Leverguns are more my Pop's thing, but I dabble in his toys occasionally. With the impending Ruger relaunch of the Marlin franchise, I got curious about the differences between the three Marlin platforms.
The 1894 is obviously a flat bolt, split receiver, and probably shorter action for the pistol calibers.
I gather that the 336 is probably a slimmed down version of the 1895, and the only real difference is the '95 is dimensioned for the bigger case heads of the .444 and .45-70. Both have solid receiver walls and round bolts.
So I got to thinking. . .from a production and strength standpoint, might it not make more sense to discard the 1894 design in favor of a "short 336" for handling the pistol rounds? It just seems like a better way to build the gun - unless there's some little facet I'm missing.