A little humor. I'm reading this thread as I eat lunch. As I was reading down, I read this sentence: "The wife will be when we hunt woods instead of fields this year." Then took a bite of my burrito, and when I turned back to my monitor to continue reading, I accidentally skipped down to the second paragraph of the next post and read, "She gets shot quite a bit with reduced cast loads, and takes a walk or two every Fall...".
Took me a few seconds to sort it out.
I posted last night (see above), but I'll add a couple of details today.
Mine is a Marlin 336A, purchased just before the Remlin fiasco -- it's a good one. In the first few months of ownership, I took it down to minute parts and honed and polished it. Made it smooth as butter. That process is described in some detail in the Marlin 336 Club thread (sig line .30-30).
Once I get to Florida (leaving this week; plan to stay through spring before going back home), I plan to spend a lot of range time. Can't wait. I'm also gonna get a chance to hunt hogs -- hunters who are friends of a friend are going to guide us -- and I hope to hunt deer this year there. (Not sure how easy it'll be for an out-of-stater to get a tag this late, but the season extends into January IIRC.)
If finances allow (looks promising right now), I'm going to put a Leupold VX Hog (not the R) on it. I've always avoided scoping it, although I've thought about a scout scope (even bought the XS scout scope mount, which I may sell), but never got to it; read that they don't work well for cross-eye dominant people like me. It wears XS ghost rings that I put on because I don't shoot anything -- really even targets -- beyond 100 yds, and most shooting is close. When I hunt, it'll be in dense woods (Maine and Florida).
I do OK with the GR's (though my shooting time since putting them on falls in the category "pathetic"; just too busy professionally -- but that's gonna change this year). But as I get older, I'm finding I need optics. Hence the hog.
And, I've decided to go ahead and do what I've thought of for years: get 'er cut and crowned. I've always been a fan of short barrels, since I don't take long shots (I'll leave those for the marksmen), and navigating dense woods is sooo much easier. Not sure if I'll go all the way down to 16.5", or just to 17.5 -- which I think will keep mag count higher by one.
Finally, this thread is lacking w/o pictures. Here are my two current rifles. I sold a Marlin 39A recently. The 336 was first, and I loved it so much I wanted a .22 in lever. But didn't work for me (why is another story) so I let it go.
But the 336 will not leave my side until my death; and I'm going to make sure it goes to a good person after that.
and told me it would do all I ever need for the rest of my life, and here in Oklahoma it has and still is serving me well, so anyone gonna be using this excellent old classic cartridge this year?? 
