Which lever action gun to buy?

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I have a Marlin 336C in .35 Remington and love it. It belonged to my father and he gave it to me when I turned fourteen. It has quite a bit of knockdown at 150 yards or closer. I used the Remington Core Lokt for quite some time in my gun but noticed I was have a click and no boom on their primers, this was about the same time Remington started circling the drain. My go to is Hornady LeveRevolution in 200 grain second would be the Winchester Super X Power Point. The Hornady have more velocity and KE, and their zero is at 200 yards in the .35. I stocked up on the Hornady when I had the chance.
 
Patrick H said:
My recommendation is Marlin. A 30-30 will have maximum point blank range of 200 yards to 225 yards and ammo is relatively inexpensive and easy to find. A 45-70 will have maximum point blank range of about 150 to 175 yards, and ammo is expensive.
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What in the world is "maximum point blank range?"
 
A Marlin 336 . Either 30-30 or .35 REM although the .35 REM ammo is harder to find.

Things to look for
- Marlin made & NOT by Remington ( Remlins)
The quality went down supposedly

-" JM " stamped barrel . Will be on the left next to the receiver .

https://1895gunner.com/gunroom/marlin336home.html
Good luck.
I found this 1990 CS ( carbine / safety) in .35 REM in pristine condition and dressed the old girl up a bit. If I can get over this spider bite / hospital thing deer will die .

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Had a 4 digit serial number 336 in .35 forty plus years ago & let it get away. Immediately regretted and bought a new one that one of my daughters still uses.The old one had a buckhorn rear sight on it which was very cool I thought.
 
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I love the history and nostalgia of my old marlin 30-30 lever action rifle that has been in the my family and used for five generations. This old gun precedes the cross bolt safety design. These style guns are cocked and loaded and ready with each lever action. I would encourage you to purchase a later cross bolt safety to avoid the risk of slow dropping hammer on a chambered round.
 
7mm08 said:
A Marlin 336 . Either 30-30 or .35 REM although the .35 REM ammo is harder to find.

Things to look for
- Marlin made & NOT by Remington ( Remlins)
The quality went down supposedly

-" JM " stamped barrel . Will be on the left next to the receiver .

https://1895gunner.com/gunroom/marlin336home.html
Good luck.
I found this 1990 CS ( carbine / safety) in .35 REM in pristine condition and dressed the old girl up a bit. If I can get over this spider bite / hospital thing deer will die .

View attachment 205284
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I always thought the "cs" stood for covered sight.
I had an early 80s CS, and it didn't have a safety.
 
reloadxx said:
Don't want to buy one to have problems
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If you like the 94 your son has, buy one. Coming from his grandfather it was probably made here. There are plenty of old Winchester American made 94's on Gun Broker that have sold for $700 or less. You can buy new for $1200. But the current 94's are made by Winchester in Kochi, Japan. I try not to buy foreign guns, so that would probably kick that option to the curb for me.

Are you going to use an optic? We put scopes on everything, but back in the day they didn't do that so top, or side eject wasn't an issue. The mounts that work around the top eject are less than desirable, so that's something to think about. If I'm going to put a scope on a lever, it's going to be a side eject.

Do you think you need a 45-70? You might want to shoot one before you buy one. I've never shot one but seen many posts that they are a beast. Those posts could have been by the same guys that think a .40S&W has too recoil for them, so they carry their wives 9mm. 😁 30-30 is going to be the easiest to find at a reasonable price. And 30-30 has probably killed more deer than any round other than maybe the 30/06.

Your Buddy needs to get his Henry fixed. A Henry not firing is not normal, they are high quality rifles. He is probably getting light primer strikes. Either something is wrong with his rifle, or he is reloading and using primers that are too hard. I've owned Henry's but I've never had to send anything back to them. My guess is they would take care of it.

Quality manufacturer, Top or Side eject, Caliber. Those are the main things I think you should be concerned about. Good luck with your search. And I think it's great you get to hunt with your son, I hope that's very special for you.
 
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The only gun I have ever regretted trading is my first deer rifle. It was a Marlin 30-30 and had some medallion in the stock and my parents gave it to me for Christmas. It came from Western Auto or K-mart around 1982-83. Two years later, I traded with boot for a used 742 30.06 at Brown's little outdoor store over near EO Coffman. I started missing it about 10 years later.
 
Savage said:
Look at Marlin 336s in 35 REM for a real classic
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I have loved my Marlin 336 .35 Remington for almost 50 years. Still looks almost new and it's been put through a lot and still kills deer! Killed one with it last Friday. And did I mention it's done nothing but increase in value. A guy offered me $1500 for it last year. Nah, not for sale.
 
The 94's to avoid are the 1964 till about 1972, not the best of the bunch. The pre 64's are the cream of the crop and ones made after about 1978 are perfectly fine but not in the class of the pre 64's.
 
Iglow said:
The 94's to avoid are the 1964 till about 1972, not the best of the bunch. The pre 64's are the cream of the crop and ones made after about 1978 are perfectly fine but not in the class of the pre 64's.
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I'd check that. That is correct (Pre 64) with the Model 70 due to the Controlled feed vs. Push feed. I don't think that's correct for the Model 94. It was made differently after 64, not necessarily better.
 

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