I was at my LGS earlier in the week, and he had just taken in a nice group of guns on consignment. I am a regular up there, and even fill in when needed, so I get lots of "special" opportunities when they come in. Anyway, I was there on Monday and was asked if I wanted to hit the range later in the day to test fire some rifles they took in. I said; "sure, what you got"? They had 2 lever rifles, both were 30-30's, one was the Westpoint I ended up buying, the other was a Western Auto (Marlin), also in 30-30. We also took out a couple of 30 caliber, carbines as well as a sweet little Savage pump action 30-30.
Long story, short! I ended up really liking that little Westpoint, and ended up buying it. I gave $240 for it. It is in really nice condition, and shot really well. It is an early 1968 according to the "AD" at the beginning of serial number. The Westpoint is a "store branded" Marlin 336, that was made for the Cotter and Company Hardware store out of Chicago (which was bought out by True Value). I did some research and there were only a bit over 7,000 manufactured during a 10 year run. This model is the only rifle Marlin ever made with a brass saddle ring AND a pistol grip stock. All the other brass saddle ring rifles Marlin ever made are the "texan" style, which is a straight stock.
My "real" reason for getting it is kind of strange: Our Son spent 7 years at West Point (in charge of the Superintendent's security detail!). I realize there is absolutely no correlation between the two, but it is still kinda cool.
I'm really looking forward to getting to the range tomorrow with my "new" lever rifle. I think I'll also take out the Rossi 92 in 45 colt to have some fun!
I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for morning!!
Here are some pictures. This rifle is all original and has no work done on the wood or the metal, other than a good cleaning.
Long story, short! I ended up really liking that little Westpoint, and ended up buying it. I gave $240 for it. It is in really nice condition, and shot really well. It is an early 1968 according to the "AD" at the beginning of serial number. The Westpoint is a "store branded" Marlin 336, that was made for the Cotter and Company Hardware store out of Chicago (which was bought out by True Value). I did some research and there were only a bit over 7,000 manufactured during a 10 year run. This model is the only rifle Marlin ever made with a brass saddle ring AND a pistol grip stock. All the other brass saddle ring rifles Marlin ever made are the "texan" style, which is a straight stock.
My "real" reason for getting it is kind of strange: Our Son spent 7 years at West Point (in charge of the Superintendent's security detail!). I realize there is absolutely no correlation between the two, but it is still kinda cool.
I'm really looking forward to getting to the range tomorrow with my "new" lever rifle. I think I'll also take out the Rossi 92 in 45 colt to have some fun!
I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for morning!!
Here are some pictures. This rifle is all original and has no work done on the wood or the metal, other than a good cleaning.
for good measure
..