In a previous article, Why I Learned to Embrace the Marlin 336 and Forget the 94 Winchester, I chronicled the history of the iconic Marlin 336 lever action rifle from its inception and its decline before briefly touching on its revival by Ruger in 2023 before showcasing a vintage model. As a brief recap, the Marlin 336’s basic design originated with the Model 1893 before coming to its final form in the 336 in 1948. Millions of the Model 336 were produced before the Marlin Firearms Company folded in 2020. Ruger quickly bought the assets and, in 2023, launched its first Model 336. This article covers that current version of the rifle.
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The New Marlin or Rarlin 336
Ruger picks up where Marlin left off with a full catalog of 336 rifles to suit any taste. This ranges from a short stainless and laminate Trapper model, to the threaded barrel SBL, to the railed Dark model. Let’s not forget the Marlin 336 Classic featuring traditional blued steel furniture and walnut stocks.
The 336 Classic features a 20.5 inch carbine length round barrel and a six-shot tubular magazine, which was the most popular configuration of the rifle. Marlin’s Microgroove rifling has been replaced by a cold hammer forged barrel with a faster 1:11 twist. As much as a long for a new .32 Special, .35 Remington, or .38-55 model, the new 336 only comes in .30-30 Winchester at this moment. That is alright, because .30-30 ammo is cheap, easy on the shoulder, and demonstrably effective.
The rifle comes with a drift adjustable ladder-graduated rear sight and a hooded front post as the primary aiming solution, but it is tapped for a Weaver 63B aligned scope rail thanks to its side-ejecting solid frame.
Features include forward and rearward steel sling studs, both a half-cock and crossbolt safety, a loading gate on the right side of the receiver, and a rubber buttpad. Marlin throwbacks like the red bullseye on the belly of the buttstock and a gold trigger.
Although the 336 Classic has the most traditional look of the new line, it is a mistake to call it plain. The rifle is finished in a rich hot blue and the curled walnut stocks are cut checkered and tightly fitted to the receiver and barrel in a way you won’t find on an older hand-fit JM Marlin.
Marlin 336 Classic for Sale
Where to Find Your Marlin 336
- Gun.Deals ($$$ compare)
- Guns.com
- Palmetto State Armory
Shooting the Marlin 336 Classic
As a kid, I did most of my hunting with an 1894 Winchester carbine chambered in .30-30. It was light, naturally ambidextrous, and easy on the shoulder compared to bolt action rifles firing longer rounds. The same applies to the old 336 and it applies to the 336 Classic.
How’s the Action?
One point of improvement I noticed over other lever actions right away is the loading process. Most lever actions can be topped off by thumbing rounds through a loading gate until the magazine is full. The gate is often tight and covered with edges that will pinch or even cut you if you are not careful. The Rarlin 336’s gate is effortless to depress and did not come close to pinching me in the two hundred rounds I have fired through it.
Out of the box, the 336 Classic is nothing to write home about in terms of smoothness of the action as it is worked, but after a cleaning and lube job, particularly around the lever safety that prevents the rifle from firing if the lever is not fully closed, the action is brisk and an equal to my old 336.
On The Sights
The new 336 is easy to load fast and tempting to shoot fast. That temptation is helped by the comb of the stock, which sets the face right on the iron sights for instinctive snap shooting out to about 75 yards. But I did most of my shooting with a Leupold VX Freedom 1.5-4x optic and it required a slightly proud head to see through the scope and connect out to 200 yards with the minimal holdover.
The trigger pull was something of a mystery for a while, both from the bench and offhand. There is no mush or pretravel. Once you are on it, you have to break it, and the break feels heavier than it actually is. My Lyman scale measures this 336’s trigger at a modest 4.5 lbs.
Recoil is little more than a soft shove thanks to the .30-30’s sedate ballistics and the inclusion of a brown rubber recoil pad, but I found the pad added a bit more length to the rifle and it often snagged on the jacket as it came into the shoulder. This is coming from someone who is 6 ft. 5 inches tall. As handy as the 336 Classic is, a youth model would be just the ticket for quick offhand work.
Accuracy
Lever action rifles are conductive to good accuracy, though often not great compared to a bolt or auto. With a traditional .30-30, you have a tubular magazine hanging on the barrel to fool with the harmonics, a non-free floated barrel, and blunt nosed bullets. Still, the 336 Classic is a 2-inch grouper at 100 yards with Remington and Winchester 150 grain soft points.
I shot some 170 grain Winchester Power Points, which produced snappier recoil and groups opened to 2 3/4 inches. I also tried Hornady American Whitetail 150 grain soft points and the Hornady LeverEvolution 160 grain Flex Tip loads with results opening up to a disappointing 3-4 inches, respectively. While I wish I could attest this to this Marlin 336 rather than the ammunition, neither of those Hornady loads shot as well in my 1972 vintage 336 either.
Marlin 336 Rarlin Edition: Why Buy New?
Higher prices are more than the result of inflation. Demand, high fixed costs, unpredictable variable costs, and the need to constantly change to stay relevant has given us a lever action rifle market that is up to the neck with water. Prices of new lever actions are high, partly because of pent up demand and relatively few providers now than in the past. As much as CNC machining has covered the gap in dedicated machine work, lever actions are more complex than their rivals.
In that first article on the Marlin 336, I opined that new products are good, but you should not turn up your nose at an older, used rifle. There are upwards of four million Marlin 336 rifles out there at prices lower than a new one and I could not understand how Ruger could have a price sealing so high given how flooded the used market is. I ultimately found the answer in prestige purchasing. Although it is not reflected on a product page, the new Ruger Marlin 336 is upmarket compared to its predecessors.
In the past, labor was plentiful, hunting was bigger, and the lever action was a proven design. The Marlin 336 was popular because it was a cheaper gun made to a price point, but whose attributes made it appealing to a wide swath. Now those same attributes are being rediscovered by a new generation of gun owners and demand is back. People do want the security of buying new if they perceive problems with the old. But there is also prestige to buying a nice rifle when so few rifles coming off the line are what we would call nice. In looks, feel, and performance, the new Ruger Marlin 336 Classic delivers just that.
Another look at the Marlin 336:
Review of the Ruger-Built Marlin 336 Classic .30-30 Winchester – 1895Gunner
More of Jim’s Gems:
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