I found a very nice 336CS .30-30 circa '88 on a used gun rack last week. The gun had some minor pitting on the OUTSIDE of one side of the muzzle and minor marring on the left side of the receiver (not even enough to get through the bluing). The bore is pristine and the rifle has clearly been shot very little. The butt and forearm on this piece are a nice, straight grained walnut that has a rather orange tint. (If I feel ambitious, I may strip/stain/Tru-oil it later to change color, but the present stock is also like new). This 336 also has the crossbolt safety (something I actually WANT on a young hunter's rifle as it provides another layer of protection while unloading the gun). Price: $199.00.
A smith friend of mine cleaned up the trigger for a ten spot. I found a like new Burris Fullfield 2.5X scope on eBay for a bit more than $80.00. Another friend's sport's shop even had a brand new, weaver "tip-over" base and rings which he sold very reasonably. (I guess I woudn't have needed to mess with the tip-over, but it matches a '62 vintage 336 RC .35 Remington in my safe). The rust spots cleaned up rather nicely with a bit of 0000 steel wool and some oil and the spots responded well to a little Perma Blue. The long and short of it is that for a bit more than $300.00, I put together a quality rifle for my soon-to-be 16 year old for this deer season. It's a set-up that he could easily pass on to his children.
All in all, I think this simple project gun represents a terrific value. (And yeah, I know, I ought to have a digital camera about this time.). Let's hear it for trolling by used gun racks!
