Which Marlin for target shooting ???

[mad mucus]

My 21yo son has recently decided, out of the blue, to get his rifle license and has expressed an interest in a Marlin leveraction, preferably 24" with receiver sight, medium recoil and good accuracy out to 100yds. He also wishes to draw on my reloading experience.

His thoughts are on a 357mag but he knows diddly squat having only done the shooting thing several times over the years. My rifle knowledge is limited to levers in Browning .22LR & Marlin .45Colt..... a new journey begins.

Suggestions appreciated..... I'm thinking maybe a 30-30 which seems limited to 20".

MM

[keyston44]

Only the Cowboy models have 24" barrels. They are hard to get and expensive if you do find one.

Key

[jhrosier]

Nothing wrong with a Marlin, if you get a good one.
Considering their recent quality problems, I would consider Rossi model 92 instead of a Marlin.
I don't know if they offer a long barreled version though.

Jack

[93marshooter]

30-30 best choice because of ability to reload wide range of velocities and bullets. You can load cast bullets at 357 mag velocity even with "trail-boss" powder down to 38 special power.

[Griff]

Yep, if he's set on a Marlin, I'd say a "Cowboy" model. And either the .357 or .45 Colt will do the job out to 100 yards... What exact kinda shootin' is he wantin' to do? Either the .30-30 or the .38-55 will also be great. The .38-55 could be a sight easier to find.

[bdhold]

not a lever, but from your continent, I would be going for a Martini Cadet.
The .310 brass is available here from Buffalo Arms, they are reputed accurate way past 100 yards . Of course, a lot of people do convert them to .357.
You might find one ready to go.

[AJMD429]

If the Rossi's are available there, I'd recommend one in .357 Mag, unless you really can find a Marlin he likes. I do like the Marlins better overall, just due to simpler design, but either should do him well.

Remember that it doesn't necessarily take a 24" barrel to be accurate, but it will help a bit with 'sight-radius', and some like the 'holdability' (more weight up front and therefore more inertia so less wobble, but tradeoff is heavier means more fatigue to hold for target sessions).



I had a scope on it with a B-Square side-mount for a bit, just for grins...but once I got the Lyman Globe front sight, I decided I liked the Taurus tang sight ($29 copy of Marble's) with the Globe up front, better than the scope.



CoSteve will likely pop in, and he has honed his .357 Rossi's into marvelous long-distance tack-drivers.

[Furncliff]

My daughters favorite rifle is the Marlin 1894c .357 magnum. It is an excellent choice for what you have in mind. My experience with store bought ammo led me to reload for it. Lil gun powder and Hornaday 158g XTP bullets showed the best accuracy in my rifle. I have been getting about 1900 fps., that might be a bit stout?

[earlmck]

I'd say that boy is developing some good taste. Now back in the "good old days" around the middle of last century, Marlin had an option called the "336A" that had a nice 24" barrel. The top rifle shown here is just such,fitted with Lyman receiver sight. Newer 336 below. It is my favorite configuration in a shootin' iron. I don't know about over where you are, but here you can pick one up fairly readily in 30/30 'cause they made a goodly number of them while they were doing it.

Marlins336Aand336.jpg