Of all of the guns I had or have, this one is by far my favorite.
I was never a big fan of westerns, but I always loved the old Henry and Winchester lever-action rifles. One year my wife surprised me with a brand new Marlin 336W .30-30 for Christmas. Still my favorite Christmas present ever!
Enough about you, what about the gun?
The Marlin 336 series is not hard to find and fairly inexpensive. To be honest, my wife picked mine up at Wal-Mart. I will admit, I was surprised that this beautiful rifle came from Wal-Mart (my mortal enemy!) The .30-30 is one of the oldest, and still one of the best, deer rifle cartridges around.
Sure she looks the part, but how does she shoot?
In a word, beautiful. The trigger has a slight bit of play before grabbing, then about a 1/4" of pull before she goes BANG! The action is smooth and easy. My wife LOVES shooting this rifle just as much as I do! The .30-30 is a substantially larger round than the .22lr my wife is used to shooting and the recoil will remind you of that every time. But it's nothing intolerable. My 12 year old son asks to shoot it every time we go out. The stock is capped off with a hard-rubber butt pad which, while it does little to nothing to absorb recoil, but makes a comfortable fit in your shoulder.
I don't see any rail. How hard is it to mount a scope?
One thing that separates the 336 from other .30-30's is that the Marlin has a side ejection port as opposed to the top ejection port found on most other .30-30's. This helps facilitate the mounting of optics to the top of the rifle. The 336 comes with an adjustable rear sight and a fully enclosed front sight which, by them selves are exceptionally accurate and easy to use. The top of the 336 is pre-tapped for screws to mount a picatinny rail or scope rings.
How accurate is it?
The .30-30 is a relatively short range rifle cartridge. It's effectiveness lies in the 100-200 yard range. However with Hornady's LeverEvolution polymer tipped .30-30 bullets I easily hit 300 yards with my 336.
What else is there to say?
The Marlin 336 holds six round in it's tubular magazine + 1 in the chamber. It is very easy to disassemble and clean, although a flat-head screwdriver is required. Because this rifle does not poop where it eats, there is very little carbon on the bolt or in the breech to clean. It has never once failed to feed, eject, load, or fire as a result of a rifle malfunction.
I have had this rifle for about 10 years and every time I go out to the range, no matter what I'm going to practice that day, the Marlin 336W goes with me. Every time!
I may be biased, but I give Marlin a 10 out of 10 for the 336W. An outstanding firearm at a reasonable price!
I was never a big fan of westerns, but I always loved the old Henry and Winchester lever-action rifles. One year my wife surprised me with a brand new Marlin 336W .30-30 for Christmas. Still my favorite Christmas present ever!
Enough about you, what about the gun?
The Marlin 336 series is not hard to find and fairly inexpensive. To be honest, my wife picked mine up at Wal-Mart. I will admit, I was surprised that this beautiful rifle came from Wal-Mart (my mortal enemy!) The .30-30 is one of the oldest, and still one of the best, deer rifle cartridges around.
Sure she looks the part, but how does she shoot?
In a word, beautiful. The trigger has a slight bit of play before grabbing, then about a 1/4" of pull before she goes BANG! The action is smooth and easy. My wife LOVES shooting this rifle just as much as I do! The .30-30 is a substantially larger round than the .22lr my wife is used to shooting and the recoil will remind you of that every time. But it's nothing intolerable. My 12 year old son asks to shoot it every time we go out. The stock is capped off with a hard-rubber butt pad which, while it does little to nothing to absorb recoil, but makes a comfortable fit in your shoulder.
I don't see any rail. How hard is it to mount a scope?
One thing that separates the 336 from other .30-30's is that the Marlin has a side ejection port as opposed to the top ejection port found on most other .30-30's. This helps facilitate the mounting of optics to the top of the rifle. The 336 comes with an adjustable rear sight and a fully enclosed front sight which, by them selves are exceptionally accurate and easy to use. The top of the 336 is pre-tapped for screws to mount a picatinny rail or scope rings.
How accurate is it?
The .30-30 is a relatively short range rifle cartridge. It's effectiveness lies in the 100-200 yard range. However with Hornady's LeverEvolution polymer tipped .30-30 bullets I easily hit 300 yards with my 336.
What else is there to say?
The Marlin 336 holds six round in it's tubular magazine + 1 in the chamber. It is very easy to disassemble and clean, although a flat-head screwdriver is required. Because this rifle does not poop where it eats, there is very little carbon on the bolt or in the breech to clean. It has never once failed to feed, eject, load, or fire as a result of a rifle malfunction.
I have had this rifle for about 10 years and every time I go out to the range, no matter what I'm going to practice that day, the Marlin 336W goes with me. Every time!
I may be biased, but I give Marlin a 10 out of 10 for the 336W. An outstanding firearm at a reasonable price!
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