What you'll probably want is a pre-2005 Marlin 1894C.
2005 is the marker where Marlin told their workers they were for sale...
many took early retirement...a lot got peeved off...
quality from then on was spotty as hek, on all lines...
you really had to check out every new rifle like it was a gun show special...
as in, Intensive Inspection before purchase.
So anything I see with a 05 to 15 date code gets treated like an unknown...
makes Drill Sgt's weapon checks look slack
Now Marlin was never perfect, I've got a 1952 336RC with a barrel that was
off index by 5-degrees...but it shoots better than an asthetically perfect one
My 2012 Marlin 1895-SBL was a beauty that shot very, very well!
And the 2010 Marlin 795 turned out rather nicely after adding
a DIP trigger/guard combo & a few other toys
So you can get winners out of the new stuff, IF you check it carefully.
This is especially important to do for EVERY Manufacturer these days,
as they're all treating the End User as their final inspection checker.
Used to be they had a guy who'd check everything before they boxed it up
& sent it out...now, they just send it & wait to see if someone pitches a bitch.
More cost effective to deal with a 1% complaint ratio than check every one.