And he had been producing the super-accurate Ballard single-shot cartridge rifles since 1875.īorn in 1836-ironically, the same year that Samuel Colt first produced his innovative cap-and-ball revolvers-Marlin worked for Colt before establishing his own company at Hartford, Conn., in 1863. He had been making single-shot cartridge pistols since 1863, and Colt and Smith & Wesson–type revolvers since 1870, after Smith & Wesson’s exclusive patent on cartridge revolvers had expired in 1867. John Mahlon Marlin was not a newcomer to the gun business. But whether used by the good guys or the bad guys, or by hunters to secure food, the high quality and accuracy of the Marlins quickly gave them a foothold on the frontier.
gunmakers-Colt, Smith & Wesson, Remington and Winchester-the Marlin lever-action repeating rifles were the Johnny-come-latelies of the Old West. Compared to the revolvers and repeating rifles made by the Big Four of U.S.
