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

The Mossbergs and Henrys raise a point. They may be good designs made into fine rifles but part of the beauty of a lever gun for me is the history of the thing. Look at some Charlie Russell paintings and you can see these guns as he saw them more than a century ago. I know my post 64 Winchester 94 is not a Yellowboy or '73 but in my eyes it's part of that line and it has the medicine.

I kinda like the Mossberg .

Good points!

I have been closely watching the quality of the Marlins since Remington took over. The first few years were simply awful. The wood to metal fit was terrible, poorly indexed barrels, very rough actions etc. They have gotten a lot better, but still fall short of a good used genuine Marlin. Granted there were some duds even in the good old days, but they were by and large superior to the ones made today. I say this having owned literally hundreds of Marlin lever guns over the years.

Checked out some new Remlins at Bass Pro in Memphis this week. Gave a new stainless .30-30 a really close inspection.

Not impressed with the wood-to metal fit or wood finish or the unfinished wood next to the grip cap. Metal looked OK.

Havent been able to hold onto a lever action for very long.
In past 2 or 3 yrs I have acquired and refinished and sold or traded at a small gain versus the work I put into em
A marlin 36G
2 win 94,s post 64 top ejects, made 1 into a half tube.
A 1980 marlin .375
All sported William's receiver sights
All the .30-30,s shot leverevolution ammo extremely well..


Kinda thinking of picking up another post 64 top eject late model with the better carrier than earlier ones in .32 win special and making it a half tube.
Might be one i hold onto
If I get another marlin it will be a presafety 444

I got kinda burnt out on projects from December 18 to mid may 19

Needed a break from em.

Isn't the Mossberg 464 the same as a Winchester 94 AE?

I've been tempted to buy one of the Mossberg 464 Brushgun with silver/grey Marinecote metal finish, laminated wood, and a 16.25" barrel.

I've owned a few of the old Mossberg 472/479 lever action 30-30s and found them to be good shooters even though the triggers are part of the the lever like BLRs.

Savage 99

I've owned both a 336 and 94, both pre-safety.
I really think the new Japanese 94's are very well made, but I can't stand the safety...It works on my brain!

All in all, I would follow the advice I've seen earlier in this string, and go buy a used Marlin or 94, pre-safety, for somewhere around 4 to 5 hundred bucks and enjoy it.
Pre-64 in good shape will cost more, but my 75' model 94 is a great shooter and I'm very fond of it.

Good luck in what you decide to do, I'm sure you will enjoy your choice, as many people are not so "against" the needless safety as I am.

This one posted earlier is a Trapper.

Buy an older one ..stay away from new in both brands...I have no real brand loyalty to either and have some of each...honestly the Winchester design I prefer...the Marlins I do still like...the only real advantage to the Marlin is the angle eject if you want a scope...
Most will tell you Marlin is more accurate but I never shot either off the bench for group...it's a 150 yd gun and really paper groups mean nothing in this platform...

Here’s a super nice 70’s production 94 Trapper for sale right here on the Camp 🔥

Be hard to find a nicer one or a nicer seller either.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...-saddle-ring-whats-it-worth#Post14041135

It may be. Im talking about the Mossberg 464 . Id pickup a straight grip version too if i ran across one.

I don't think I've seen a Mossberg 464 yet. Haven't heard much about them either. There was some fanfare when they first came out then that seemed to be the end of it.

If I were looking for a lever .30-30, I too would bypass the new ones and look for a collector version M64 Winchester and probably pay the difference to get the checkered deluxe version. I got my first buck with a borrowed M64 and always considered them a step above the way more common M94. It seems kind of a travesty to scope one of those little rifles, but with older eyes, a scoped early Marlin would be a good option. Two of our deer camp guys bought those short Trapper M94 versions and we called them the "Daisy deer rifles". That short sighting radius made them harder to shoot accurately and there is an 11 point set of antlers in my collection because my .308 shot it better than Bob's Daisy deer rifle.

Don't waste your time. It's priced a bout $397 too high.