Ruger has only had three years at bat in the lever gun game, plunging headfirst with the acquisition of the damaged old Marlin brand, but they are well on the way to a win.
The Marlin Firearms Company is legendary, at least when it comes to lever-action “cowboy” style rifles. Formed in 1870 by the eponymous gun engineer John Mahlon Marlin, the company made everything from bicycles to machine guns over the years and picked up a bunch of smaller brands along the way including Hopkins & Allen, H&R, and New England Firearms before Remington Outdoors bought the whole concern in 2007.