Marlin leverguns, back in the game?

For $1580.00 msrp, Winchester Repeating Arms (rolled stamped on bbl) has come out with their 1873 rifle in 357 magnum/38 special.

Marlin and Remington in early 1960s stole the .44 Van Houten Super design from Van Houten and Lucky Wade in AZ.

I really should have at least cruised by Wikipedia or something before repeating my long-held assumption as fact.


I apologize for that. Turns out there was a whole lot I didn't know about the history of the .444 Marlin.

I knew Lucky Wade when he had his gun shop in Phoenix, nice guy and a terrific gunsmith.

Bought a Remlin 336W for my son in November of 2011. It was a POS so it was sent in for repairs. Came back after deer season was over. They fixed a nonexistent problem and did not address the actual problem. Fortunately the manager at Academy took it back and let me go through their inventory and pick out another one.

I picked the best one but it still had a horrible trigger and the action was very gritty. I found a YouTube video on how to polish the action and took it apart and polished the internals. I also bought a Happy Trigger and installed it. It is now a very good shooter but if I ever purchase another one it will be an older used model.

I have a Marlin 336 built in the 70s that I compare with my grandfathers Marlin 1894. Other than many modernisms of the 336, you can see how similar they are in build and finish. I picked up a "Remlin" Marlin 45-70 a few weeks ago and it felt like a cheap toy rifle in comparison. The wood didn't even feel real on it. I sound like an old codger but they just don't make them like they used to.

I had to pick up a quickie back-up rifle for deer camp when on a trip out of state a while back, ended up with a 336W from Wal-Mart ... still looks good, shoots great, and I just compared it to the 336C on the rack at a local Sportsman's Warehouse, and I've just gotta say ... the new 336s look and feel like doodoo. That matt finish and the fugly wood, ouch! My W is beautiful in comparison, and you guys are right, the older slim forend is much nicer; even the birch stock on mine isn't bad-looking compared to the new furniture.

I'm with jeepnik; I don't go that owners forum anymore for wisdom, although a couple friends' experiences bear out the fact that the Remlins are still not up to snuff.

There's nothing wrong with the Marlin Forum that isn't wrong with every forum I've been to. Every one has a few people that think they know more than anyone else and aren't afraid to talk down to others. Such is life.

dickydalton said:

There's nothing wrong with the Marlin Forum that isn't wrong with every forum I've been to. Every one has a few people that think they know more than anyone else and aren't afraid to talk down to others. Such is life.

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Do they still have the "secret" clubs? And, what happens these days if you insist that the 45-70 is a better round than the .444.

A bunch of folks left, and a few of us were banned because we refused to drink the .444 koolaid. If the same guy is in charge, there is still plenty wrong with that forum.

I would say so. I bought an 1895SBL about a year back, went home on leave super excited to shoot it and the %*^& thing would FTF/FTE nearly every round. Took it apart, smoothed the loading gate and the action with a dremel and it was good as new. Smooth as glass now and took all of 10 minutes.

I bought an 1894 one year ago. The front sight was damaged when they pressed it into the base, so they had to send me a new one. Last month the front sight and base flew off and hit me on the head when I blasted a porcupine. I ended up putting a Burris FastFire 3 on it. Worked great when I took a deer Saturday.