."

Randy

[northmn]

http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii425/Davidpeck16/Buck%202011/Buck2011002.jpg (http://s550.photobucket.com/user/Davidpeck16/media/Buck%202011/Buck2011002.jpg.html)
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii425/Davidpeck16/Marlin30-30001_zps0e7c895f.jpg (http://s550.photobucket.com/user/Davidpeck16/media/Marlin30-30001_zps0e7c895f.jpg.html)
Have a couple of them that I like. The one came D&T for a scope with the typical 3X9 on it. Got rid of that and put the Red Dot on for one year. It is a 35 Remington. The other one came with the Redfield receiver sight. They are heavy made sights but the rifle shot about a foot high factory loads. Replaced the front sight with a fiber optic and switched to sight to another rifle, a 32-20 CL and put on a Williams as it sets lower. Its a 30-30. Shoots cast typical of a 30-30 with normal rifling (Ballard in this one) where they shoot most any ones.
The old 35 has taken more deer with the Hornady LE's. As to loading these older rifles, so far they take reasonable manual loads. I do not load a lot of deer loads for the 30-30 as they are pretty inexpensive at the local stores. I really could get by with just a 30-30 as the cast loads would make it great as a tractor/4wheeler/pickup rifle in the off season and use of the factory loads in deer season. The 35 took a max load of Lever powder without a hiccup when 35 ammo was scarce.
Really could D&T to scope the 30-30 as I already screwed it up a little. It came with a broken buttplate so I fitted a recoil pad to it with a slightly shortened stock to match the factory fit which I like. Just have not had the heart to do so.
Now have a Mossberg 464 with a scope on it.

DP

[TXGunNut]

You did well, as broke as I am these days I would have figured out a way to buy it. I've had 30-30's for years but until recently I didn't think it worthwhile to load for it while I could find ammo for $7 or so. Turns out it's fun to load for, even more fun to cast for! Have fun, looking forward to a range report.

[northmn]

I do load the 30-30 with "plinker" loads as they are fun to shoot and keep the eye sharp. The older Marlin 30-30's like my old one are about as easy to load and shoot cast as any I have had, as are Winchester 94's. Where some of the old military rifles I collected and shot with cast seemed to be fussy (often throating issues) the lever 30-30's just shot about anything. I did shoot a cast bullet at deer for a couple of years or so but got lazy and just now shoot factory. Did not mean to imply that loading for a 30-30 rifle is not worth doing, but I spent a bit of money on a 357 Rossi and a Marlin 32-20 and basically had I gotten the old Marlin 30-30 first or kept a 94 I would not have needed one as the 30-30 is that versatile with hand loads.
The 30-30 lever is probably about as much rifle as I would need in my area. Now that they have the Hornady LE's I could get by fine with a scoped 30-30. Just for giggles I got a Mossberg 464 on sale and scoped it and am going to try the LE's as many really like them. I shoot the old Marlin quite a bit now with the cast bullets. Got a little lazy though and don't do as much bullet casting as I used to. Cast a lot more now in my later years for Bass and Northern Pike and won't turn down crappies and walleyes. Cuts into my shooting funds also.

DP

[cayuse]

I noticed you use IMR 4198 powder in your comment about the marlin 336 .30/30 with a 170 gr pb bullet
How much of that powder did you use for that round.
Also what is the diameter of the round you shoot, .308 or .309, and any idea of its hardness.

I picked up a 1980 mfg Marlin 336 that was not fired very much, I don't believe it had a hundred round fired through it and it was never cleaned, Bore was black as midnight but a wire brush and some original Hoppy No 9 cleaned it up like new.
I have several pounds of IMR 4198, I also shoot a marlin 1895 micro grove, with lead bullets {Lee mold}
with very good accuracy {on paper, 12 in. groups} at 200 yds., which is why I have so much 4195 powder.

I use Williams peep sights mounted of the receiver.

Cayuse

[beemer]

I use 19 GR. of IMR 4198 and a small fluff of dacron with the 311291, the Lyman book calls for 18-24 grs. The barrel is six groove ballard style and slugs close to 309. I size to .310, the neck is tight and will not accept a bullet any larger. As stated before I had to ream the throat slightly to get the 311291 or the Lee 170 the chamber at all.

Several years ago I played with a Micro-Groove 30-30. It didn't seem to give any problems except that bullet size was a little more critical and shot very well.

Dave

[Shuz]

I golombed onto a real nice 1949 336RC perch belly waffle top in .30-30 at the last gun show. It is NRA 95% as far as overall condition, with the only detraction being that some former owner put a rear sling swivel where the Marlin "bullseye" should be. Other than that, the bluing is excellent, the action is smooth, the trigger is about 3 lbs and it shoots cast boolits from the Ballard rifled bbl real well! I just hope my 75 year old eyes can handle the open sights, if not, I'll sell or trade it to someone who would appreciate such a fine old girl.

[bedbugbilly]

Shuz - don't give up too early on her in regards to the sight/your eyesight. I have eyesight problems due to diabetes. I now have to shoot left handed instead of right. When I purchased the rifle shown in my original post here, I too, was worried about how I would be able to do with it. I have been pleasantly surprised. The "old girl" does pretty well - no thanks to me! I've been playing with a 150 ish cast boolit - plain base - tumble lubed in lox/paste wax over 7.5 grains of Red Dot (since I have a 8 pound jug of it and I like it in my old 1905 Danzig GEW98 8mm Mauser as well).

I doubt if I will ever be able to shoot "clover leafs" but I'm doing fairly well so far. Just playing at 50 yards on paper. With the load I'm using, I'm getting no leading or other issues so I'm happy. It shoots well, has a butter smooth action and a great trigger pull to it. My hunting days are over but for fun plinking, I am going this 336SC. It's one of those rifles that once you shoot it, you ask yourself why you didn't get one earlier! It's the first Marlin I've ever owned in over 50 years of shooting but if I were to run across another one, I'd snatch it up if I could!