Marlin 336XLR ... thoughts?

[YearOfTheNick]

Hello all, new to the forums here and wanted some opinions about the Marlin 336XLR.

Unlike the 336's 20" barrel, the XLR has a 24" barrel. I also like that it takes 30-30 which I am told is a good ammo for various endeavors.

I have never personally owned a rifle, but have shotguns and pistols. I wanted my first rifle to be a good versatile firearm, but also give me some leg room if I wanted to get into hunting a little more seriously. Like bagging a white tail at 100 yards. I know I'd need a scope, and I'm sure the time will come, but is this a good firearm to invest some money in?

Pretty sweet looking too...

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/xlr/336.asp

[32blownhemi]

I've got a Marlin 1895GBL { the 1895's are chambered in 45/70} that's in jail now {I pick it up Tues}. 18" barrel, large loop, 6 + 1 capacity & pistol grip. Even though I don't know that much about them I did go to some of the on-line lever gun discussion forums & read up on them. Only negative thing I read was that sometimes Marlins have a feeding problem but it can be fixed pretty easily {& I don't believe that that many of them are prone to it}. Plus's of the 45/70, it'll work on any big game in North America for up to 200 yards {300 yards with the new Hornady LeverEvolution ammo}. It's fantastic in heavy brush {remember this is stuff I've READ not personal experience}. I'll try to post pic's of the round. I love the look of the 'large loop' & I liked that it had 6+1 capacity instead of 4+1 as many of the other Marlin models. There is the 'Cowboy' model that holds 9+1 {or is it 10+1?} but those are harder to get & have a longer barrel. They are in the $500 range. I did buy a Cowboy gun model from a place that said it had one in stock but they called me 3 days later & said it was a mistake! They just had one they were sending back to Marlin for repairs & it shouldn't have shown up in inventory {this model as are some others are hard to get} ... Hope this helps ya even though you were asking about 30-30's... Bill

ps, I've seen several used lever actions {mostly 30-30's} at the local gun shops... Ventura County...

[Killawhale415]

Marlins are great guns and are built like tanks pick up a 336 and never look back they are fantastic guns.

[Troy86]

Marlin 336 30-30's are great rifles I would definatly recommend it. how ever recently I up graded to the marlin 1895 GBL Big loop .45-70 GOV and haven't touched my 30-30 since.