Longtime Readers know well that I am a huge, unabashed fan of the venerable lever-action rifle, often called the “prairie assault rifle” because of its history in the settlement of the West, its ease of shooting and handling, and because of its capacious (for the time) magazine capacity. Here’s a Marlin 336 in .30-30:
…which as we all know, is a gun I think should be given to all freshly-naturalized citizens immediately after the swearing-in ceremony, courtesy of the U.S. Government.
However, someone in some Marketing Department somewhere decided that the Marlin needed a facelift, and came up with this concept:
…adding to its capacity, so to speak, and lightening the thing by carving out holes in its (plastic!) stock to make up for all the weight added by the extra cartridges (I guess).
Well you know, I don’t have too much of a problem with the above modifications, other than the fact that they make for a truly fugly weapon, and are completely unnecessary in every sense of the word. (I do make an exception for the red-dot sight device, because I can’t see the front sight anymore and I’m sure there are a bunch of Olde Pharttes in precisely my predicament — said Olde Pharttes being, I guess, the principal target market for such “improvements”.)
The problem is that as much as they want to make the lever-action rifle more resemble a modern semi-automatic rifle of the AR-15 genre, there’s no point because the AR-15 is a semi-automatic with a detachable magazine while the lever action is, well, not.
So then, assuming that you do want a handy semi-automatic rifle but you want to keep the spirit of the lever gun (light, handy, large-capacity magazine etc.), then allow me to suggest an alternative to the Frankenlever thing above:
Yes, it’s the equally-venerable M1 Carbine, made in the several millions, killed probably far more Nazis/Commies than the lever rifle killed Indians, and is the spiritual descendant of the lever rifle. And if you want, you can add a red-dot sight to the M1 as well, using an Ultimak mount:
See? I’ll bet that given the choice, the early settlers would have been quite happy with them — and you won’t have to mess around with loading round after round into a lever rifle either (and both Oliver Winchester and John Moses Browning can stop that dreadful grave-spinning, as a bonus).
When I moved to the free state of Oklahoma from New Jersey (spit) many years ago I was told that state law required me to own a lever gun. I couldn’t decide between the pistol grip stock Marlin and the straight stock Winchester 94 so I bought one of each. Later a Rossi 92 .357 and Henry Big Boy .44 appeared in my collection because pistol caliber carbines are a thing. The Rossi loaded with mild .38s is my favorite gun to shoot and if I had to move back to some third world shite hole like Jersey City the Rossi would live under my bed.
(sigh) I wish there were such a kit for my Mosin(s).. Yeah, I could probably get a gunsmith work some magic so I could red dot them, but $$! Curse of the commie rifles.. Would love to hear of any suggestions..
Of course, there’s always the choice of a lever action AR
https://www.offgridweb.com/gear/new-bond-arms-lever-action-ar-15/
And (shudder) it looks just as awful but is probably Cali compliant.
As for the M1 Carbine, my God have you priced one lately? The days of picking up surplus army weapons for pennies on the dollar are a good half-century in the past. Originals are easily $2 grand or more for beat up and abused shooters. I think there’s some reproductions made in the $1500 range. While I’m definitely the target market, for pure self-defense I’d pick a budget AR for a third that price and be happy.
I’d LOVE to have an M1 Carbine again. I had one way back in the day (a Universal not a “real” one, unfortunately) which I had to give up to clear a debt. I’ve regretted doing so ever since. But Good Lord, the price of them now!
The M1 Carbine is a very handy rifle but isn’t its cartridge rather anemic? It’s marginal for deer at all but the closest of ranges from what I understand.
For self defense. I always heard that .30 carbine was weak and a poor round for shooting people. Then one day the discussion came up while my buddy Leon was in the room. Leon is a crotchety old Korean War veteran. He loves the M1 carbine and said it works just fine out to 300 yards and is quite accurate.
Since he has actually shot people with one I’ll take his opinion over others regurgitating what they read in a gun magazine.
Ryan thank you for the information!! I’d definitely take his experience over opinions based on theory. I thought 30 carbine ballistics were close to 357 magnum. If that truly is the case then a 30 carbine out of a rifle barrel can be sufficient at reasonable distances. Ruger even built a revolver to take 30carbine cartridges.
Take the marketing person was that came up with that abomination and break them on the wheel.
I do like my M-1 carbine but it is a +/- 3-4 MOA at 50 yards. It is very handy and after a .22 it is the next rifle I have a newbie shoot.
What’s the word on the Marlin 336 in .35 Remington versus .30-30?
I’ve read various opinions SOTI that the .35 Remington is and is not a “brush buster”, or that it has that extra bit of oomph to knock the deer deader. I’ve fired both and the 336 has a thicker stock which makes firing it easier on the shoulder.
I’d go with the .30-30 because it passes the “Bubba’s Guns & Bait Store” test.
$1200 for the Marlin 336! Probably says more of the value of the dollar than the rifle. Can’t even find the Winchester 94 (now made in Japan IIRC). Why oh why did I give mine up? (and so long ago I don’t recall when.) They were relatively inexpensive and easily found – once upon a time. I liked that 30-30.
https://www.cimarron-firearms.com/products/long-guns/repeating-rifles/1894-carbine.html