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Thread: Mossberg 464 for my first lever gun?

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    Mossberg 464 for my first lever gun?

    I'm interested in buying a lever action, but the only one I have any experience with is my dad's older Winchester 94 that was his grandpa's gun. I want to stick with 30-30 because I enjoy the Winchester, but for the price difference if I'm going to buy a lever gun that I know I'm going to shoot a lot and get dinged when I start hunting in the next year or two, I'm interested in the Mossberg if it is a reliable rifle.
    Any experience, good or bad, or even suggestions at other options would be appreciated.
    Thanks in advance for the help!

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    Quote Originally Posted by DavidBevis View Post
    I'm interested in buying a lever action, but the only one I have any experience with is my dad's older Winchester 94 that was his grandpa's gun. I want to stick with 30-30 because I enjoy the Winchester, but for the price difference if I'm going to buy a lever gun that I know I'm going to shoot a lot and get dinged when I start hunting in the next year or two, I'm interested in the Mossberg if it is a reliable rifle.
    Any experience, good or bad, or even suggestions at other options would be appreciated.
    Thanks in advance for the help!
    In my opinion, a nice used Marlin 336 is going to be a better investment than the Mossberg. The older Marlins are priced a lot higher now than when I bought mine, but not higher than a new Mossberg, I suspect. The Marlin will retain it's value, too.

    I don't recommend a new Marlin, by the way - the quality has slipped. If you do a little research, you can tell the rifles build before Remington bought them out. I personally prefer the guns built before the cross-bolt safety, but the main thing is to find a Marlin-built gun.

    I really like to 30-30 round and rifles that shoot it. Good luck!

    Andy

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    Quote Originally Posted by AndyLate View Post
    In my opinion, a nice used Marlin 336 is going to be a better investment than the Mossberg. The older Marlins are priced a lot higher now than when I bought mine, but not higher than a new Mossberg, I suspect. The Marlin will retain it's value, too.

    I don't recommend a new Marlin, by the way - the quality has slipped. If you do a little research, you can tell the rifles build before Remington bought them out. I personally prefer the guns built before the cross-bolt safety, but the main thing is to find a Marlin-built gun.

    I really like to 30-30 round and rifles that shoot it. Good luck!

    Andy
    I'm for sure keeping my eyes open locally for a used Marlin or Winchester, I had just real a lot of things about new Marlin quality slipping like you said and new Wincheser rifles are priced double if not more than the Mossberg.
    I've been scavenging the local pawn shops, one day I'll get lucky and find a Winchester like my dad's and regret ever considering something else lol

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    I was fortunate enough to pick up a Marlin 336 (30-30) about 25+ years ago at a small farm auction. It was one of the first rifles I bought for myself. It has been sitting in the safe for a bit, but they have such a cool look and feel to them. I need to take to a local shop and have them do a once over to make sure it is good to go. I would like to add a scope and use it as a backup deer rifle. I need to look at the serial number for the date of the build. Also, the Model is 336RC, not sure of the differences.

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    The standard Marlin 336 marking is RC or C, it kind of varied through production. My 1964 336 is stamped RC, my 1971 336 is stamped C. By far, the majority of the 336s left the factory as 20" barrel, pistol grip 30-30s. 35 Remington are not uncommon and straight grip (aka Texan) carbines are out there. My 1964 is a straight grip carbine.

    My Dad gave my brother and I each Winchester 94 30-30s for Christmas one year, I bought the Marlins and a H&R Topper later in life.

    I like the history of the guns and cartridge, it's easy to shoot and reload, and the 30-30 was incredibly common when I was a kid/teen.

    My scoped 1971 336 regularly shoots 1 - 1.5 inch three shot groups with 170 grain Hornady bullets. The rest shoot better than I do with iron sights.

    Andy

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    Well, I just did a serial number lookup and appears to be early 1968 as the serial number begins "AD". Honestly, I didn't realize it was that old and now I'm a little less inclined to use it for hunting. I know that is what they are made for, but not sure. I was considering adding a scope and maybe even getting it threaded for a suppressor.

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    Quote Originally Posted by FJCowboy View Post
    Well, I just did a serial number lookup and appears to be early 1968 as the serial number begins "AD". Honestly, I didn't realize it was that old and now I'm a little less inclined to use it for hunting. I know that is what they are made for, but not sure. I was considering adding a scope and maybe even getting it threaded for a suppressor.
    If it was mine and I was looking to scope and suppress it, finding out that it's older would probably make me more inclined to do it lol
    I was gifted a Mosin Nagant 91/30 by someone on another forum and I've thought a few times about suppressing it, but no matter what I do I'll never remove the original wood unless something happens to it, and even then I'd only remove it to replace it with another wood stock

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    Quote Originally Posted by DavidBevis View Post
    If it was mine and I was looking to scope and suppress it, finding out that it's older would probably make me more inclined to do it lol
    I was gifted a Mosin Nagant 91/30 by someone on another forum and I've thought a few times about suppressing it, but no matter what I do I'll never remove the original wood unless something happens to it, and even then I'd only remove it to replace it with another wood stock
    I guess if the age would increase its value it would be better to leave it alone, but I don't think that is the case with this rifle. I with you on the old stocks, definitely give it the classic look. A bit of a resto-mod with the wood stock, suppressor, and scope. And of course, get the action all cleaned up. If/when I decide to do it, I will report back.

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    If you do go looking for an old Marlin 366 (I have two) see if you can check the barrel. The older "gooder" ones have "JM" stamped on the barrel. They are preferred, as they seem to have fewer issues.

    I also have an old Winchester 94 Trapper in .357 with a 16" barrel. It's a really hoot when loaded with Speer Gold Dot 158-grain .357 Magnum rounds. Shoots POA/POI at 75 yards, which for a brush gun for deer in NE Texas is about perfect.

    And if you have a steel plate rack at 25 yards, it's enormous fun!

    Hope that helps.

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    I would suggest hunting for a Marlin 30TK if you must supress a 30-30 lever action. They have a 3/4 tube magazine and 18" barrel, much simpler to have a gunsmith chop 1.5" off the barrel and thread it than having them do that work plus shorten the magazine tube on your current carbine.

    I think adding a supressor to a lever action 30-30 is a terrible idea anyway. Take a gun whose only real attribute is compactness and quick handling and stick a long weight on the end of the barrel? Not to mention that running a heavy enough flat/round nose bullet to be effective at subsonic velocities will result in a rainbow trajectory. The relatively large case capacity and need to use slower powders to achieve desired performance at lower pressures makes the 120+ year old round much less practical for supressed use than a 300 BO.

    Just because you can do something does not always mean you should.

    Andy

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