1st Deer with my old Glenfield Marlin...

[perklo]

I put blood on my new/used 30+ year-old Glenfield Marlin 336 30/30 this weekend.



I had been drawn for bonus either sex deer permits at Eagle Creek WMA here in Tennessee. Saturday morning I was sitting on a nice hardwood ridge with the wind in my face. I could see 4 ends of other ridges running down into the bottom below me. Around 9 a.m., I saw what I thought was a nice doe working along the ridge about 100+ yards right across from me. It was in some fairly thick stuff, and I have a fixed 4x Nikon Prostaff on the gun, so I picked a good opening and pulled the trigger when the deer crossed it.

I didn't hear any crashing or thrashing, so I lined up on a big tree on the next ridge and went down the side of the ridge I was on, picked my way through the briars in the bottom and up the slope to that tree.

When I got there I realized that the deer had been on a forest path that was sunk about a foot lower than the rest of the ground. Right at my feet was the deer - it hadn't gone a inch! I hit it 3" below the the spine right at the diaphram, and it was lights out.

Turned out to be a spike with 6-7 inch horns, but good freezer stock none-the-less...

I did a trigger job myself on the gun, taking it from about 6.25 lbs down to around 3.75 lbs. I photgraphed the entire operation, and hope to have it posted in pdf format to my Guninkerin' website in the next month or so. I am revamping the entire site, so it will all go up at the same time once I edit my text and rebuild all the site structure.

I had a Marlin 30/30 many years ago and had regreted selling it more than once. I'm happy now! This has been "The Year of the Lever-Actions" for my buds. Friend Mike took this nice 6 pointer with his vintage Marlin .375 Win. this weekend. That about as nice a rack as you'll see on a sixer! He says the .375 at 85 yards was as close to the "Hammer of God" as anything he's seen...



- perklo  :wink: [/code]

[rickt300]

How do you like the Nikon 4x? What load were you shooting? I havent scoped my Marlin 30-30 AW yet but am thinking about it or putting a peep sight on it.  So far, I just got this gun, it shoots especially well with the 150 grain Winchester Power Point but with iron sights almost any ammo would shoot into 3 1/2 inches at 100 yards and make me happy.

[big medicine]

Thats alright! It is always nice find them with out tracking. Just something about hunting with a lever gun.

[perklo]

I think the 4x Nikon Prostaff is the best fixed 4x for the money bar none...

Nikon calls it the "rimfire classic" so I talked to the NikonUSA tech-reps on the phone and by email. I talked with two different reps that way and got the same answer.

The Prostaff 4x is built and tested to withstand recoil up to .375 H&H. It has a fairly fine reticle, but is adjusted to be parallax-free out to 75 yards.

Parallax distortion is all but nil out to 150 yards.

4 inches of eye-relief

Made with a metal-on-metal tracking mechanism.

Japanese or Korean glass assembled in Thailand or the Philippines, not in Red China...

Limited Lifetime warranty...

In other words, for a .22, 30/30, 45/70 woodsgun, .444 Marlin, .44 Mag rifle, .35 Remington, muzzleloader or slug gun, it is ideal!

$99.99 most anywhere including Wally World.

It is very bright and has a fairly good field-of-view.

My experience with the one I mounted on this Marlin is that all of the above is true.

It really gives a good option for a rugged fixed power that is better, brighter and more rugged than the Trashco/Simmons/BSA/etc $39.99 scopes that the reticle breaks in or won't adjust after 100 rounds or so.

No cheap plastic guts in these babies, but a BUNCH cheaper than a Leupold M8 fixed power scope.

All IMHO - perklo  

PS - I was shooting that same 150 gr. Win. Silver box Power Point...

[rickt300]

I also did a trigger job on my Marlin, it wasn't that it had a heavy pull but it was a bit rough. I put some electrical tape under the hammer when it is cocked and put some upward pressure on it by using a flat screwdriver and pulling the trigger about 30 times and it worked like a charm! I may try a Nikon 4x but for now I am going to try a peep sight first as I have numerous scope sighted bolt guns. I usually shoot some factory loads in any gun I buy to see if it si in working order. This one isn't the only lever gun I have owned in 30-30 so I have worked up many loads for them and over the past ten years I have settled on 31.5 grains of 3031 and either the Speer flat nose or Hornady's round nose 150 grain bullets in my 30-30 guns as a practical standard and this Marlin I recently acquired shoots this load very well.