After announcing the start of production earlier this winter, Ruger now has the Marlin 336 Classic available to customers. The good news is that it mostly looks like the old familiar classic. The bad news is, the price tag is even higher than before, and some shooters may bemoan the rifle's safety and barrel configuration.
While the Marlin 336 never achieved quite the cultural love and adoration afforded to the Winchester 94, many deer hunters and shooters preferred Marlin's design over the years. For one, it was available in .35 Remington, a harder-hitting cartridge than the .30-30 (although most 336s were chambered in that round). For another, scoping was easy, thanks to a drilled and tapped flat-top receiver on modern-production models. Takedown for cleaning was also easy, and many shooters claimed superior accuracy from the Marlin. Marlin also made the 336 available in stainless steel for several years, a very desirable option for many hunters headed for adverse conditions.
Naysayers pointed out the Marlin had a clunkier stock than its Winchester counterparts, which was true, and that "John Wayne never used one in his movies," which was also true, but the deer on the receiving end of the rifles never seemed to notice.
Remington bought Marlin in 2007, and then sold it off as part of bankruptcy proceedings in 2020. Ruger now owns the company, and is selling the rifle after reorganizing production.
The new Marlin 336 Classic looks a lot like the "Remlin" version, with full-length 6+1 tube magazine, a hooded front sight with brass bead, adjustable buckhorn rear, and (sigh!) a cross-button safety. Many shooters and hunters are not fans of that safety, preferring the half-cock setting on the hammer. However, it's possible the aftermarket will offer a "safety delete" feature, as was available on previous Marlin rifles.
The Ruger-built 336 has a black walnut stock, a gold colored trigger and a standard-sized lever loop, with none of the "cowboy lever" silliness that has taken over the lever-action scene. The metal comes in a satin blue finish. The classic Marlin cowboy logo is inscribed on the grip cap, and there's a sling stud in the stock and on the barrel band.
For now, .30-30 is the only chambering available, although Ruger seems interested in a .35 Remington version down the road.
The biggest change is the discontinuation of "Micro Groove" rifling. Marlin's previous production rifles had numerous small grooves instead of standard rifling, which has fewer, more pronounced grooves. Ruger has gone to this design with the cold hammer-forged barrel. No doubt all the .30-30 reloaders will have some thoughts on this change...
Ruger touts its new manufacturing processes as building a tighter gun with more precise tolerances. That is probably true, as the Remlin rifles, at least, were known for sloppy wood-to-metal finishes. This may not be as evident when ogling hand-picked examples in web photos, but in-store, the difference is probably much more obvious.
The rifling change may be the most significant adjustment to the design, but the change most buyers will notice right away is the MSRP. American buyers will pay $1,239 USD for the new Marlin 336 Classic. That works out to about $1660 CAD, at current conversion rates.
Now, such direct conversions aren't usually the case, and Canadian buyers usually get a break. But these rifles were widely sold in Canada for less than $700 about a decade ago, and most Canadian shooters will have a hard time accepting this price hike... and Ruger may have the entire production sold out in the US anyway. So, will we see it here in Canada soon? Don't expect massive numbers available in the near future, considering all that.
And yet... tried to buy a lever-action rifle lately? There is basically nothing available here as new production. If the 336 was ever going to make a comeback as an expensive reboot, now is its big chance.
See more details and photos at Ruger's website here.
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