current Marlin quality?

stubblejumper said:
Researching online, some Marlin workers were posting that 2008 was not really an issue, because although Marlin had been purchased by Remington, the same workers were doing the same jobs as they had all along. Apparently the guns with serial numbers beginning with 92 were pretty much unaffected, but the 91 series guns were staring to show the effects of the changes at the plant. Apparently the rifles assembled at the Remington plant really took a dive in quality.
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Well it's only one rifle in the series, but my 1894 in .357 is numbered 9205119xx, and I am very happy with it. Fit and finish is good, it still has the Marlin target mark on the butt stock, and it cycles and feels great.
 
I believe that Remington has kept up the Marlin bullseye, so I don't know if I'd rely on that to determine whether the rifle is a good one or not. The bullseye is also only used on walnut stocked guns. Even old Marlins made with the stained hardwood stocks like the Glenfield 30s wouldn't have the bullseye and would be good quality.

The JM stamp is probably the most reliable way of determining whether a Marlin is pre-Remington or not.
 
GeoTrekr said:
Well it's only one rifle in the series, but my 1894 in .357 is numbered 9205119xx, and I am very happy with it. Fit and finish is good, it still has the Marlin target mark on the butt stock, and it cycles and feels great.
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Phantom Power said:
I believe that Remington has kept up the Marlin bullseye, so I don't know if I'd rely on that to determine whether the rifle is a good one or not. The bullseye is also only used on walnut stocked guns. Even old Marlins made with the stained hardwood stocks like the Glenfield 30s wouldn't have the bullseye and would be good quality.

The JM stamp is probably the most reliable way of determining whether a Marlin is pre-Remington or not.
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... and mine has the JM stamped barrel.
 
Dorian Gray said:
While i don't have to worry about grizzly bears in ontario, i did have to worry about a brand new 336XLR in 35 Remington jamming up on me while moose hunting. 1000$ for a rifle and it has the "Marlin Jam"? F#*k was i ever mad. Add to that, the fact that i had to make a 13 hour round trip just to pick it up and you can see my frustration. I ended up bringing it back to the dealer, selling it back to them (at about a 300$ loss) and picked up a 30 year old Marlin in 35 remington and a savage 99 in 300sav. I was going to just bring it back to them and tell them i wanted an exchange or something but after the horror stories i've heard about dealing with Gravel (waiting a year or more for your rifle to be fixed or exchanged) i decided to cut my losses. Will i buy a marlin in the future? It's possible but only once they get their sh*t together.
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I bought a new 39A in Feb. I went to the range with it probably... 6 times? Different ammo, different problems, various failures of all types, feeding, ejecting, extracting, you name it, it happened. It was a pile of rubbish and I thought I'd just cut my losses and sell it. I ended up calling The gravel agency, and they said that it was most likely a headspace problem and would most likely need to be replaced. I've sent them my gun, they've told me that they had non in stock and I said I'd just like a refund, they offered to reimburse me shipping as well (Approx 30 bucks). It was a reasonable response time, I sent the gun on the fourth and I got a response near the 20th. Although I still have yet to hear back about my reimbursement.

I also just bought 336XLR (but in 30-30 win) from Elwood Epps as a replacement/upgrade from the 39A. I was very impressed with Ellwood Epps speed in responses to inquiries and orders, definitely would order from them again.

However, I'm honestly anticipating getting it, cycling some snap caps through it, taking it to the range once getting some jams, and just phoning them up again and going through this whole schtick again. Its a shame because I hear from loads of people that Marlin's are supposed to be great quality and reliability. I have a weakness for leverguns and the XLR-line is particularily beautiful in my eyes. We'll just see how it goes. If it has any problems I'm definitely not hesitating to send it back.
 
I just ordered a Marlin 336Y 30-30 from Epps, a bit of a gamble, i am hoping that they have sorted things out in the factory. I can live with having to take it apart to polish some rough edges, I would probably do that anyway, as long as it functions reliably.
 
Marlin 336Y

I`ve been wanting a 336Y for some time, but wasn`t impressed with what LeBaron`s had in stock last year. Rough edges, bad crowns, poor fitting wood, marred screw heads, rough action etc. So, this year when the 2012 made Marlins came in, I selected one from the two that were offered to me - smoother edges on the receiver and lever, excellent rifling and crown, sights indexed correctly, action smoother than previous but not like a 30 year old one, slight gap between the tang and the buttstock, but I could live with it. Took it to the range and it shot very well at 50 yards with the open sights. Very close to the point of aim and a decent grouping. No issues with spent casing, or backed out primers, all worked well.

Begging for something to do, I disassembled it as shown on a video on youtube, lightly cleaned up and polished a couple of parts like the carrier edges, and where the lever touches the bolt and reassembled it. It`s much smoother, functions A1 and is a joy to carry. And the gap between the tang and the buttstock? There was a small white plastic spacer between the tang and the buttstock, took it out and the gap shrank by half which is quite acceptable by my standards. Oh, and it cost about $412 with my LeBaron discount.

I`m picky, and I`m happy with it. Personally, I`d like to recommend you buy one in person and check it over but honestly, they have come a long way from the problem years. I`d be happy to hand this little carbine down to my kids - this one isn`t garbage.
 
I checked out a couple of new Marlins at a local shop today. a 1895 and a SBL 30-30 both were very well finished and functioned smoothly, I am not a remington fan at all but it appears they have got past the the start up problems at the new plant. I now can't wait to get my 336Y and put it through its paces, it will be the fourth Marlin lever in my safe, but the first remlin.
 
ajdale said:
I bought a new 39A in Feb. I went to the range with it probably... 6 times? Different ammo, different problems, various failures of all types, feeding, ejecting, extracting, you name it, it happened. It was a pile of rubbish and I thought I'd just cut my losses and sell it. I ended up calling The gravel agency, and they said that it was most likely a headspace problem and would most likely need to be replaced. I've sent them my gun, they've told me that they had non in stock and I said I'd just like a refund, they offered to reimburse me shipping as well (Approx 30 bucks). It was a reasonable response time, I sent the gun on the fourth and I got a response near the 20th. Although I still have yet to hear back about my reimbursement.

I also just bought 336XLR (but in 30-30 win) from Elwood Epps as a replacement/upgrade from the 39A. I was very impressed with Ellwood Epps speed in responses to inquiries and orders, definitely would order from them again.

However, I'm honestly anticipating getting it, cycling some snap caps through it, taking it to the range once getting some jams, and just phoning them up again and going through this whole schtick again. Its a shame because I hear from loads of people that Marlin's are supposed to be great quality and reliability. I have a weakness for leverguns and the XLR-line is particularily beautiful in my eyes. We'll just see how it goes. If it has any problems I'm definitely not hesitating to send it back.
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Alright so I recieved the 336XLR it last Friday, and tried dry-cycling it. It seemed to be reasonable, not rough by any means, but not fantastic either. When I got some 30-30 snap caps today I gave it another shot. Loaded the 5, +1 chambered and it was pretty much exactly the same, worked decently.

Now, I went back about 2 hours later and tried again.

The lever is locking in the full open position and will not close by standard motion and instead requires a fairly firm... I guess tap is what we'll use to get it to close. This is now happening on every cycle. I'm going to take it apart tomorrow and see if there is anything I can do to fix it. Otherwise its back to Marlin.

If they can't fix it, I won't be trying for a third Marlin...
 
I have a model 30AS which has a extremely smooth action on it and one of the nicest stocks that I have seen as well. This gun has only been fired around 25 rounds since new and has been a great shooter and still is. Its done in the 30-30 cal but I really don't have any use for it as I cannot hunt anymore due to a walking disability. Mine has a very nice Tasco Scope on top in a 4x32 power which is virtually new also. I just range shoot now which is fine for me but would recommend this brand because of the experience I have had with mine. :)
 
This gun has only been fired around 25 rounds since new and has been a great shooter
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This is the thing, most people rarely shoot their lever guns. I shot a few thousand through my 336 and it failed constantly. Needless to say I won't own a Marlin again.

But that's just my experience (which is filed right alongside my Para experience)
 
Well I picked up mt 336Y from the post office last night. After unpacking it I examined it in great detail, fit and finish is as good, sights are on straight, ect. Its seems to be as well built as any other marlin I have ever owned, this is the sixth. I made up some dummy rounds and filled the magazine and cycled them through. I did this slowly and as fast as possible over and over to the point where I must have run the action at least five hundred times and could not get one failure of any kind. After running those dummy's through about a hundred the were so beat up Iam suprised they would still work, but they did. I am a true Remington hater but have always been a Marlin fan, this rifle seems to be O.K. proof will come when I fire it. The only negative thing I could comment on is the action was definatly a little stiffer and a bit rougher than the other Marlins I have had, but definatly smoothed out some with all the action cycling I did. I will definatly be taking it apart and smoothing out any rough edges I find with my stones or some emery cloth. All in all this is a nice little rifle the 12 1/2" lenth of pull is not to short for me and combined with the 16 1/4" barrel it makes a nice little bush gun.
It seems maybee thing have finally been worked out at the factory, or I just got lucky:)
 
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