• Manufacturer: Marlin Firearms
• Model: 1894 Dark
• Caliber: 44 Special / 44 Mag
• Barrel: 16.5″ with Deep Cut Ballard Style
• Overall Length: 38.5″
• Stock: Wood Stock Painted Black with Webbing
• Capacity: 8 Shot
• Other Features: Squared Finger Lever; Side Ejection; Deeply Blued Metal Surfaces; Solid Top Receiver; Hammer Block Safety
• Twist Rate: 1:10″

Lever ­guns used to be a traditional affair with blued steel and walnut stocks being the norm. However, a few years ago Marlin updated their lever-­actions with a “Dark” theme, which is now being copied by Henry and Rossi. Marlin’s rifles have a non-­standard appearance that includes black-­painted and textured stocks, optic-­mounting rails atop the receiver, and muzzles threaded to accept suppressors.

Some initially tagged these black guns as a fad, but many consumers saw them as highly useful rifles that were legal to own in places where AR-­15s were not. Since the first guns were Marlin’s Model 1895s and 336s chambered in .45-­70 Government and .30-­30 Winchester, they were obviously better suited for hunting than defense. However, the new Model 1894 Dark Series carbine is an ideal defensive firearm that is also a ton of fun to shoot.

Back in 1889, Marlin bucked the top-­eject trend set by Browning-­designed Winchester lever-­guns, and decided to run with a side-­eject action — a decision that still pays dividends today, especially when it comes to mounting optics. Another endearing feature of Marlin lever-­actions is their ability to reliably load and cycle cartridges of different lengths. Marlin rifles have this ability thanks to the design of the cartridge carrier.

The Marlin cartridge carrier works by allowing one cartridge to exit the tubular magazine and land on the carrier before blocking the next cartridge in the magazine. As long as the variations in cartridge length are reasonable, the carrier doesn’t care if the cartridge it’s loading is a .38 Special or a .357 Magnum. Winchester lever guns cannot make this same claim, and it’s because of the cartridge carrier design

The Model 1894 rifles made today retain the square bolt they had when they entered production more than 130 years ago. The square bolt of the 1894 came from its parent, the Model 1893. The Model 1893 had a longer receiver than the 1894, and was chambered in rifle cartridges that were popular at the time. The Model 1894 was nothing more than a miniaturized version of the Model 1893, a concept that Winchester used with much success in the Model 1886 and Model 1892.