Pennsylvania Game News - December 2013 - 59

take apart and reassemble for breechcleaning purposes. Plus, the action
length would accommodate future
cartridges of the day, such as the .3030, .32 Special and .25-36 smokeless
rounds.
The 1893 design was adapted into
a smaller frame called the Model 1894
to shoot the popular, .25-20, .32-20,
.44-40 and .38-40 Winchester length
cartridges and was manufactured until
1935 (started up again in 1969 and is
still being manufactured; cartridges
have included .45
Colt, .44 mag, .357
mag, .218 Bee and .22
WMRF ). In 1895, it
was lengthened into
a larger frame and
called the Model 1895
to shoot larger and
longer cartridges such
as the .45-70, .40-82,
.45-90 and .33 WCF.
This model was made
until 1906.
In 1936, Marlin tried to update the
Model 1893 with a more modern stock,
sights and other minor improvements,
calling it the Model 36 and chambered
in the .30-30 and .32 Special.
In 1948, Marlin vastly improved
the 1936 model and renamed it the
Model 336. Modifications included
using a round, chromed breech block
(rather than the square one) enclosing
it in a solid-steel framed receiver, with
only two slots cut to load and eject
cartridges, which made the receiver
substantially stronger. The extractor
was improved and a few years later
Marlin added micro-groove rifling,
which varied from 12 to 22 shallow
groves, depending on caliber and year.
The top of the receiver also was drilled
DECEMBER 2013

and tapped for mounting a scope.
The action was so simple anyone
with a ﬂathead screwdriver easily could
disassemble it by opening the action,
taking out the lever screw, pulling out
the lever, breech bolt and ﬂipping the
riﬂe over so the ejector falls out.
It was initially chambered in the .3030 WCF, .32 Win. Special and in 1953,
the excellent .35 Remington became a
standard chambering. Other chamberings throughout the years that came
or went or are still with us include the
.219 Zipper (19551959), the .44 mag
(1963-1964), the .444
Marlin introduced
in 1965, the .45-70
reintroduce in 1972
and the .450 Marlin
in 2000.
The last three of
those, as well as the
.30-30 and .35 Remington, are still with
us today. In the past
couple of years, the .308 Marlin and
.338 Express cartridges have joined the
lineup, which extends the typical lever
action accuracy and lethality from 200
yards out to 300.
I'm not sure how many shooters
know just how strong the Model 336
is, but when Winchester came out with
the short-lived .375 Win., .307 Win.
and .356 Win. cartridges (ballistically
similar to the .38-55 Win., .308 Win.
and .358 Win.), it had to beef up its
Model 94 action (calling it the big bore
Model 94) by widening the steel toward
the back of the receiver to support that
kind of pressure. In truth, it looked
pretty ugly, and I believe Winchester
would have been better off if it had
just widened the whole receiver, so it
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Pennsylvania Game News - December 2013

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