New Marlin 1895 SBL .45-70 Government

The Return of a Classic Rifle

- Brian Pearce

Although I make a living shooting, testing and evaluating a variety of firearms, it's not often that I have the opportunity to write about a company and its guns that are historical and truly special to me, such as Marlin and its outstanding leverguns. Marlin guns were used by my ancestors dating back to at least the 1880s on the Arizona frontier. It seemed natural that as I grew up, I would be shooting vintage Model 97s and 39s, various Model 1894s, 1893s, 336s and 1895s. As an adult, habits are hard to break and Marlin rifles have been carried countless miles in the field.

My children were introduced to various Marlin .22, .357 Magnum and .45 Colt leverguns at young ages and still use them. Unfortunately, the past few years have been a rather rocky road for Marlin, but it is now owned by Ruger, with production underway in Mayodan, North Carolina. Since acquiring Marlin in the fall of 2020, Ruger engineers have reestablished the legendary and proven lever-action design, while production versions boast of what may be the best rifle produced with the Marlin name in many, many years, but I am getting ahead of myself. To understand the significance of the latest Ruger produced Marlin rifles, let's look briefly at the company history.