Marlin 30-30 or winchester 30-30?

[ftierson]

I like both...



Keep in mind that 'they' don't make Winchesters anymore, while 'they' do still make Marlins...

Forrest

 

[Essex County]

This Question has tormented me since 1958 when I bought my first 30-30. I love them both dearly, as I would two children. As my declining years approach, and after much meditation I have arrived at the conclusion.....The 336 is the thinking man's model 94........Essex

 

[dav]

So I was intrigued enough to look at local used 30-30 prices.

I was kinda surprised to find a Winchester 94AE on consignment for 399.99 at Turners (760) 741-1570 in San Marcos, CA.

More 30-30's available used than I expected, usually lots more than $400.

 

[Sniper X]

My 2 cents

Marlin, better action stock, a little easier to load. nice reliable, maybe a little more accurate if you get one with a micro groove barrel, solid gun.

Winchester, prettier, more traditional "Cowboy" looking, very reliable, nice shooting great gun, not as smooth action wise as the Marlin, but mine had a less creepier triger than my 336RC does, but the crispness is about identical after what little creep the Marlin has.

Marlin 30-30 seem to go for a little more money than the Winchesters in 30-30 do in the same condition. At least around here.

I have both a Marlin 336RC in 30-30 and a Winchester in .357 mag, I absolutely love them both!

 

[B.D. Turner]

I like both Marlin and Winchester. While I have always loved the Marlin 336 there is still a soft spot in my heart for a Winchester Wrangler 32 win special with a big lever hoop,saddle ring and 16 inch barrel. Still kicking myself for getting rid of that one.

 

[Baba Louie]

It's always nice to own and shoot a rifle that JMB had a hand in designing... even when they're a bear to clean properly.
Several million American gun owners can't be ALL wrong... can they?
Either one will work fine.

 

[ftierson]

While I own both Winchesters and Marlins, and while I actually like the looks of the Winchesters more, I happened to stumble into a Marlin 3000 (cheapie Marlin 336) today in like new condition...

My OCD kicked in and I took it home...



Forrest

 

[Ash]

I like the Marlin, but own a Mossberg 30-30. This is not mine, but for comparison. Mine is in much better shape.

Ash

 

[mswestfall]

I own a Winchester 94. I don't own a Marlin. I would buy a Marlin. I really have a problem with the way an extended lever wiggles on a Winchester.

 

[RubenZ]

Why on earth would one need a SCOPE on a Lever gun The Marlin sights are awesome. No need for a scope.

Unless you have the Lever Gun in Back to the Future 3 I see no need for a scopoe. Besides, lever guns are beautiful just the way they come.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I bought a used older Marlin 1984C a while back. It has the straight stock and holds only 6 rounds instead of 9 like the newer model. I REALLY like this rifle, it's smooth and accurate. Even though my rifle is a .357 Magnum I'm sure the 30/30 is just as good. I intend on buying a Model 336C in 30/30 and a Model 39A in .22LR in the near future.

 

[MinScout]

As a serious hunting tool, a scoped Marlin is probably a better choice. However, if you want a light, handy hunting/woods bumming utility rifle, the old Winchester 94 is tough to beat. Just make sure you either scrape up enough for a pre 64 or at least buy one made before all the rebounding hammer/cb safety/tang safety nonsense.

 

[SturmMackRuger]

Thanks for your advice. But who makes the best bullets for hunting, I have recently seen some Hornady LEVERevolution Flex Tip bullets in 30-30 and the local wally world has winchester 30-30 bullets and in my mind those would be the best to get for deer hunting but would like to know others opions.

 

[ftierson]

Personally, I like the standard 170gr RN/FN bullets...

If I want to shoot something faster than that, I'll shoot something other than a .30-30 Win...

Forrest

 

[Tomcat47]

I prefer the Marlins, however I do also have, and love the winchesters. (True Grit my favorite movie!) The Marlins micro groove barrel seems to always produce more accuracy in all the calibers.

I also love the Marlin sights. I use the see thru scope mounts which alow usage of both scope and sights. I like this a lot especially in brush country.

And for those that did not know Marlin in 1893 was the first company to chamber a lever rifle in .30-.30!

The resultant .30 WINCHESTER SMOKELESS cartridge which carried the .30 W.C.F. (Winchester Center Fire) designation on the head stamp, first appeared in Winchester's catalog No. 55, dated August, 1895. Several months prior to this, the first ads announcing the arrival of this cartridge began appearing in the sporting press.

Three months after WINCHESTER’s first advertisement of their new .30 WINCHESTER SMOKELESS cartridge, their biggest competitor, the Marlin Firearms Company, announced their version of this cartridge chambered in their model 1893 rifle. Since Marlin did not manufacture ammunition, it worked closely with the Union Metallic Cartridge Company (U.M.C.) located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. U.M.C. replicated the .30 WINCHESTER SMOKELESS cartridge but gave it a different name. Since 30 grains of smokeless powder was initially used in this cartridge, they named it the .30-30. Cartridges were head stamped U.M.C. / .30-30 S. The S was dropped from the headstamp within a few years.

 

[Milkmaster]

I own the Winchester '94 in 30-30 because it was what I liked and found at the time. Mine doesn't have a scratch on it. It came from an estate sale and appeared to have been hardly fired when I bought it even though it was 30 years old. I shoot a box of ammo in it about once per year through open sights. Never has a misfire. It is more accurate than I am.

Compared with the Marlin, either gun is fine. I tend to think that the Winny is lighter and better with open sights. The Marlin would be my choice if and when I would like to use a scope.

One neat thing and a good reason to have one... Seems like everyone wants to see the levergun Winchester when looking at my gun collection. That nice warm feeling is worth a little when you get older

 

[SwampWolf]

The statements that Marlins "lack soul" and are the "thinking man's 94" ring true for me. I've always said that the Marlin appeals to the head and the Winchester moves the heart. Personally, my heart usually prevails in matters of love and lever guns. Although I hate the trigger on my 94, most Marlins I've sampled aren't much better. And, although my 94 is an "angle-eject (AE)" model, like RubenZ, I have no use for scopes on most ("traditional" appearing) levers but, unlike Tomcat47, I absolutely detest "See-Thru" mounts. However, I do have a Redfield 1X5 scope mounted on my Savage Model 99 "Brushgun" and it is afixed to a Weaver "Pivot Mount"...

 

[AStone]

The statements that Marlins "lack soul" and are the "thinking man's 94" ring true for me. I've always said that the Marlin appeals to the head and the Winchester moves the heart. Personally, my heart usually prevails in matters of love and lever guns.

This is a fascinating and fun discussion.

S'Wolf, I'm not trying to start an argument here - I think we can agree, this is all a matter of perspective. I respect your opinion and feelings about this. If the Win '94 rings your bells, then I think that's great and is just as "right" as anything a Marlin owner might write.

But for me, the 336 touches my heart more than the '94. I've looked at '94s repeatedly over the years.
Admittedly, I never shot one, and maybe that's what I'm missing.

But consistently, when I pick up a Marlin, my heart says, "Yeah, this is the one".

It's not a mind thing at all, even though I do evaluate and analyze the pros and cons of both Win and Marlin with my mind.

But it's usually something beyond rational thought that keeps me coming back to Marlin:
a felt sense, something aesthetic, more art than science.

Can't explain it at all - purely beyond words for me, as matters of the heart tend to be - so I won't even try.

Just one persons opinion here. No "truth" implied.

Nem

 

[SwampWolf]

Nemo, maybe some of us have a hard time visualizing the "Duke" whipping a Marlin out of the scabbard when the Injuns were surrounding him! This "heart and soul" thing is, of course, purely subjective and probably has more to do with early childhood experiences and perspectives than anything else. Growing up in the fifties, watching the Lone Ranger, Hoppy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Gunsmoke on the tube (yes, far enough back when the late Dennis Weaver played Marshall Dillon's stiff legged deputy, Chester), most, if not all of the 50's/60's westerns employed Winchesters (usually 92s or 94s). To the untrained eye, there's probably not much difference between the 94 and the 336 in terms of appearance but to us "loonies" there's a world of difference. Certainly, to this child of the fifties there is.

Of course, Hollywood's portrayal of the wild west may have had little to do with reality and I'm sure an argument could be made that Marlin is the rifle that "won the West". But facts sometimes have little to do with how the heart feels...

 

[Nameless_Hobo]

I'd get a Marlin, easier to take apart and put together, stronger, but, not as smooth as a Winchester.

 

[ArmedBear]

Winchesters may make your heart throb, but they make my shoulder throb.

I'll take a Marlin.

 

[hank327]

I like the traditional 1894 much better than the Marlin. I don't have any use for a scope on a 30-30 carbine and think the angle-eject version of the 94 as an abomination. I bought my Winchester used at a gunshow about 20 years ago for $140. It was made sometime in the early 1970s and was/is like new. I wasn't looking for a 94, but when I came across it, I had to buy it just in order to have a sample of this American classic. I put a Williams Foolproof aperture sight on it and it shoots as good as I can hold. I've never used it much, but one year I hunted exclusively with it using 170 grain Winchester Flatpoint Silvertips. With this combo I took two whitetail deer and a coyote with one shot each that hunting season. You can't do much better than that.

 

[gezzer]

Marlin, The average guy can break it down for full cleaning, but then again it's a moot point because 98% of lever gun owners never take them down for cleaning or even clean then assembled.

 

[obxned]

I've always found the Marlin to be much more accurate, and the cases seem to require a whole lot less effort to resize.

 

[StrikeEagle]

The Winchester 94 is my favorite rifle (along with the Garand which is also my favorite), and I pick that over the Marlin. I don't know if it's all the movies and TV shows I saw in the 50's, but the Winchester just LOOKS right... Marlin strikes my eye as being an 'off brand' in the same way that a Remington Single Action revolver does.

I like the Winchester so deeply and viscerally, that I'd prefer it even if it could be incontrovertibly demonstrated that the Marlin was objectively superior.

What can I tell you? I guess I'm in love.