On the fun side of things, we got a chance to stop by the Marlin booth, and look at the new additions to the lineup. I, for one, don’t think lever actions get nearly enough love in the modern world. And what I saw at the booth make me want to fix that immediately.
Model 1895 Trapper
First up was the new 1895 Trapper model, in a stainless steel finish. The Model 1895 denotes big bore for Marlin, and this one is available in 45-70 only. It has peep sights with a removable aperture, a wood painted stock, and a new for this year 16.5-inch barrel. This was a direct input from testing in Alaska, where a brush gun in bear caliber needs to be very fast. The gun lives up to that standard and will be appreciated by anyone that lives in wooded terrain.
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SPECS:
- 45-70 Gov’t.
- 5+1 capacity
- Wild West Guns-style big loop lever for easy cycling
- Skinner peep sight for fast, easy target acquisition
- 16 1/2″ barrel
- 1:20″ twist rate
- Skinner peep sight for fast, easy target acquisition
- 35″ long
- 13 3/8” length of pull
- 7 lbs. approximate weight
- MSRP: Starting at $1,123
In the smaller frame Marlins, the new 38/357 model will be released this year with a threaded barrel option. This is pretty exciting stuff and shows exactly how mainstream suppressors are becoming. For those of us that grew up on a lever gun, prepare to defend your nostalgia. I cannot think of a better way to get kids into shooting, than with a cowboy gun that is also quiet.
Going Custom
SPECS:
- Action Job
- Happy Trigger
- Dehorn/Deburr all metal
- Cerakote (choice of color)
- XS Rail
- Wood painted stock with webbing (choice of color)
- Accurize
- Function and Range Tested for accuracy
- Target supplied
- Available on models SBL, Cowboy, CBA, GSBL
- MSRP: Starting at $1,995
Finally, we wrap up with some very sexy new hotness for Marlin from the Custom Shop. When I think custom shop, I tend to lean toward chassis bolt action, or maybe gold inlay and engravings.
My old friend Carlos Martinez had something else in mind, and it was the only gun at the show that made me start calculating what I can sell to score one of my own. The Marlin Modern Hunter will blow your socks off. Available in 45-70, 44 Magnum, or 357, these guns feature custom-tuned actions and triggers, along with Cerakote jobs that are stunning. You have to see to believe, and at a price that is quite reasonable considering the upgrades. Look for a full review on this coming soon. Even if I have to drive to Sturgis to get it.
For more information about Marlin, click here.
To learn more about the Remington Custom Shop, click here.
I have a Marlin 1895 Trapper
After buying it I made the following modifications
Installed Marlin Laminated Brown Stock
Installed Wild West Gun Bear Proof Ejector and Happy Trigger and Magazine Follower
Removed Skinner Sights
Installed Marlin Folding Leaf Sight and Marlin front sight with Williams Fire Sight with Cut Out Hood.
Replace Cross Bolt Safety with plug
Installed Warne Maxima Scope Bases using Warne QR Lever Rings with Leupold 1.5×5
Mag Na Port on Barrel
My Favorite load for Alaska is 350gr Beartooth LNFNGC Hardcast and Reloader 7
I just purchased a trapper with skinner sights I was impressed with fit and finish. I had a 2018 guide gun with great walnut I regret selling it. That gun was accurate with my 425gr hard cast reloads and functioned flawlessly a great gun. Rest assured Marlin is back and personally the 45-70 they build now is better then the JM to me simply because they got rid of that micro groove rifling that limited reloading. I know from 40 years of handling good guns and bad ones this new stainless trapper will out last me and my son.
Too bad Marlin didn’t thread the 45/70 barrel. I think rifle manufacturers today should thread all barrels for suppressors; the added cost is negligible.
For all that money you don’t even get a THREADED BARREL !
I owned a Marlin lever gun in .38/.357 and had it threaded by a machinist near home. Using a suppressor originally intended for a 9mm HK, this gun was the most fun to be had with your clothes on. Loading HEAVY custom .38’s, I spent many long afternoons with friends having very quiet fun. I will definitely be putting another of these rifles in my safe. In my opinion, there is no better host weapon for a suppressor than a lever action rifle, especially a centerfire. Now, if we can just get that .44 threaded…
Would buy one if in the 35remington caliber
Would like to see this in 450 Bushmaster, which is a legal in a lot of limited shot gun hunting zones.
See your chiropractor and get a shoulder adjustment after shooting one.
Or try getting a little more toughness than a little girl?!?
Are they all wood stocks? It seems strange to have all of the weather proofing on the rest of the components, just to have the stock swell and ruin accuracy when actually using it in inclement weather.
The Remington-Marlin Team was and is a disaster. We could all see it from the guns they started making after the buy-out that something went horribly wrong. Cost cutting and laying off the most talented gunsmiths were just the beginning. I am so glad that my Marlins are pre-FUBAR. Most gun enthusiasts want a 100% dependable weapon that is just so, 100% of the time. The ridiculous pricing of ready-made “fancy” guns does not include all of the re-work needed to have it done right. REM-MAR needs to sell great guns, built right the first time, and ready for the buyer to create his own special design.
REMLINS ARE ABSOLUTE CRAP. SO ARE THE NEW REM. 552, AND REM. 750 WHICH WAS SO BAD THEY FINALLY STOPPED PRODUCTION, JAM…JAM…JAM. IF YOU WANT A QUALITY .45/70 BUY ONE OF THE NEW JAPANESE MADE WINCHESTER 1886. I HAVE ONE WITH A 20 INCH BARREL. I’M 63 YEARS OLD AND THESE RIFLES ARE WELL MADE LIKE GUNS USED TO BE.
I would love to see one of these in either 30-30Win or 35 Marlin for hunting Deer and be under $700. (Don’t need fancy wood) but it would be nice to have maybe Whitetail Deer on one side and Mule Deer on the other so it won’t be so Shinny in the woods and will look good hanging on the wall on Deer Hoofs… It’s one thing to make a gun for the Guides, where they can just recoup the price by charging more for the hunts… But if you make a gun for us “Hunters” you will sell thousands more because there is thousands of us to every “Guide”!!! Would like to see something in the $400. range with black plastic stock and grips and dark blued receiver, and around $500. for one with the fancy carvings on Stainless with plastic stock, and then one with Wood stock with the fancy engravings under $700.00 It’s not like these are Winchesters Collectors series guns!! We just need something to hunt with and pass down to our Grand kids!! I would have to buy 2 as I have 2 grand sons… I can then take them down and have each of their names put on the rifles… I’m disabled and on a “LOW” fixed income!! I’m sure there are a lot of people like me out there!! Maybe your company doesn’t understand that by lowering the price you will make more money!! Example: If it cost you $300. to make a fancy 30-30 lever action rifle and you sell it for $1000. each and you sell 200 in a year you get 140,000 profit… And if you lower the price to $500.00 you will make the same profit only selling 500 more guns… and you will have more of your brand out there for people to see which in turn sells more guns!! I bought my “Colt” AR because I saw someone at the range with one and he said he loved it and even let me shoot it.. I then went out and bought one!! If people see someone coming out of the woods with a deer and caring a $500. or less fancy gun they are going to find out how they can get one as well!! We all know with the machines we have today it shouldn’t cost you but about $150. or less, to make a gun… CNC machines are not that expensive and once programmed you only have to replace the bits that are very cheap spread over the life of the bits…. So lower the price and more people will buy and you will make more money!! Because at that high price, I would rather buy a Winchester or a custom “HENERY” Rifle!!
I own the perfect pair of Marlin lever action rifles. The 1895 in .45-70 and the 336C in .30-30. With these guns in your kit, you can handle 95% of the Game in North America with one shot. I did add a Marlin Papoose in .22 LR just for plinking and small game. All three Marlins have been with me and done the jobs I have asked of them. Good, dependable guns! Using iron sights or optics…either way will bring joy to your heart and food to the table.
I love the trapper idea and tried to contact Marlin and their custom team multiple times. Email, multiple voice messages, you name it. I was ready to buy and no one ever called me back.
Good luck getting in touch with Marlin…
I own a 45/70 from when they came out in the stainless with the ported barrel. Wear your ear protection! What a wonderful gun! LOL
I also love the Lever Guns. I prefer the 20 inch models but I’m not a bear guide or a trapper, just a meat hunter. If you have never carried one in the woods, you may be surprised how well they feel in the hand, but to each his own. The woods and mountains here in Pennsylvania tend to be tight and steep where 150 yards is the rare long shot and that’s exactly where the Lever Guns shine. Even a one hand carry with your hand around the (un-scoped) receiver comes to the two handed shooting position in a flash. Marlin’s been in the lever gun business for a while and there have been a few issues with triggers and sloppy actions but over all, they are wonderful rifles once you get them dialed in. The take over of Marlin from Remington arguably caused some bad blood for Marlin lever guns because in large part, Remington laid off it’s most talented lever gun builders and handed over the lines to bolt gun builders who were not up to speed yet on the product lines and the quality suffered for it. Now a few years have passed and I would expect the lever guns from these late years are getting back to better quality again, but Remington has missed their aim once more when they fancy up a lever rifle or carbine (even if they did a good job of it) and the prices skyrocket. Yes, they have done a decent job of building an off the shelf custom model but sort of went wild on the price for these particular models to get up into the $1500-$2000. They didn’t build a higher tech rifle, (like Browning did with it’s BLRs, …. and we are waiting for) they just put new clothes on the old designs. Fortunately we can still buy a standard Marlin at a decent price point and also get a good rifle
Really like the gun, not so much the peep…
Would like one of these.
Why not also make them in calibers .444 Marlin and .450 Marlin? All three are excellent brush calibers and gives more options for reloaders as well as weekend warriors.
I love lever guns. I have always wanted one in 45-70. But paying more than $1,000 would just put a bad taste in my mouth.
No mention of the “Marlin creep” trigger. Do these rifles have an improved sear, like what you experience with the Wild West Trigger Happy Kit ? I’m happy to see the 357/38 back in production, took long enough 🙂
I am not sure you read the article completely! It absolutely addressed and old reputation of sloppy triggers but also indicated that there is custom work built into these new rifles that clearly stated custom trigger job! Read the article again it certainly does mention the new Trigger.