The Best Scope for Your Marlin 336 Lever Action Rifle

One of our favorite lever action rifles, the Marlin 336, can be incredibly accurate just with iron sights. When you add a good scope to it, the 336 is downright ridiculously accurate at far ranges.

For most Marlin 336 owners, you’re going to be using your rifle for hunting some North American game considering the 336 uses a 30-30 round. That means your scope needs to be of good quality and decent optics. Also, the scope you choose needs to be affordable, at least for most 336 owners.

the best scope for marlin 336 rifles

So in this post, we found some scopes with those features in mind. We think we’ve definitely found the best Marlin 336 scopes for you below.

Simmons 8-Point Truplex Reticle Riflescope

For a best-buy budget scope to replace those horrible irons on your 30-30, the Simmons 8-Point is a winner. It’ll look good on your Marlin 336, and it has the performance to match. The magnification is zoom-able from 3x to 9x. Whether you are punching targets out to 200 yards or dropping deer at 40, you have everything you need and nothing that you don’t. The 40mm aperture provides more than enough light for engagements typical of a lever action rifle.

The glass coatings aren’t that great, as you would expect. The scope will hold zero but it isn’t the most rugged thing in the world, so if you are going old-school with your lever action, bumping it around in a saddle holster probably isn’t the best thing for this scope. But it’s cheap, and works well enough for most applications.

M1SURPLUS Exclusive Tactical 3-9×40 Scope for Marlin 336

If you are looking for a short 3-9x magnification scope that comes with all the trimmings on a budget, this is for you. All of the features you want without any of the fuss, or the big price tag. You are set up and ready to go. Comes with scope, rings, and rail, everything a Marlin 336 needs.

The scope itself has a generous 40mm lens in the front, and comes with illuminated crosshairs. The glass is multi-coated on the glass-to-air surfaces for a boost in light transmission, but don’t expect Nikon throughput. It probably won’t stand up to a ton of abuse, but works well enough on a Marlin 336.

Nikon ProStaff 2-7 x 32 Scope

Definitely the winner in the best buy department, this is a lot of scope for the money. The 2-7x magnification is perfect for a Marlin 336, offering a wide field of view when you want it and plenty of magnification for the effective range of the weapon. The glass is fully multi-coated, letting in extra light to account for the smaller aperture. The exit pupil at full magnification is 4.5mm, which is still plenty to fit your needs, but in my humble opinion, a 40mm lens would make this scope perfect. It also offers a generous 3+ inches of eye relief.

Nikon is a trusted name, known to be rugged, and though the zero adjustment can be a bit of a pain, those hard clicks turned with a dime, once you’re zeroed in, you’re zeroed in forever. This is a wonderful scope for any rifle, and will hold up to some abuse.

The price isn’t too bad either for this quality of rifle scope for your 336.

Monstrum Tactical 4×30 Ultra-Compact Rifle Scope

Monstrum is a name that is quickly gaining popularity in the shooting community. Their scopes are rugged and reliable, and this 4×30 is no exception. The immediate downside is not having a zoom feature, the scope is 4x all the time, but for a lever action rifle, that can actually be a bonus.

The short range of the weapon means that you don’t need super-high magnification, and 4x is low enough that your field-of-view will show you everything you want to see at shorter ranges. The image is bright and clear, and the scope comes with a lighted reticle. This scope is a wonderful piece of glass on a budget.

Ledsniper® Sniper Compact Scope 4×32 Rangefingder Reticle

Another budget scope, the Ledsniper comes with a rangefinder reticle, plenty of light collecting ability (to make up for the less than ideal glass coatings) and a fixed 4x magnification, to keep the moving parts to a minimum.

This isn’t the most rugged scope in the world, despite how tough it looks. The rings included should probably be swapped out for something a little stronger. The rings are also incredibly low-profile, which will either be exactly what you’re looking for or something you don’t want to mess with, depending on where you rest your head on the stock.

Overall, it’s a budget scope, and a pretty decent deal for what you get. It’s definitely a looker, and will serve well for a rifle that mostly sees paper targets through the barrel.