[spittinfire]

I personally can't stand them and don't think they have any place on a lever action rifle. One requirement when I started shopping for a 336 was that it did NOT have the crossbolt safety. It made the search a little tougher but IMO, it was worth the wait.

 

[Big Shrek]

The only good thing about the crossbolt safety, for those of us old rascals who don't care for them...
is that you can install a Marlin Saddle Ring Kit into the place where the safety goes rather easily

 

[axxe55]

personally think they make a nice looking rifle look crappy and cheap.

 

[spittinfire]

personally think they make a nice looking rifle look crappy and cheap.

I agree. They clutter things up and get in the way of an already great rifle.

 

[Big Shrek]

Probably why I have a 1951 336RC waffle-top

 

[spittinfire]

That is handsome! It may be why my 336 was born in the same year as I....1981.

 

[1894]

Nice looking carbine Shreck
I have the SC from the same year

 

[Centaur 1]

The cbs isn't needed during normal use and I don't use mine while hunting. Their purpose is to prevent an accidental discharge while you lower the hammer on a loaded chamber, or while you unload the rifle by working the lever. A gun that fires unexpectedly is a very bad thing and hunters get killed every year from negligent discharges.

 

[LT67]

I bought my 336CS in .35Rem brand new in 1987 and it came equipped with the safety. I'm so used to it by now that any older Marlin I handle without it seems strange to me.

 

[1894]

The cbs isn't needed during normal use and I don't use mine while hunting. Their purpose is to prevent an accidental discharge while you lower the hammer on a loaded chamber, or while you unload the rifle by working the lever. A gun that fires unexpectedly is a very bad thing and hunters get killed every year from negligent discharges.

For me , the only "saftey" is between the ears of the person. Accidental discharges happen and they help to reinforce the basic saftey princables because the muzzle was pointed in a safe direction.
Negligent discharges , those that don't fit the above and result in damage or injury or death , are allways a stupid mistake.
Mechanical devices fail , thumbs get cold and slippery , and folks trip and fall all the time . Forget the first rule of firearm saftey and someone or something will get shot. Relying on that extra saftey only makes it easier to make a mistake " Because it wasn't s'posed ta fire "

I bought my 336CS in .35Rem brand new in 1987 and it came equipped with the safety. I'm so used to it by now that any older Marlin I handle without it seems strange to me.

That is not a bad thing. I don't want my above post to be interpreded that way. That's why I multi quoted these two.
I grew up with the pre-lawyer safteys so that is what I'm used to. You on the other hand are comfortable with them and for ME the new ones feel strange.
The three Marlins I use were made in 1971 , 1951 , and 1936 .I also have wrenchesters from 1984 , 1941 , and 1905(ish) also with out any extra saftey than the half cock and the one the good lord (and my Dad) put betwist my ears.
For those that start with the fancy new ones I guess there is no re-learning how to operate a rifle designed over a century ago .
For me , the used gunracks is where I shop for mine and they all will be pre '84 .

 

[Swampman]

I don't like the CBS but I just put them in the fire position and forget they are there.

 

[Centaur 1]

For me , the only "saftey" is between the ears of the person. Accidental discharges happen and they help to reinforce the basic saftey princables because the muzzle was pointed in a safe direction.
Negligent discharges , those that don't fit the above and result in damage or injury or death , are allways a stupid mistake.
Mechanical devices fail , thumbs get cold and slippery , and folks trip and fall all the time . Forget the first rule of firearm saftey and someone or something will get shot. Relying on that extra saftey only makes it easier to make a mistake " Because it wasn't s'posed ta fire "

I agree what you're saying, but people get cold, tired, wet or whatever the excuse is, crap happens. The cbs isn't an excuse for you to point the gun at your partners stomach while unloading, it's there in case you accidently hit the trigger. Of course the gun should be pointed in a safe direction, but someone else could walk around a corner of the truck while you're unloading. Sure it was a safe direction when you started but chances are that a lot of guys will be more worried about their cartridges landing someplace clean, and they might not notice the other guy walking in front of the gun. I use my Marlin 336ss for deer hunting. When I get to the property that I hunt, I take the rifle out of the case and double check that the cbs is on. I put 6 rounds in the magazine, rack one into the chamber, place the hammer in the half cocked position, then push the cbs off. When I get back to the jeep and I'm done hunting, I engage the cbs, point the gun in a safe direction and unload the rifle.

The truth is that you and I could debate the merrits, or lack of when discussing the cbs, but it's a fact that there are some good-ol'-boys out there who follow their own set of rules. I hunt quite a bit on state game lands where it's harder to control the situation if someone's being unsafe. If we could get just a few more hunters to put on the cbs before unloading the gun, it just might save a life one day.

I haven't hunted north east Pennsylvania since 1982, and back then 80% of the hunters used Marlin 336's or Winchester 94's. The most common safety violation was unloading a lever gun. Half the time there was snow on the ground, and if the ground was bare it was still dirt and no one wanted the cartridges to hit the ground. We typically drove our trucks and parked closer to where we hunted. One of the scariest things that could be done with a loaded gun, was done regularly. Here's the scenerio, two guys who hunted close to each other, would meet back at the truck at dark. The driver is on his side of the truck and the passenger is on his side of the truck, and neither hunter wanted his shells to hit the ground. Every day I watched guys point the muzzle through the cab of the truck, and work the action until the gun was empty. Then the guy on the other side of the truck would point his muzzle towards the first guy and empty hi rounds onto the seat. I was just a kid back in the 70's and I was one of the first group that was required to take a hunter safety course. In our hunting club we had a centrally located house that had electricity and a gas stove/oven, the heat came from a huge fireplace. We all stayed for the first week of firearm deer season.I would cringe at these old timers that hunted in our group, and they were convinced that they knew more than me, and the hunter safety coure was a waste of time because his daddy taught him how to hunt. They didn't want some stranger telling them, that what their grampy did is unsafe.

 

[1894]

As a kid you were in a tough spot , not much you could do other than be very aware of the folks around you and stay vigilant about where folks were pointing thier guns.
As an adult , you have the ability to speak up , and if that person doesn't recognise or learn from thier mistake ..... no 3 strikes in firearm saftey. Be the last time I would want to be around that person with firearms involved.
As a kid , maybe 8 or 9 , I got an O/U 20 ga for Christmas , my second time shooting skeet at a club I was frustrated because I missed another 2 birds and had only hit maybe 9 out of the 25. Remember , an o/u shotgun and missed both birds. I just turned around and swept the muzzle across the knees of the person on the station next to me before I broke the action open to take the emptys out . I didn't really hear about it till the next day , but my Dad had a real clear talk with me then. He didn't want to discourage me as a young shooter that was frustrated so he bit his tounge for a day. But made it dang clear that is something that even life long members of the club lost thier membership over , and the members there actually gave us (me and Dad ) a one time pass on that one .We stayed members of that club for many years after that
Just a bit of my perspective.
Like helmets on motorcycles or snowmobiles , or seat belts / air bags in cars . Sometimes you just can't make enough laws / regulations to fix stupid.
I'm still not saying that , that extra bit of saftey is wrong or useless . Rather just saying that for me , I will try to avoid it. Partly because I'd want to install one of those replacement kits with the nice screw and a non rebounding hammer. And that is just setting oneself up for a law suit if anything ever happened.

 

[oldbrass]

First thing I did when I got my 336 10 years ago was get rid of that lawyer hardware, its a false sence of security, learn to use the halfcock and come off fullcock properly, if you can`t then buy a bolt action.

 

[1895gunner]

All my Marlin levers have em because I buy the ported models manufactured between 1998 & 2003. I don't have a problem with em at all. "Cheap Looking", I don't think so.

1895gunner

 

[Gaterskiner]

All my Marlin levers have em because I buy the ported models manufactured between 1998 & 2003. I don't have a problem with em at all. "Cheap Looking", I don't think so.

1895gunner

They do look right on guns with holes drilled in the barrel.

 

[1895gunner]

Ya got me there Dan....

 

[Rooster59]

They do pose a liability if you aren't paying enough attention when ready to shoot if they are left on. CLICK! That excuse is sometimes used to justify why they shouldn't exist. That gets me tickled when I hear it. If a shooter isn't careful and methodical enough to insure the safety is off when ready to fire why would I feel they are safe any other time?

I understand to a purist it is slightly offensive visually but I like the extra safety when unloading my Marlins. It's no substitute for any other safety step, but it adds a little more protection from me dirtying my britches when unloading if something where to slip. Good safety practices won't allow me to shoot someone, but I don't need the adrenalin rush like that at my age.

I did remove the bolt mounted safety on a Rossi/Puma model 92. I didn't want to rely on it to stay on when moving through brush. The little fingers used to rotate it would get caught on clothing, small branches, etc. A safety that can't be relied upon to stay where you put it isn't a safety at all.

 

[greyhawk50]

I have to agree with Centaur 1 & Rooster 59.
My 30-30 doesn't have a CBS so I don't have a choice but to use extra caution but the .35 rem does. I use the CBS on the .35 when loading and unloading. While in the field, I turn it off and use the half cock.
While hunting NW Pa. back in the late '70s, a father/son combo discharged a 30-30 while unloading at the end of the day. They stepped into their Truck Camper before unloading and the son put a round through the front of the camper and into the truck' cab. Don't remember whether it was a Winchester of a Marlin. Doesn't matter because neither had safeties back then.

 

[Big bore]

Change is often difficult for us at times. I grew up using lever guns, none of them had CBS. It just wasn't around when I was a kid.

My dad was a good teacher when it came to firearm safety, guns were never pointed at anybody period, even if they empty. They were always treated as loaded.

I now own a Marlin with the CBS. I kinda like it. I don't see it as a burden. I know it's there and use it when loading and unloading. Do I need it? No, but it's there just in case my old hands fail me.

I also have kids. They are still too young for the big guns yet. But soon enough and they will be using lever guns, just like their daddy. But theirs too will have a CBS, not because they will handle their gun improperly. But because they are young. Their hands are not as strong as a grown ups. Therefore, they too will learn to load and unload their guns in a safe direction with the CBS engaged. Better safe than sorry.