The First Ruger/Marlin is Here!

Model 1895 .45-70 Revitalized
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The wait is over! The first Ruger/Marlin is here, and it’s everything we expected to be coming from Ruger. No missteps here — Ruger has done it right! The first Ruger/Marlin is the Model 1895 — the most popular lever action ever for big-game hunters. This .45-70 is all stainless-steel construction with a full magazine tube, spiral fluting on the bolt, threaded for a muzzle brake, and has an 11” Picatinny rail on top for mounting a scope or red dot sight. The left side of the barrel is marked “MODEL 1895 45-70” while the right side bears the inscription “MARLIN MAYODAN NC USA.”

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This rifle has the lever loop style which is just a little bit larger for easy use with gloved hands during hunting season. The stock is the gray laminate as found on Ruger bolt actions in the past and is fitted with a recoil pad to handle the generous felt recoil resulting from the heavy duty .45-70 hunting loads available today. Sights on this first Marlin are a receiver mounted peep sight matched up with a front sight with a white stripe for quick sight picture pick up.

Form and function are blended perfectly as shown by the test targets. This is not a bolt action with a solidly bedded action mounted in a one-piece stock, but rather a standard lever action consisting of a butt stock and a forearm which is a combination many think cannot be as accurate. This is not the case! Once sighted in and with the proper loads, this Ruger/Marlin delivers three-shot groups of one-inch or less, at 100 yards. Some of these groups are closing in on one-half inch. An example is the .585” group for three shots with the Hornady LeverEvolution 325 grain FTX designed specifically for use in lever action rifles.

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Functioning is perfect, the action is smooth and there is no doubt this real Marlin will be eagerly accepted by both hunters and shooters. In addition to the Marlin itself, Ruger is already offering accessories such as T-shirts proclaiming “Long Live The Lever Gun.” I eagerly look forward to Ruger producing more Marlin models especially in sixgun cartridges as well as the rebirth of the 39A. This was my first Marlin, in fact my first rifle, and my first firearm purchased with my own money. I started with it in 1956.  It is still performing on a weekly basis and I expect no less from the Marlins produced by Ruger.

Without a doubt the number one rifle news for 2021 is the Ruger/Marlin and I fully expect this to be named the Rifle of the Year by those responsible for such things. Once again, we have a fulfillment of the old slogan, Good Things Come to Those Who Wait.

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