Greetings all...I found a link to this org on the Bersa owners forum.

I'm in King County near Maple Valley (Renton USPS address). I was an active kitchen table FFL in the late 80's but for various reasons dropped out of the shooting sports. Twenty five years later and three years into retirement, I recently got back into shooting/reloading and I'm having great fun 'fine tuning' my collection. I have revolvers, semi-autos, rifles, shotgun including a few NIB handguns (leftovers from my FFL days). My "pride and joy" is a Marlin 336ER with a total of 19 rounds through the tube. If you are familiar with Marlins, you know the 336ER is special.

Other interests are Corvettes ('98, '84), Ham Radio, motorcycling (Kawasaki Vulcan Classic '01 with 105K miles, '02 Nomad with 52K miles).

Anyhow, I'll be checking in from time to time.

Welcome!

Welcome to WaGuns, vulcan73! Thanks for checking in. It sounds like you live fairly close to me; in fact, you could probably hear oldkim and me blasting on the RFGC skeet range yesterday.

So ... any thoughts of getting an FFL again, or is that all behind you?



Doc Nugent ... ?

Mornin'...and thanks for the reply. I've been going to the RFGC after a 25 year absence.

No plans for the renewing the FFL or hunting for that matter. I'm just having fun blasting paper at the RFGC. I've sold off some lightly or unused guns and replaced them with newer pieces namely a CZ-75BD (9mm semi-auto), Rossi M92 (357 Magnum, lever action) and a 1957 Marlin 336RC (35Rem, lever action) which I restored to like-new condition.

Forgot to add to my initial posting that I am ex-Navy (LTjg. USS Belmont, USS Lexington), VietNam ERA, '67-'69.

Yep, it was DocNugent's Bersa posting that had a link to this site.

Thank you for your service in the Navy!

I don't know much about Marlins. Can you tell me about the 336ER and why it's special? Got pics?

Welcome to WaGuns!

The 336ER was chambered in 356 Winchester, now obsolete. They made only 2441 rifles in this caliber then dropped it for reasons I don't know. The 35 caliber bullet packs much more punch than the traditional 30-30 and makes a terrific 'bush gun'. The 35 Remington is close to the 356 Win but no cigar. Anyhow, the Marlin crowd is known to give more than $1000 for a 336ER. Mine is like-new but no pix's to post. I'm working on that. Any photo of a recent 336 is typical of the ER version.

I got the gun in this caliber after hauling my 30-06 in the mountains deer hunting. It hit me one day that the 30-06 can launch a bullet into low earth orbit while a realistic shot at an elusive deer wandering down a logging road might be 100 feet! I concluded that a lighter rifle would make more sense for our forrested terrain. Frankly, I chose the 356 Win over a 30-30 only because it was a heavier bullet which I thought was a good idea.

Re-Navy...many in my age group joined the Navy or USAF to avoid VietNam but as a kid and long before VietNam, my dream was to go to sea. After 3 years active duty, I continued sailing in the Merchant Marines for eight more years.

Thank you for your service!

Thanks for the lesson on the 336ER. You said it only has 19 rounds down the pipe . . . do you intend to keep it that way? Or do you reload for it, and intend to shoot it again?

I haven't decided on parting with the 336ER. I don't plan on using it for hunting and I think it's bit much for plinking. It really should be turned over to someone who will use it. If I change my mind about hunting, I have other long guns for that purpose namely the 1957 Marlin 336RC in 35 Rem and a Ruger 44 Magnum carbine.

I'm bascially alone in life with one unmarried daughter. No brother-in-laws, son-in-laws, grandchildren, nephews or nieces to pass down my stuff when I kick off. I gave my daughter instructions to pass my guns on to a riding buddy but that can change.

Forgot to mention that I do reload all calibers that I shoot other than .380. I have about 150 rounds of new unfired 356 Win brass plus the 19 rounds that I did fire one time. New factory loaded 356 Win is not available to my knowledge.

Thanks to Dan and Josh for your welcomes...

Welcome

Welcome....

Dad!

HA! I left myself wide open for that one, eh son??

i too was in the navy but i worked for a living (Corpsman) sounds like a nice colection you have going there.

tell me more about your corvette ok ok bring on the jokes

OK, Michael, thanks for your greetings. Yeah, I was MPA on the USS Belmont (AGTR-4) for 18 months making two voyages to Africa and A-Division Officer on the training carrier USS Lexington (CVT-16) out of Pensacola. I stood OOD watches on the Belmont and engineering watch officer on the Lex. I also was on the John F. Kennedy for six months as a civilian.

The vets; well the '98 C5 is my daily driver when it's raining otherwise I'm two-wheeling it on one of my bikes. The '84 C4 was my wife's car and has been sitting in the garage for the past 11 years since she passed away from cancer. My daughter won't let me sell her mom's car but that's OK as I enjoy getting it out from time to time. The C5 is a comfortable car but the C4 is a harsh riding, high performance machine. The differences in these two cars is night and day.