The Briefing Room
General Category => Sports/Entertainment/MSM/Social Media => Shooting Sports => Topic started by: Elderberry on September 26, 2019, 11:33:56 am
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By Chuck Hawks
The lever action Marlin 336 and Winchester 94 are the two best selling sporting rifles in history, with millions upon millions sold in over a century of production. The Marlin design (by John Marlin) dates to 1893 and the Winchester design (by John Browning) to 1894.
These traditional lever action designs offer good accuracy, quick handling, fast repeat shots, big magazine capacity, ambidextrous operation, and the kind of reliability a man can bet his life on (and many have). The flat action makes these easy rifles to carry and, with no bolt handle sticking out of the side of the action, they are naturals to transport in a horse or motorcycle scabbard. They were designed for big game hunting but have been used for practically every application to which a rifle can be put, from home defense to revolution.
They have been chambered for a number of rifle cartridges over the years. These include (but are not limited to) the .219 Zipper, .25-35, 7-30 Waters, .307 Winchester, .32-40, .32 Special, .35 Remington, .356 Winchester, .375 Winchester, .38-55, and .444 Marlin.
They have been used to take every type of big game in North America, from varmints to bison, and similar game all over the world. But both rifles are best known as deer and black bear rifles chambered for the ubiquitous .30-30 Winchester cartridge, in which role they are unsurpassed. The rifles selected for this comparison are .30-30's.
Now let's take a brief individual look at these famous sporting rifles.
More: https://www.chuckhawks.com/compared_marlin336_win94.htm (https://www.chuckhawks.com/compared_marlin336_win94.htm)
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I have a 50 year old Marlin 336 in 30-30 Winchester caliber which has taken much game and isn't through yet.
Wouldn't trade it for a dozen Winchester 94s.
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First rifle I bought was a Marlin Glenfield 30 around 52 yrs ago, for the sum of $58 bucks at Fed Mart. Alas I loaned it to a cousin to never see it again. I still have my Marlin 1895 45/70.
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Marlin. Easiest choice ever made.