The Marlin Project

by JimT, Texas, Saturday, November 26, 2022, 16:33 (664 days ago)

A few years ago I met a lady who was selling a bunch of guns that had belonged to her brother. Most of them were very rusty, having been left in a gun safe that was in a non-heated/non-air conditioned garage for more than 3 years. I bought some from her and helped her sell the others. One of the guns was a fairly new Marlin 336 .. though you would not know it was new when you first saw it.

I stripped the gun completely and soaked it in penetrating oil for 3 or 4 days. Then I started sanding it with oiled sandpaper. Eventually I had to draw file some places to take out the pits. I used an electric sander at times but most of it was done by hand.

Once I got it cleaned off I decided to cut the barrel to 16 1/2" length.

I used a very fine hacksaw blade and cut slowly so I didn't have to remove a lot of metal on the muzzle to finish it.

I shortened the magazine to fit the barrel.

I wanted the gun to look old so I left a little oil on it and applied cold blueing.

The gun originally was a "Walmart special" made with a cheap laminated stock. I got a nice walnut stock from Mic MicPherson and fitted it. I thinned down the fat Marlin forend to more like with Winchester 94.

I put a blank in the rear sight dovetail.

Then I mounted and bore-sighted a scope.

When I had the gun apart I polished the internals and modified a few things to help it run smoothly.

On the range ---

When it was finished I gave it to my son-in-law for his birthday.