Top Selling Guns | November 2024

The November edition of GunBroker.com's Top Selling Report, presented by GunGenius.com, shows that two 130-year-old lever-action rifle designs with the same name by different companies are still holding their own through the first quarter of the 21st century.

Both Marlin and Winchester introduced their Model 1894 (and later, just Model 94 for Winchester) rifles in - yep, you guessed it - 1894. Despite being the same age and bearing the same name, the two guns are most certainly different and they serve different purposes. That’s why the Winchester Model 94 is holding steady in the number one spot for used lever-action rifles and the Marlin Model 1894 rose one spot and now sits at number three. Their differences are why there’s room for both of them in the same category.

Marlin’s Model 1894 was an extension and improvement upon their earlier lever-action rifles dating back to 1881. In that same vein, Winchester’s Model 1894 was descended from their rifles dating back to 1866. While John Moses Browning was responsible for many of Winchester’s lever-action rifle designs, Marlin’s brainchild was engineer Lewis Hepburn, whose repeated designs allowed the company to keep pace with Winchester and Browning.

Caliber offerings are the biggest difference between the two models. Whereas the Marlin Model 1894 was chambered for pistol caliber cartridges, the Winchester Model 1894 was chambered for rifle caliber cartridges. In fact, the first offerings for Marlin’s model were in the same calibers as Winchester’s earlier Model 1873.

While it didn’t take long for caliber offerings to expand in both models, the Winchester holds the distinction as being the first American-made rifle that was built to withstand the added chamber pressure generated by new smokeless powder cartridges. Up until that point, all rifles - no matter how large the caliber - were still chambered for less powerful, lower pressure black powder cartridges. Marlin’s Model 1894 was no exception.

Even so, Marlin’s marketing wasted no time in capitalizing on their design and touting it as being a sturdier gun than the Winchester. Marlin ads noted that their rifle was “the only repeater with the solid top.” While both Winchester and Marlin rifles loaded by way of a side gate, the Winchester ejected from the top whereas the Marlin ejected from the side. This difference means that Winchester’s rifle doesn’t have a solid top. While history has proven that this is of little consequence in terms of durability, it was a great bit of marketing on Marlin’s part.

Both companies are still making their Model 1894 rifles, though Winchester dropped the “18” in the name more than a century ago in 1921; it may or may not have been in an effort to differentiate it from Marlin’s gun.

Today, the Winchester Model 94 is available in five different configurations and five different calibers. The Marlin Model 1894 is available in five different series but just two different calibers: .357 Magnum/.38 Special and .44 Magnum/.44 Special.

Each rifle has a loyal following and good sales numbers, but Winchester really pulled ahead over the decades. Their design has set a world record. The Winchester Model 94 is the first commercial sporting rifle to sell more than 7.5 million units. Despite that being a staggering number of guns and the fact that Winchester’s Model 94 holds the top spot in this month’s list, three of the other four spots are occupied by Marlin lever-action rifles, and there’s something to be said about that as well.

Interestingly, now that Marlin is owned by Ruger, their rifles hold multiple spots in the new lever-action rifle category while Winchester is entirely absent. The new top five consists of two Marlins, two Henrys, and one Rossi. Do with that information what you will.

Top Selling Guns Sold in November 2024

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

Editor's note: In the report, guns are rated from one to five within each category, with the number one gun being the most popular that month. The numbers are color-coded to show any changes in the ranks from the previous report.

Black = Steady
Green = Up
Red = Down

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

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