I have what I think is one of the last Marlin 1894 carbines made in the Marlin factory before being bought by Remington. I really have no need for this rifle, except that I always wanted one (a lever gun - comes from watching too many episodes of "The Rifleman"), and I got one NIB for an exceptionally good price a couple of years ago (I think I paid < $500.00 cash). This rifle is a lot of fun to shoot. It loads and fires .357 Magnum as well as .38 Special rounds without any difficulties. Recoil is almost non-existent (my rifle has a factory recoil pad). In lots of ways, I think it is a very close match to the M-1 carbine in terms of compactness, light weight, accuracy and handling. I hope you can find one of the Marlins at a good price. They are getting harder and harder to find. In fact, every time I take mine to the range, and once people figure out it's a .357 Magnum and not a .30/30, I have to fight off multiple offers to buy it.

Best of luck,

Dave

PS - Sorry, I forgot to add that I was told if you want a true Marlin made rifle, you should look for a "JM" stamp on the barrel.

Regards,

Dave