Good evening everyone,

I inherited a Marlin 336RC that my father used for hunting. It may or may not have belonged to his father before then. Although he and I went out shooting a number of times it was mostly with the shotguns or .22 rifle that he owned so I never heard the full story behind this beautiful lever action. From what I read elsewhere this rifle was manufactured in 1952.

Parts, as far as I know, are original with the exception of the soon to be replace buttplate as the original was broken accidently.

This particular RC is chambered for .30-.30 Winchester and I do know for a fact that my father's hunting buddies loved it as I was told that if I were to ever go on a hunt with them I would have to use that rifle and not one of my own. :)

Reason for posting is to find out history of this rifle. Google yielded a ton of results, mostly of people selling their rifles and I am not interested in the value as there are only two ways it will leave my hands: theft or death. With theft, the thief better hope I do not catch him or her.

Thanks! :)

Lady Valkyrie

Is the '52 a flattop? If it is drilled and tapped for a scope it would not be one.

FYI:

Marlin year of manufacture maybe determined from the following list of letter/numeral prefixs to the serial number:

1946-C
1947-D
1948-E
1949-F
1950-G
1951-H
1952-J
1953-K
1954-L
1955-M
1956-N
1957-P
1958-R
1959-S
1960-T
1961-U
1962-V
1963-W
1964-Y,-Z
1965-AA
1966-AB
1967-AC
1968-AD, -68
1969-69
1970-70
1971-71
1972-72

Starting in 1973, the year of manufacture maybe determined by subtracting the first two digits of the serial number from 100:
Example: SN 2512345 would have been made in 1975 [100 - 25 = 75].

Sounds like you have a really nice rifle. Old Wolf asked a good question, is it drilled and tapped for a scope? If not it is in it's original condition in that respect.

If it was built in '52 it is most likely Ballard style rifling, not microgroove. I believe microgroove rifling began in 1955 and has been the general rule since for most Marlin centerfires, as far as I know for all 30WCF's.

I'll bet that rifle could tell some great hunting stories.

SS

The Model 336 Regular Carbine (RC) was the original update of the Model 36 and the basis for all the other models that followed. It was introduced in 1948 and continues today as the 336-C (changed from "RC" to "C" in 1960).

Some noted changes in the model during your rifle's time-frame:
1952 - A pistol grip cap and white spacer was added along with a white spacer under the buttplate.
1956 - Rifling changed from ballard to Micro-Groove.

This info is from The 336. BTW, welcome to the forum and it is great to see a lady with interest in her father's firearm (an assumption on my part)! Are you going to do any hunting with it?

Ranch Dog - can you tell me again where I can buy "The 336"?

Valkyrie - the older Marlin flattops look like this -

http://www.marlinowners.com/gallery/albums/userpics/thumb_MAR%5B2%5D.%20336RC%20REC.JPG

This is my '48 336, no pistol grip cap and white spacer, has the older model 36 lever:

http://www.marlinowners.com/gallery/albums/userpics/thumb_MAR%5B1%5D.336RC%20R.JPG

Yours might look similiar?

Thanks for the replies and the welcome to the forum.

My father did have holes drilled and a scope mounted as the primary use for the rifle was to go hunting. I have yet to fire the Marlin as he rarely took it out to shoot when we went plinking. I found some ammo in the rifle case that he used and it looks to be rather new and in great condition so I will probably take it out to a friend's house to fire a few shots into whatever is available and the berm behind the range, I am sure.

I grew up around firearms. Mostly rifles and shotguns. I tried my hand at hunting for a couple of years. Mostly pheasant and deer. Hunted one season with a bow. I enjoyed hitting targets more than animals so I eventually just went with him to do shoot clay pigeons, which I got rather good at. :D

I will try and charge the batteries for my Fuji digital camera and post a couple of pics tomorrow. Other than the buttplate that I broke (will order a new one next week), the rifle looks great. Oh there are one or two spots on the metal. I will need to see how much it will run to have those removed. I will get a couple of photos of those too and see what y'all think. The serial number is J55XXX so it is definately from '52 which means it was purchased by my grandfather.

As for an interest in firearms. Yes, I sure do and had a few of my own before taking my father's into my home. The lever action rifle is so different from what I used growing up and from what I see today that I have become very interested in the history of the rifle in general and the history of it in my family.

Thanks again!

LV

You probably can't 'fix' the metal without rebluing all of it, FYI. If there is a rust spot or two, gently wipe down with fine-grade (like '0000') steel wool, and some sort of gun oil, till the rust is gone. There is also 'touch up' bluing compound that you can use when the rust is gone, but odds are it won't match exactly.

Bare metal will be fine if it is kept oiled.

Good luck!

Rebluing, that was what I was trying to think of. :) Thanks.

Oh and I confused the rifle with another firearm I have. No scope mounted and no holes for one either.

LV

Old Wolf...

http://www.powderranch.com/books_detail_page.asp?ID=7

Thanks Ranch Dog.

I was at the pistol range today, trying out my recent purchase of a S&W 10-10 police trade, in .38 caliber. I was finished, and drinking a cup of coffee, talking to one of the owners, and glanceing around at the used rifles. When I happened to see a lever action with the bullseye on the stock. I asked to see it, and noticed it was a round bolt in .30-.30 cal., and that it didn't have the hammer safety, so that told me it was at least 15 or 20 years old, or older. I asked the owner to look up the year if at all possible, and he said it was made in 1953. Which, agrees with what I had just read here. It has a flat top which is untapped. The rifling looks new, and the bluing looks as good as a new rifle. The wood is very nice. I have been thinking about buying a new 336c from another local dealer. I've always wanted the 336 for some reason. Probably, to go along with the other Marlins that I have. But, they are all new, so the older 336 intrigued me. Especially when I seen the price of $199. I bought it . In fact, I had just got on here to ask a question or two about it , when I happen to see this thread. Now, all I have to do is explain this to the wife.

dbard,
Welcome to the board. There's a lot of good people with good information here, and if you have a question someone here will have the answer, or point you in the right direction.

Don't try to explain, just take your lumps like the rest. :D :D You can always plead your case as a great savings over what you would have paid somewhere else, and that you just couldn't pass up such a good deal.

Lee L.

Lee L.
Thankyou for the welcoming. I thought that I had posted a question or a reply here before, but I saw the post number under my name as being my first. I am here quite often trying to pick up bits of information. If I have a question, I go through the posts, and usually find the answer. So far, so good. As far as explaining my purchase to my wife. When I told her how much a new one would cost, compared to what I paid for the used one, she was fine with it. Thanks again Lee

You did good - congrats! And welcome to the forum, you'll fit right in....

You did good - congrats! And welcome to the forum, you'll fit right in....

Good info on the 336 and greatly appreciated. I recently acquired a 336RC but it has a gold trigger and a gold saddle-ring and have not been able to locate any info on this difference from the regular 336 RC. The serial # (thanks for that info also) indicated manufacture in 1965. Anyone able to tell me about the gold trigger & saddle ring? Pic attached.

Good info on the 336 and greatly appreciated. I recently acquired a 336RC but it has a gold trigger and a gold saddle-ring and have not been able to locate any info on this difference from the regular 336 RC. The serial # (thanks for that info also) indicated manufacture in 1965. Anyone able to tell me about the gold trigger & saddle ring? Pic attached.

I just picked up an old 336RC as well. Like yours, Hondo, it has the brass? trigger and saddle ring, but mine was manufactured in 1967. I am interested to see if anyone here knows any more about these features.

I was also wondering if any 336 afficionados use peep sights on their rifle. I took my new marlin to the range and just had a trouble getting a decent group at 50 yds. I have an old .22 with peeps and a hooded front sight which is great for target shooting but am wondering how much a similar setup on my 336 would obscure/hinder finding and staying on a moving target (say a hog) in the field. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or comments on the subject.