FALL 2019
Early Marlin lever-action rifles looked,
not too surprisingly, like their Winchester
counterparts—no small affront to the
latter. Over in Hartford, Colt had estab-
lished something of a “mutual respect” for
Winchester’s territory after an awkward
dust-up over Colt’s singular try at building
a lever-action rifle in 1883 was countered
by Winchester’s development of a revolver.
And not just any revolver—a double-
action model designed by none other than
William Mason, the man responsiblefor
Colt’s Peacemaker. Mason had left Colt
for a position with Winchester in 1882,
and that was enough of a deterrent. But
while Colt steered clear of Winchester in
terms of lever actions, John Marlin had no
apprehension whatsoever when it came to
building a competitive, and lower-priced,
repeater. His Model 1881 was produced
through 1892, overlapping with an
improved and also Winchester-like Model
1888, which remained in
production for a decade.
Marlin’ssecondmodel
wasdesignedtobecom-
patiblewith.32-20,.38-
40 and.44-40pistolcar-
tridges,againsteppingon
Winchester’stoes.Ayear
later,hedevelopedhis
firstside-ejectingmodel,
theModel1889,which
wouldformthebasisof
hisfuturedesigns.By
1892, he had soldnearly100,000lever-
action rifles of varying designs, but he was
just getting started.
In 1893, Marlin added a trio of
improved models with the company’s dis-
tinctive solid-top frame that could safely
chamber smokeless-powder cartridges.
Available as takedown rifles, carbines and
long-barreled muskets, the new Marlins
were offered in .25-36, .32-40 Winchester,
.38-55 Winchester and, two years later,
the new smokeless-powder .30-30 and .32
Special. The Marlin Model 1893 became
so popular that it remained in production
until 1935, with total sales nearing 1 mil-
lion. Concurrent with the 1893 were the
1894 versions (also produced through 1935
and totaling another quarter-millionsales)
and the larger-caliber Model 1895, cham-
bered all the way up to .45-90.
What made the Model 1893 so successful
was the receiver, with its solid top, square
boltandsideejection.JohnMarlinwent
so far as to boast that the 1893 was safer to
the shooter than Winchester’s top-ejecting
system, which dated all the way back to the
Henry and Winchester Model 1866. Even
with John Moses Browning designing the
later Winchester lever-action rifles, they still
retained the earlier top-ejecting action. Was
the Marlin safer? It certainly couldn’t send
an empty shell case into the shooter’s line of
sight when chambering a fresh round.
Lewis Hepburn, who had joined the
company in 1886, collaborated with John
Marlin on the Model 1893. Hepburn’s lever-
action, side-ejecting, breech-locking system
was quite different from John Browning’s
improved Winchesters. Hepburn employed
a vertical steel locking bolt at the back of the
receiver that engaged a deep slot running
along the underside of the breech bolt as the
lever was closed. This prevented the breech
bolt from moving when the rifle was fired.
But if the lever wasn’t
fully closed, the engage-
ment of the locking bolt
and breech bolt remained
incomplete and prevented
the rifle from firing.
The safety of
Hepburn’s mechanism
was doubly ensured by
a two-piece firing pin
that separated when the
action was opened, with
the rear half pivoting
HENRY HYBRID
Action: Lever • Finish:Brass, blued • Capacity: 5+1 • MSRP: $1,045
SPECIFICATIONS
42 GUNS OF THE OLD WEST
Another inspiration for the Side Gate is the 1860 Henry.
The modern Marlin Model 336C uses the same open-side
ejection style as the latest Henry model.
The Side Gate draws on the Marlin Model 1893, which is still
available today as part of Marlin’s Model 336 series.
