For the rest of M4C, I was impressed with all of the examples of Joe’s handiwork over the last few years and immediately thought of him when I stumbled across a beat up Marlin 30AS sitting behind the counter in the local pawn shop. The bore was decent, the action was okay. The rifle had been a working deer gun for someone for about 20 years before it ended up in the rack of used guns. The scope, with its see-through rings was a throw-away. $160 later, here’s what I had…
The stock was the the standard birch stock, but had been repaired at some point with a screw through a split in the wood:
The forearm was in good shape, the bluing was worn and there was some surface rust pits.
Joe turned this beater into a very special rifle for me and my family for many generations to come.
I just showed this thread to my wife, who also thought that the transformation of that carbine was simply astounding. Maybe she can help me keep an eye out for a project gun…
Very nice! I recently purchased my first 336…a 1995 manufacture with the cross-bolt safety. It has some VERY nice wood and appears to have been shot and carried very little. All the bluing is like-new and the action is silky smooth.
When I was a kid, I killed my first deer with a 336…so I naturally wanted one. I found one for $400 out the door in .35 Remington. So I had to have it.
The local Cabela’s near me had a bunch of used 336’s in the rack yesterday. They were .45-70, with the short barrel and crossbolt saftey. They wanted $575 for them, however.
They looked in very good condition, almost new.
I’d really prefer the 30-30, there is just nothing around here that needs a “thumper”. And none of the ones at Cabela’s were 30-30’s, of course.
Are there any decent synthetic sticks available for these? I never see the with a synthetic set. I saw Wild West Guns sold a Kevlar set for the 1895s but that was a $400 or $500 option. I’m all for functional upgrades until those upgrades damn near cost as much as the base rifle.