I picked up a short barreled 336 at a LGS this morning. Pretty sure it is a Marauder. It’s been a working rifle at for most of its life and it has light pitting and flecking on the receiver and barrel. I can live with that. It appears to also have had a butt cuff for several years at some point and you can really tell where it was in contact with the wood for so long. I do not want to refinish the stock as I appreciate its well used vintage patina. Is there a way to improve the appearance of the butt stock without refinishing it
Make it three “no’s.”
If you want to keep that original patina look, remove the present stain/oil finish, very gently sand any raised fibers off and then refinish with Tung oil.
The scratches and any other characteristics that you like, will still be apparent, but the coloration should be consistent.
Andrew
i wasn’t even considering refinishing it, just wondering if I could minimize the ‘shadow’ the cuff left. I disassembled it and cleaned the stocks good with diluted Murphy Oil Soap. Once dry, I gave it a coat of renny wax and it looks a good bit better. Good enough for me anyway - I’m thrilled to have it.
I was going to suggest waxing the rifle and leave it alone. I would not refinish anything at all with the rifle. But.....you could send the rifle to me, and.......I'll take good care of it for you!!!
I've used this product on several old rifles I don't want to totally refinish. This was a Savage 23 sporter from the 20's. Just scrub with 0000 steel wool, wipe and let dry!
This stuff is the bomb!!
I'm a sucker for beat up .22's, and pick them off the gun show tables all the time.
Howard's and some 0000 steel wool, very gently rubbing away years of dirt won't make the mark from the slip on go away, but it will make the whole stock look better.
The trick is to know when to stop rubbing. You are cleaning, not sanding!
Then a couple coats of Johnson's Paste floor wax and you are ready to take that jewel back out in the field.
Looks great to me. Ensuring you have a legit marauder can be fairly easy. Check the manufacture date of the serial number. They were only made for a very limited time.
I would not refinish; I would refresh. Using OOOO steel wool and mineral spirits you can gently rub away dirt and old finish, but leave the patina. A few drops of Tru Oil hand-rubbed in, and no one will know you've done anything to it, but it'll look good..
I may give the mineral spirits and Tru Oil a go. Right now the barrel band screw isn’t cooperating at all so I haven’t had the foreshock off yet. I would want to do both together.
+1 for tung oil. It's really easy to blend in, you can't tell it's a re-finish. I used it on a stock that had significant damage to the finish from snow and sleet. I carried it on a three day very wet/cold hunt. Luckily, it was a stainless barrel, and I kept the receiver oiled, so no damage to the metal. Homer Formby low gloss (tung oil and polyurethane blend) is first choice at this workbench.
That looks great! Right now I am struggling to get the barrel band screw out. That sucker is tight. Looks like someone has already boogered the slot up a little bit so i’m reluctant to put too much umph on it. I don’t want to do anything until I can work on both pieces of the wood at the same time.
I have " gently restored" three 336s recently. All were missing their bullseyes....so I
Got replacements from Jack First Gunparts -- great qualiy.by the way.
After protecting the area around the new bullseye, with 2 layers of blue painters tape... I Sanded the bullseyes to flush and properly curved.
To Restore the stocks....I used 00 steel wool to remove about 2/3 of the old finish...then switched to 0000 steel wool to remove the rest of old finish down to the wood surface.
There is still old finish left in the pores of the wood....but I have removed all the surface scratches and a portion of the old dents...so they are deminished.
RESIST the urge to pull out your sand paper ! DO NOT PULL OUT ANY SANDPAPER.....It will only cause your restoration to LOOK LIKE A REFINISH.........DID I MENTION ..NO SANDPAPER
I rub on a THIN coat of TruOil .....let dry....and polish lightly with new 0000 steel wool.
Repeat 2 or 3 more times.....always lightly polishing with the 0000 wool after each coat......my results have always looked like an ..old finish....on a old rifle that was well cared for ?
My intention anyway.......hopefully I achieved it
You’ve received some great tips above and those definitely sound like your best bet.
But just tho throw this out there, for just cleaning off accumulated grime, oxidation, and especially years of cigarette smoke off of a old gun stocks, I’ve had really good luck with wiping them down with Ballistol.
It is a mineral oil base which actually moisturizes the wood and it cleans off the gunk really well without stripping the finish. It’ll definitely make a difference.
Thanks Colonel, I scrubbed it I’m with diluted Murphy Oil Soap and fine brass wool. That did about the same thing. Then followed that up with an application of rent wax. It minimized the butt cuff shadow - but it’s still there. I may just leave it as it is. It has rust flecking on the receiver and barrel so it will never be a prime specimen. It’s just the first Marauder that I’ve ran across in the wild. I probably gave more that it’s actually worth - but I’ve got a it and glad to add it to the collection.
When we go to gunshows my table mate looks for special order antique Marlins.
I'm always looking for that .22 that got used and abused until something better came along and it ended up on a gunshow table selling for a song.
It is very satisfying bringing those old workhorses back from the dead. Sometimes all the rifle needs is a good cleaning to look $100 better than it did when I brought it home.
Been there 409 and big A11 nailed it. The buttcuff left it cleaner in the area it covered which shows the diff in color, either of those ideas should improve dramatically !
Part of the problem with the shadow line is dirt and the other is the occlusion of light and air. The two sides have been living in different environments so it would require not only a strip down but probably a layer sanding to remove the surface - not something you want to do. You can soften the difference though by trying to clean the wood and re-oil. oils that darken slightly will hide the line better. Steam iron the wood will raise dings and scratches softening their look without removing them to maintain that historic look and may also help raise out some of the dirt and oils that built up and was concentrated along the cap line. Fine steel wool like others have noted will also add a fine smoothening of the surface which will also help defuse the line without removing any significant material.
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