Soilarch

My question is weither or not the marlins are worth the little extra money in new rifles? What about older used ones? Is there anything that I should look for with either? I don't think I'll put a scope on the gun, but my buddy has a winchester that I've handled and he "hung" up alot. Is this just the character of the action/caliber combination or are the marlins better with this?

Ought Six

Marlins have on big advantage, in my book. You can clean them from the breach end easily. Both handle well and are sufficiently strong to handle the 30/30. The Marlin action is a bit stronger, not that this will matter with a 30/30. At one time, I had a Marlin 336 in the long barrel version. Shot tons of deer with that rifle.

Personally, I like peep sights on a levergun.

mossy33oak

yes the Marlin action is alot stronger and tolerences are tighter. However currently owning both I think my Marlin 336 is more accurate but wouldnt hesitate to carry either for deer hunting. My model 94 is alot lighter than my 336 and I like the way my 94 feels in my hands. If it came down to taking one on a pack in hunt or humping one around for miles all day, I would grab my 94 ......just my opinion.

zekeskar

I just bought a "new" used Marlin 336 (pre-safety, fwiw). In looking for it, I looked at a lot of new and used Marlin and Winchester leverguns. For me, it simply boiled down to the side eject vs. the top eject and the overall mechanism it entailed. I just liked the Marlin action better for what I intended to do (mount a small scope). The significant factors that seem unanimous are: they are both excellent guns, time-tested and proven and the Winchester is lighter than the Marlin. All other factors probably boild down to opinion.

If you are thinking of putting a scope on the lever gun, you can use a "normal" action mounted scope on the Marlin because it ejects to the side. The Winchester requires either a funky side-mount system (which I personally dont like) or to use a long-relief scope mounted in front of the breech, where the rear iron sight is. That second option is no big deal, in fact some Marlin owners do the same thing.

mossy33oak

not 100% true........my Winchester 94 is a 94AE which is "angled eject". Mine ejects from the top BUT it kicks them to the side at an angle, thus allowing me to use the same type of rings, scope mount that you and I have on our Marlins. They came out with this design in ~ 1986 and I had the first one that my gunshop got in. I was 13 and it was my first rifle I ever personally owned!!

PABuck_HNTR

I prefer the side eject on the Marlin's

DM

I like the Marlins better too, and for all the reasons stated above...

Drilling Man

James B

I like the Model 94 to carry but the Marlin to shoot.

bigbulls

Another Marlin fan here too.

Stronger, look better, function much smoother, easier to clean, easier to take apart and reassemble.

A big feature that the Marlin has that the 94 does not is that when you close the lever on the Marlin it snaps closed and keeps the trigger block safety depressed with out you having to do anything else. The 94 does not snap the lever shut and you MUST squeeze the lever to the stock in order to depress the trigger block safety and fire the gun. If your hands are a bit large like mine it is a little bit dificult to quickly wrap your hand completely around the stock tight enough every time in order to depress the trigger block safety and fire the gun. This is a big nuisance for me with the 94's.

Soilarch

Bigbulls...I'm so glad you posted that! I had completely forgot about that part of my experience with my buddies 94! I probably chalked it up as a ..."hmmm, that's strange this gun must be 'off' somehow" I never thought of it being intentional. I'm kinda a large guy too...put some gloves over my hands and I had to do some funky straight-finger pinch which I'm sure does miracles for accuracy.