Jeezuzz - WTF Happened to Marlin?

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sobo4303

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I was out shopping for a 30-30 lever rifle.

Looked at the Winchesters, but they were double in price and for the most part, the quality was on par with the rest, in terms of cycling, finish, etc.

Also looked at the Mossberg, Henry and Marlins. The Henry's seemed to be the best of the bunch, but what the hell happened to Marlin?

I bought a 1894 Cowboy a couple of years ago, and it is nice and smooth...no issues (except for a minor issue, which I repaired). I looked at about eight or so Marlin 336's in different stores. Each one had rough finishes, plenty of sharp edges, wood not matching nicely into receiver and clunky to operate. The most surprising was that ALL of them had the rear sight (relative to the scope mount screws centre on the receiver) out of index. Unbelievable.

Every one of them was out by 2 to 3 mm. EVERY one of them! :(

What the hell happened? Did Marlin (Remington) get bought out by Norinco's poor cousin? Mossberg was no screaming hell either with the loose fitting action, but at least the sight alignment was correctly indexed, as verified by my eyeballs. The Remingtons in the stores were tight and all had good finishes, but Marlin....wow, totally unbelievable.

What have you folks found?
 
A friend of mine has one he bought about late 90's. You should feel how smooth that thing is. It is his truck rifle, so has a few dings, but the old finish was very nice too. Fast forward to the garbage I handled on the weekend, unbelievable. Even my 1894 is was smoother.

There is no question about it...just gotta find a nice used Marlin or maybe that Henry I looked at which had a bull barrel, now that was interesting. Heavy, but interesting.
 
sobo4303 said:
What the hell happened? Did Marlin (Remington) get bought out by Norinco's poor cousin?
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No need to look for Norinco: Remington is just enough to turn a nice rifle into trash. Such a change was predicted at the very moment when Marlin was purchased by Remington. So, everything goes right, the theory works.
 
Jut picked up a remlin SBL. Looked and cycled mint, got it home and put a couple snap caps in it. Low and behold action won't lock in with a round in the chamber gets stuck a quarter inch open. Back to the shop she goes

Marlin use to be my go to rifles for everything, now I cringe when I see one. I just hope I can remedy the issue so my 1500 dollar set up isnt a waist.
 
lil_juiced_coupe said:
this new run of marling is suppose to be "problem free". The rep said this was the run to win people back
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The only thing that will win people back is Remington selling off Marlin.

They should have kept all the Marlin employees and fired the Remington ones. I read all the time on here and other forums where people praise their beloved Rems, well guess what, they ain't what they used to be, and if they stay on this track, there's no going back.
 
lil_juiced_coupe said:
this new run of marling is suppose to be "problem free". The rep said this was the run to win people back
Click to expand...

I bought an SBL of this batch -> haven't shot it yet, but the action is comparably smooth to my pre-Remlins. My store assured me that the bugs were out, and that if they weren't, he'd replace or refund the gun on spot no questions asked. He's a good fellow.

The wood to receiver fit isn't great. The laminate stock is pretty pitiful...can barely make out the "checkering" on the "checkered" parts of the stock. There are visible tooling scratches on the exterior -> as in scratches where a screwdriver missed the screws.

I've never bought a Marlin to be a pretty gun though...so I suppose this weekend will tell.
 
Iam fifty years old,and have never seen a marlin that functioned, or shot worth #### yet!My experience ,this is not a new thing at all.Blame it on Remington,who was at fault before?
 
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