Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Brand New .30-30 - Winchester or Marlin?

I'd love to round out my collection with a classic lever whitetail gun. Love the look of the Marlin 336ss models, but have read the odd person complain about fit and finish even on the more recent ones. I would only put a peep on one and would never scope one. What are your thoughts on if you had to buy a brand new one.....which one would you get?

After spending 10 years searching and shopping for the perfect 30-30 with much the same train of thought as you, I suggest neither.

Too many JM model 336's for the same price if not cheaper than a junk assed remlin. Same with Winchesters. You can get a nice used 94's without the Hillary holes (safety's) the new ones have.

I personally love 94's and have mine set up with a Williams Peep. Awesome shooter. I paid $500 for it. It is a very clean deep blued 1980's model 94.



Good luck,

Todd

Don't buy a new Remington/Marlin unless yo like to gamble. There are too many older, true Marlins around that were made right. The new "Remlins" are hit and miss, with mostly misses. When you get it home and find out it was made wrong, you are on your own,,,,,Their customer service sucks. I'm not a Winchester 94 fanboy, I love the older Marlins, but I'd take one over a new Marlin.

LOL. Thanks for your contribution. Nice looking rig there.

The new Marlin's are really nice actually. I'm a member over at Marlinowners.com and the complaints about QC have gone way down over the past few years. The new Marlins I look over at my LGS are really nice rifle. And I've owned over 20 Marlin levers so I know what I'm looking at.
The new Winchesters are top notch. And I'm a pre 64 guy. You can't go wrong with either one. I'm not just a guy that owns a lever action. I'm a lever action guy. To hell with bolt guns.

No the customer service doesn't suck. You're repeating tales. Several years ago I bought a brand new 336Y and the barrel was improperly indexed to the receiver putting the barrel at an angle. Remington promptly replaced it with a brand new Rifle.

Brand new? Uh, don't. Shop it...

This one is not far from 40 years old.

If you're going to put a scope on your rifle, I'd recommend the Marlin. If you're going to shoot it with the factory open sights or a receiver sight, I'd recommend the slimmer Winchester.

Like others have suggested, I think that I'd rather have an older rifle and in my case, I'd rather have a Marlin 336 Sporting Carbine or a Winchester 64.

I would only say marlin for one reason...the stock. The straight Winchester stock doesn't fit me at all. No straight stocks fit me actually.

But I think the Winchester is a better built rifle.

The new marlins are nicer looking IMO. I like the way they function a little better. The Remlin stocks are a bit fatter than the older Marlin stocks. Other than that, I like the Marlin and the Winchester. They're still cool rifles!

If you go old go 99

The Marlin 336 and Winchester 94 are both good rifles. Get one of each. They're not very expensive.

The early Remlins were crap. Remington had to recreate the drawings and put the manufacturing on modern machinery. That took time.

From what I've seen, the new Remlins are pretty nice.


But all mine are JM Marlins - purchased used and for a song compared to new prices.

Todd, where didja get the leather ammo pack?

"Todd, where didja get the leather ammo pack?"

I made it. The bullet loops are made from a cape buffalo I took back in 2007, and the inside is lined with the cape buffalo suede as well.

Thanks for lookin!

Todd

My experience with 94’s has proven to me that the pre angle eject models are the way to go. I’ve shot several of that vintage with irons and side mount scopes and they’ve been accurate. Angle eject models not so much.

That’s a good shooter.

Ever make one for a customer?

Familiar looking setup.

99😎