I guess this all depends on what your definition of "honest wear" is.
My 34 year old Marlin is oiled and the wood does look like new. The metal? Not so much.... It has bluing wear at the muzzle from firing. There is some minor bluing wear on the sharper edges of the reciever -I suppose from sliding the thing in and out of soft cases and saddle scabbards. There is some bluing wear on the sharper edges of the lever, too, which is probably due to the whole scabbard / case thing coupled with cycling the action.
I know how honest this wear is because I did it myself. And it took me 34 years to do it, and what wear there is really isn't much. That 34 years includes frequent trips to the range, hunts for deer, pigs, and elk in weather fair and foul, and other handling. I've never been afraid to use the rifle, but I've been very careful to use it with care and not abuse it. I know how much my mom and dad sacraficed to save enough to buy it for me.
When people see my Marlin at the range, they almost never believe that it is as old as it is and thier comments generally include something like "Well, you must not use it much." But I have, and do.
Sadly, many of the Marlins that I see at shows and on the used racks have NOT been used with the same degree of care. The wear I most generally see appears to be the product of carelessness rather than careful use.
I guess the long-winded point of this is that I judge the wear I am willing to accept based on how much my own 336 has accumulated during its 34 year life thus far. And that ain't all that much, considering the frequency of use, the places its been, and the extremes of weather it has been exposed to. In other words, if I am looking at a "used" Marlin, it better not look any more "used" than my first one does, or I'll be one of those who passes on it, leaving it for someone whose definition of "honest wear" does not comport with my own. I don't think I've missed out on all that much by adhering to this standard.
JP
