Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions September AH is out, feature on new 336C, C is for Classic

I dunno, $1239 MSRP and 1-1/2" at FIFTY (!) says I'm staying with my originals. Gee remember when lever thurty thurty's were considered "entry level" guns?
Now you can get your choice of bolts for less than half that MSRP in your choice more optioned calibers. Most sub MOA.

He shot it at 100 with the scope. I think that caption on the chart is misleading.

The price is comparable to that of Henrys and less than most imported Winchester copies. The quality is quite good, certainly a huge improvement over the pre-safety one I toyed with last year. What it’s clearly not, is a working man’s bargain hunting rifle any more, and I’m fine with that because I’m retired and like nice stuff and am willing to pay a fair price for it. If they get around to a .444 sporter, I might have to put my money where my mouth is…..

His smallest groups were .40 and .86". I have to assume the 2" groups that brought the average to 1.5" were shot at 100 yards

What exactly was wrong with your pre safety JM ? My old JM averages about 3/4" three shot groups at 100 yards and has never given a bit of trouble in the 25 years I've owned it. I wouldn't trust Ruger to make a baseball bat that worked right myself and a well polished turd still stinks.

Wrong? Nothing mechanical: it was actually pretty slick in operation. Sighted it in with some Hornady factory, then realized that it weighed more than my M70 .308, and a lot more than what I usually hunt with. I acquired it in a trade, and passed it on to someone else after I had my fun.

The main improvement I see with the Ruger is in the fit and finish. All the genuine Marlins I’ve owned, a couple each of CF and 39s, have had poorly fitted wood, the areas that were matte finished had machine marks, and the Mountie’s front sight dovetail wasn’t aligned properly with the receiver. They’re working guns, and looked like it. Ruger has apparently decided to spruce them up and priced them accordingly. The guy who wrote the AH piece is a former Marlin employee, and like several other reviewers says they’re the best Marlins ever (ever being in their experience, I suppose). None of them has mentioned any problems so far. Time will tell if that’s really the case or industry propaganda. Time will also tell if Ruger’s strategy of making them pretty pays off. Apparently the idea of selling working-class leverguns has petered out, since Marlin went bust, and Remington spent a lot of time and money just to get their version to work, but still flopped. Ruger, despite all the rumors, still makes them with machined forgings, except for the carrier which is machined from bar stock of some sort because the result is more consistent. Making guns that way is expensive; so is finishing them nicely. So far, it seems like the current market is willing to pay the price, and I haven’t heard any customer complaints so far. At least they’re still making them here.

You don’t like Ruger? That’s your privilege; for the most part my experience with a whole slew of them has been very good; only one dud. Calling the new leverguns turds with no evidence is just silly, but if it makes you happy, enjoy.

I've handled the new 1894,1895, and 336. They've all been splendid in the fit and finish departments. Very well turned out rifles and better than I've ever seen from Marlin. They appear to be worth every penny

I have unquestionably seen more absolute garbage from Ruger than from any other of the big american Makers. I'm talking stuff that needed to be sent back and replaced by Ruger because it wasn't reasonably fixable. Things that should never have left the factory in the first place and wouldn't have if Ruger had any kind of quality control program in house. Granted Ruger did always replace, sometimes more than once and STILL COULDN'T provide a gun that functioned properly but it is a PITA to have to send them back, sometimes repeatedly and it pisses me off that they use me, the customer, to execute their quality control program. The first of these new Ruger 336's that was reviewed by Target Suite had a dimensional flaw that allowed the hammer to ride the bottom of the bolt all the way back when cycled so he sent it back to be straightened out. Typical Ruger and it would certainly have pissed me off too given the ourageous price Ruger charges for those things. I've had a lot of Marlins over the years and right now there are six of them in the house. No, they aren't perfect. Neither are any of my other rifles from Ruger, Winchester, Savage, Tikka, T/C or Browning. Some of them are externally finished to a higher degree, most notably the Brownings. That doesn't mean a whole lot to me and never has. My guns are going to be hunted and they're going to get scratched and bruised. What matters is function and I've always had pretty good luck with JM Marlins in that regard myself. If I didn't there wouldn't be six of them in my safe vs only one Ruger. And that one Ruger needed more work to straighten out a myriad of flaws that directly affected performace/accuracy and get it performing up to snuff than any other rifle in my safe. Typical IME.

I suppose if you're comparing Rugers to late production real Marlins or Remingtons, the former looks pretty good. I've handled some new Ruger made lever actions and the finish is pretty good. But you also have to consider that an awful lot of those late Marlins and Remingtons were marketed to Walmart etc, at the lowest price possible. Rifles designed & produced to retail under $400, are going to look like it. If you're going to drag them around the deer woods and shove them in a $10 case behind the pickup seat, it hardly matters.

Now a 336 costs three times what it did in 2015. At that price they should be flawless, accurate and drag the deer out for you.

I personally dislike bare stainless and threaded muzzles on any gun and pistol grip, checkered stocks or added on safety gizmos on a lever actions. I wouldn't trade my old 1955 336 Texan for any two new Ruger 'Marlins' but that's just me.


Edited to add: I've also had first hand experience with Ruger's 'luck of the draw' QC and their unwillingness to fix a new 45 Blackhawk with two chambers off-center AND off axis. I finally shipped it to them for the third time, with a copy of the sales receipt and a note saying "Refund ONLY. Sender will not accept return shipment." Ruger can screw the QC pooch with the best of them.

In 2015 they were made by Remington and those were possible the worst ever made until they threw everything they got from Marlin out and started over. By the time they figured it out and were turning out decent ones, the whole company went under. Similarly, what Ruger got from Remington was also in bad shape, and they began fresh.

Writer Brian Pearce is a huge Marlin fan, and he’s told it like it is through all this. I trust him to give an honest appraisal at some point. He was invited in to consult on the new ones and one happy result is faster twists on the .44s, long overdue.

The price is the price, pay or don’t. With gas over $3.50, shrinkflation all over, and $2.00 Campbells Tomato Soup, it ain’t 1970 or even 2015 any more. Convenience store positions start here at $15.00–$18.00 an hour. What do you think skilled factory workers making firearms get? They’ve gone higher end with these, far better IMO than building to a price point for a market that no longer exists and is filled with untold numbers of used ones to boot. The working man’s rifle now, as the OP pointed out, is a cheap bolt gun that requires little or no hand work. Plenty of those have issues too according to complaints here. New lever actions are almost all nicely appointed ones, whether American, Italian, or Japanese. Check the prices on any of those, and you’ll see the Rugers are right in line with the others, less than many imports. I sold my 336 for $700 with an old scope, btw, and that guy was glad to get it. Haven’t seen any at the old used prices of $350 or so in maybe a decade.

I know what skilled factory workers making firearms get because I worked for a firearms manufacturer for years and believe me it's shyt. In fact we lost some of our most skilled workers to places like Lowes because they started you out making more there than you made after several years building guns and I'm not talking management positions at Lowes, just floor sales. The thing is, there was lots of hand fitting and tuning going into the guns where I worked and I understand it was the same at the JM factory whereas Remington and Ruger were/are doing more with modern, precision machine work which is actually less expensive in the long run after the machinery is paid for. Remingtons big mistake was thinking they could do it better and not keeping the already trained and skilled people that had been working at Marlin for years and knew what it took to build those guns and make them right. Machine made guns that are just snapped together like Legos because all the parts are "precisely machined" will never be as good as those made by skilled hands. If that were true a Ruger 1911 would be as good as a Dan wesson or Les Baer and they certainly are not. Lotta people are duped into thinking a gun is better because of a good exterior fit/finish and it ain't neccesarily so. Browning and Remington have known this for a long time and sold a lot of nicely finished but cheaply made turds over the years. For me personally it doesn't really matter what Ruger makes, what they cost or how well they work. I already have more rifles than I need or even get used and since I actually prefer to hunt with a trusted old friend with a well proven track record rather than something shiny and new every season, I doubt I'll be buying any more. But working class lever gun sales have petered out ? You'd better let Rossi and Henry know. They'll probably get a good chuckle out of that. I believe Henry moth balled both the Marlin 39 and Winchester 9422 with their inexpensive .22 levers and Rossi seems to have done well with their "working class" '92's. I bet they outsell Winchesters nicely finished Jap. 92's by a substantial margin.

I bought a new 336 in 2016. It was $440 and it was parkerized with hardwood. The new 336 is $999 at my LGS and that's blued/walnut

A co worker of mine bought a brand new Remlin stainless/walnut for 695.00 in 2018 or 19. Can't remember for sure which but I was with him when he bought it. As I remember they had the blued/walnut for 595.00 and that shop is not known for bargain pricing. I have no doubt they could have been found for less elsewhere. I hear the new Rossi .30-30's are hitting the streets at 749.00. I hope they do well with them.

2016-2017 I bought two 94 Winchesters; a rough 1976 model ($200) and a used but not abused 94 Antique ($340). I usually don't even buy Marlins but when a '55 Texan in 35 Remington listed on Armslist in late 2020, I grabbed it for less than half what Ruger wants for a new one.

Some of today's pricing is attributable to inflation. A hell of lot of it is 'Charge what the traffic will bear."


Per the US Inflation Calculator, the cumulative rate of inflation for Mike's 2016 Marlin 336 is 27.4% and today's price should be $560.42. Of course Rem/Marlin went TU so it's impossible to draw direct conclusions. Ruger now makes the same basic gun, obviously with a better finish and ostensibly "Quality crafted into every rifle." Their asking price is $1,239.00.

So I guess the question to ask is Ruger's 336 worth $678.00 more than Moose Mike's inflation-adjusted 2016 version?

Not to me it isn't, but I've got the only Marlin that really interests me. Ruger is apparently selling all they can make.

https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/steel-lever-action-30-30-side-gate/

$1057 for a Marlin knock-off which, judging by the one I examined, is pretty oogly, squarish and odd in appearance, but apparently they shoot and function well.

https://rossiusa.com/rifles/lever-a...rdwood-stock-black-oxide-30-30-win-20-in

$950 for another Marlin knockoff made in Bumfuck and wearing dyed hardwood, not walnut.

It appears Bidenflation has hit everyone.

At 290.00 less than a Ruger and better looking than a Henry {IMO}, this is probably where I'd be looking if I were in the market for a new .30-30. The two Rossi 92's and one 62 I owned were all good shooters.

I’m immune to the charms of the carbines now, but anyone that comes out with a nice sporter-style 1-20” .444 or other straight-wall might get me juiced up, though I need another deer rifle like Oprah needs another plate of Twinkies.

That's where I'm at. No more deer rifles for me. I have 11 and that's about 8 more than I really need since I've mostly been using the same 3 every season for years now. I don't have many years left to hunt and I don't want to pass on a bunch of shiny new guns to my heirs. I want to pass on rifles that have lots of blue wear, dents and scratches that they know got there being carried over many years and many miles in my hands. My hope is they will think of me fondly when they run their hands over those worn surfaces and never part with them.

I killed my first with the Howa Grendel last October. That’s my main “battle rifle” right now, though the others get out occasionally.

Seems most here do not think that the "inflation" numbers over the past few years are anywhere near reality. You?

Why would you assume that when its posted 3 rounds at 50 yrds?