Pistol caliber lever gun prices

[made2cut]

Can someone tell me why the pistol caliber lever guns are so much more expensive than the larger caliber guns? I recently bought a Marlin 336 in 30-30 and would like to get a lever gun in 357 but they are 2-3 times the price. What's up with that?

 

[McCall911]

My guess is demand. The pistol caliber lever carbines are more versatile and are snatched up quicker.

But a .30-30 is pretty versatile in its own right. Anyway, it's on my short list of future buys.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Supply/Demand

I have both a Marlin 336C (.30-30) and 1894C (.357).

Both are the "deluxe" version with checkered walnut furniture.

I bought them at different stores, and the difference between them was about a hundred bucks.

If I had bought them both at Wal*Mart, the 336C would have been about $200-250, but without walnut, and the 1894C would be $400, and I'm not sure on the furniture, because they never have them on the rack; gotta special order them. If I bought the 1894C at Big 5, I'd spend about $350 (sale price, every few weeks, no walnut).

My impression is that they make fewer of the 1894C, which would seem to indicate less demand. I have trouble reconciling that with the renewed interest in cowboy shooting, though.

For whatever reason, the .357 and .44 carbines seem to uniformly cost more than the .30-30s, though I don't see "double" where I am.

However, given that I paid $100 dollars more for my .357 carbine, and given that I can shoot it for 20 cents/round (.38 special), I'm pretty sure I'll make up the price difference in a month or two (given that .30-30 ammo is 50 cents at the low end).

I can live with that.

 

[dtalley]

Around here the price increase on pistol caliber lever action rifles is because of the popularity of the Cowboy Action Shooting sport.

 

[made2cut]

Thanks for the replies and opinions guys. I mainly wondered if there was some physical or manufacturing differences that caused the prices to be higher. I'd still like to get one if the price is reasonable. I saw some speed figures using 357 Buffalo Bore ammo that were comparable to the 30-30 which was impressive.

 

[MrDig]

The "Cowboy" guns are always twice the price of the regular Models. Plain Jane 1894c in .357 is about $430.00 from Davidsons. Like stated earlier if they have one in stock get it. They go quick. Puma makes one that is about $100.00 less than the Marlin but I cannot speak as to Puma Quality. That is not an inditement, I just have never had any experience with them.

 

[Furncliff]

Last week I took delivery of a Marlin 1894c 357 mag. I had been looking for a while and found what I wanted on Auction Arms./ I was happy with the purchase ($385), it was.. as new, 1979 manuf.. plain stock. They don't have to be more expensive.