The Marlin Model 336 was born after World War 2 but has a heritage dating back to before the turn of the 20^th century. Often referred to as the Marlin 30-30, the rifle was first the Model 1893 and initially wasn’t chambered in its namesake caliber.

The Model 336 of the Marlin 30-30 was the rifle’s fifth iteration, already having been named the Model 1893, Model 93, Model 1936 and Model 36 before the company offered the Model 336 starting in 1948.

Carried by generations of hunters, more than 4 million of the Model 336 have been produced, making it the second most popular centerfire sporting rifle in the United States behind the Winchester 94. Let’s delve into the history of this rifle and how it came to earn its nickname, Marlin 30-30.

This jaw-dropping example of the Model 1893 engraved and inlaid with gold and platinum by Master Engraver Conrad F. Ulrich Jr. will be available in the August Premier Auction. The gun has panel scenes of moose on the left side of the receiver and a bounding whitetail buck on the right surrounded by oak leaf and acorn clusters.

Before the Marlin 30-30

John Mahlon Marlin opened a gun shop in 1870 in New Hampshire, making revolvers and derringers before he incorporated his namesake company in 1881. At the time he was making single shot pistols and Ballard rifles but watching as lever action rifles started gaining traction. His first lever action rifle was the Model 1881. By the early 1890s, Marlin saw the future of firearms would be in the stronger smokeless powder cartridges.

Lewis Lobdell Hepburn, who joined Marlin in 1886, was a competitive shooter and gun designer. Hepburn made improvements to the Model 1889, giving it a new locking bolt system and a two-piece firing pin different than the Model 1889. The action was lengthened and bolt strengthened to take longer and more powerful smokeless cartridges. The new action went into the Model 1893 but it retained the side ejector from the 1889, something Winchester didn’t have when it released the Model 1894 the following year.

Before the Marlin 30-30, was the Model 1893 that was chambered for .32-40 or .38-55. This Model 1893 is chambered in .38-55 is beautifully embellished with gold inlaid accents. The casehardened receiver features scrollwork on a punch dot background with engraved game scenes. The “Monarch of the Dell,” seen on Marlin’s best work, is on the left side, while a grizzly bear standing above a kill is on the right side. This gun realized $76,375 in Rock Island Auction’s December 2024 Premier Auction.

Marlin offered the 1893 in a number of options for stocks with a straight grip or a shotgun stock and round, octagonal or half-octagonal barrels, as well as several barrel lengths from a 20-inch carbine to a 32-inch musket. In 1895, Marlin started producing its “Special Smokeless Steel” barrels that could handle the pressure of smokeless powder and the Model 1893 was offered in five calibers – including for the first time 30-30. The company introduced its Grade “B” rifles in 1905 made specifically for black powder cartridges of .32-40 or .38-55 and marked “For Black Powder.”.

John Marlin died in 1901 at the age of 65. In 1915 in the nascent days of World War 1, Marlin Firearms was sold to a syndicate that contracted to manufacture Colt 1914 machine guns, the Browning Automatic Rifle, Browning Automatic Rifles and machine guns for airplanes and tanks.

This British-proofed U.S. Marlin-Rockwell M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle was made for use in World War 1. It crossed the podium for $47,000 in Rock Island Auction’s May 2025 Premier.

After the war, the syndicate, Marlin-Rockwell, started divesting the companies it acquired, including Marlin. The November 1921 “Arms and the Man” magazine announced the Marlin Firearms Corporation. The company didn’t last long, going into bankruptcy just two years later. The Marlin Firearms Company was born again in 1926.

After World War 1, Model 1893 was renamed as the Model 93. The 1922 company catalog promoted it as “the ideal rifle for hunting all species of big game found on the North American continent. This is a quick handling, powerful, accurate arm, strongly built throughout with the simplest and most durable mechanism used in any high power repeater.

A Marlin 30-30, this Marlin Model 93 saddle ring carbine retains 95 plus of its blue finish and 85 percent of its case coloring. It crossed the podium for $4,406 in Rock Island Auction’s August 2024 Premier.

Winchester, Not Marlin 30-30

Winchester, not Marlin, developed the .30-30 cartridge, intended for use in the Winchester Model 1894. The flat-shooting cartridge would become one of the most common for lever action rifles and likely has taken down more North American deer than any other cartridge.

Like Marlin, Winchester initially chambered its new rifle, the Model 1894 in .32-50 and .38-55 before transitioning to the stronger steel in 1895 and began offering it in additional chamberings of .25-35 Winchester and .30-30 Winchester.

The cartridge was introduced in Winchester’s August 1895 catalog as the .30 Winchester Smokeless for the Model 1894. When chambered for the Marlin Model 1893, the cartridge was referred to as .30-30 or .30-30 Smokeless. Barrels on the Marlin Model 1893 were marked “SPECIAL SMOKELESS STEEL” after 1904.

This late production Marlin Model 93 carbine retains 98 percent of its original blue finish and 99 percent of its original case coloring and is a Marlin 30-30. This rifle earned $8,625 in Rock Island Auction’s December 2021 Premier.

Marlin 30-30 in the Model 1936 and 36

The 1930s was a time of modernization, with new materials and manufacturing processes. Marlin introduced the Model 1936 that year, based on the Model 1893/93 but now with a fluted comb and pistol grip. The gun was offered in two calibers, .32 Special and, yes, 30-30.

The gun was designated the Model 36 the following year and proved to be quite popular before and after World War 2. The carbine, with a 20-inch barrel was advertised as “excellent for quick accurate shooting.” During the Great Depression, cost cutting measures were necessary so one action was to temporarily discontinue the bullseye trademark embedded into the bottom of the buttstock.

The rifle’s post-war version had a blued receiver and the comb was no longer fluted along with other minor changes. In 1940, Marlin offered a “DeLuxe” model with checkered grip and forearm and a one-inch leather sling.

This magnificent Marlin Model 1936, a Marlin 30-30, has more than 98 percent of its original blue and casehardened finish. It brought $4,025 in Rock Island Auction’s April 2013 Premier.

Marlin 30-30 Interrupted by World War 2

Marlin was involved in the war effort again as World War 2 raged, making 20mm links, M1 Carbine barrels and other parts. The company also manufactured the Model UDM 42, a submachine gun designed by High Standard in 1940. High Standard couldn’t manufacture the gun because the company was already manufacturing .50 caliber machine guns for the British.

Marlin manufactured 15,000 Model UDM 42 submachine guns. They were used primarily by the Office of Stategic Services, with most dropped into France during 1944. The Navy also transported some to China in 1953. Shortly before D-Day, the Ordnance Department communicated to Marlin that most of the UDM 42 guns were captured in France so a spare parts order was unlikely.

Among the items produced by Marlin during World War 2 was this United Defense/Marlin M42 submachine gun. Intended to compete against the Thompson submachine gun. Chambered in 9mm, this M42 earned $37,375 in RIAC’s December 2021 Premier.

Marlin 336 is the Marlin 30-30

A round bolt mechanism debuted with the Model 336 in 1948. It was described in a catalog of the time as “a new, rugged locking system that assures smooth functioning.” The catalog continued that the alloy steel breech bolt to “assure cartridge feeding that is virtually jam-proof.”

The gun received a cross-bolt safety in 1984 and the Marlin 30-30 and .32 Special were joined by .375 Winchester before the third chambering was dropped three years later. Another lesser known caliber cartridge, the .219 Zipper, was offered from 1955 to 1959 as a varmint rifle for farmers and ranchers. The Zipper model proved to be inaccurate and suffered from short barrel lives because of micro-groove rifling. Micro-groove rifling came under fire from gun owners about accuracy, but that wasn’t born out in a study by firearms expert Ed Harris who published his findings in American Rifleman. While modern Marlins are micro-grooved, the grooves are deeper to prevent fouling.

This Marlin 30-30 Model 336 was manufactured in 1973 and is mounted with a Bushnell 4500 1-4x scope.

Marlin 30-30 Meets Ruger

The Kenna family, that purchased the moribund Marlin brand after it fell into foreclosure in the early 1920s, sold Marlin Firearms to Remington in 2007. Remington landed in financial difficulties and by 2020, Ruger cast Marlin a lifeline and purchased the company for $28.3 million during Remington’s bankruptcy proceedings.

While some of Ruger’s version of the Marlin lever guns offer a modern twist, the Marlin 30-30 – the Model 336 – retains that classic western cool with a blued finish and black walnut stock and forearm that are both checkered. And it is only offered in .30-30.

This Marlin 30-30 is a Marlin 336 with a Ruger proof mark on the barrel to show it was made since Ruger purchased the company in 2020.

Marlin 30-30 for Sale

Pre-dating its namesake cartridge by a couple years, the Marlin 30-30 remains in production more than 130 years later as the Model 336. This rifle, with 4 million made, deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with the John Moses Browning-designed Winchester Model 1894 as legendary deer rifles that have put venison in hunters’ deep freezers for more than a century.

This magnificently engraved Marlin 1893 with gold and platinum inlays is a fantastic example of Conrad F. Ulrich's work and will be available in Rock island Auction's August Premier.

Sources:

Marlin Firearms, A History of the Guns and The Company That Made Them, by William S. Brophy

Marlin and Ballard Firearms & History, by Bill West

A Classic Reborn: Ruger-Made Marlin Model 336, by Jordan Sillars, Meateater

A last look at a classic Marlin 1893 masterpiece engraved by Conrad Ulrich Jr. presented to famed exhibition shooter Annie Oakley shows the "Monarch of the Dell" on the left side of the receiver.