New Marlin SBL.... nasty surprise!

M

Mr.Crumbz

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Just thought I'd share my experience on here with you guys!

So, back story; been drooling over the Marlin SBL for a few years now but I wasn't too pleased with the Remlin quality; id handled a few over the years ago and they were sub par. Fast forward to early this year and I had handled one that was newer production by the date stamp and it was nice! However sold before I returned. So I prepaid and the retailer ordered in a few more. In a months time I got a call saying they were back in stock and I had my pick of the litter (3 to choose from, which turned out to be two as one sold in the 2 hours it took me to get there!).

Needless to say I was more than happy with the thing! It was gorgeous! Smooth smooth action, decent trigger and a well fitted stock.

I ordered all my reloading dies and supplies and I was off to the races! A hoot to shoot with trail boss loads and hoot to shoot fully loaded up with Varget / 4198.

Fast forward to the day before last..... I went to mount my newly acquired Leupold VX2 1-4 and when I went to align the scope rings the alignment bars were quite off in the vertical position..... upon closer inspection the front of the XS Lever rail was raised off the barrel. I confirmed this with a straight edge (rail kicked upwards and had a 1/8 belly according the straight edge). When I took the lever rail off to see what was going on the mounting pillar was jammed upwards in the dovetail by the jack screw and wedged there. I had to tap the mounting pillar down in to the barrel to free it.

When everything was off and I was inspecting what the heck was happening, it appears at the factory when they fit the rail to my SBL they didn't do it correctly. Instead of following the instructions for the XS Lever Rail that say if the mounting pillar is too tight in the dovetail take material off the bottom... well, they fitted the side of the block removing enough material that it had almost ZERO bearing in the dovetail, and pulled through the dovetail when the grub screw/ nut was tightened and peened/ bent both sides of barrels dovetail upwards. And those lips of the dovetail are sharp! I slid my finger over them and got parrelell cuts on my index finger :p

Needless to say I've reached out to Marlin and want to hear what they have to say and can do for me as the rail can not be tightened at the front, the mounting pillar is beyond repair, the barrel is damaged and Im not too happy with two cuts on my finger :runaway:

Sorry for the rant, just wanted to share my story and see what you guys have to say. Also the pictures are quite large and I don't know how to shrink them!



 
The guns have improved a lot since the 2008 takeover by Remington but I won't buy a Remlin without checking it from the butt pad to the muzzle crown and function testing it before I leave the store.

I've seen a few botched factory installations of the x/s rail and sights and now won't buy a Remlin with the x/s system pre-installed.
I'll buy the x/s system separately and install it on the rifle myself so I know it's been done correctly.

The basic rifles with the CNC machining are pretty good now but you have to remember that they don't do fitting at the Ilion plant.
The skilled fitters got left behind when they closed the North Haven Marlin plant.

On the Ilion assembly line if something doesn't fit it's forced on and on to the next rifle.
I know, I've fixed up some of the results.
 
Mr.Crumbz said:
Just thought I'd share my experience on here with you guys!

So, back story; been drooling over the Marlin SBL for a few years now but I wasn't too pleased with the Remlin quality; id handled a few over the years ago and they were sub par. Fast forward to early this year and I had handled one that was newer production by the date stamp and it was nice! However sold before I returned. So I prepaid and the retailer ordered in a few more. In a months time I got a call saying they were back in stock and I had my pick of the litter (3 to choose from, which turned out to be two as one sold in the 2 hours it took me to get there!).

Needless to say I was more than happy with the thing! It was gorgeous! Smooth smooth action, decent trigger and a well fitted stock.

I ordered all my reloading dies and supplies and I was off to the races! A hoot to shoot with trail boss loads and hoot to shoot fully loaded up with Varget / 4198.

Fast forward to the day before last..... I went to mount my newly acquired Leupold VX2 1-4 and when I went to align the scope rings the alignment bars were quite off in the vertical position..... upon closer inspection the front of the XS Lever rail was raised off the barrel. I confirmed this with a straight edge (rail kicked upwards and had a 1/8 belly according the straight edge). When I took the lever rail off to see what was going on the mounting pillar was jammed upwards in the dovetail by the jack screw and wedged there. I had to tap the mounting pillar down in to the barrel to free it.

When everything was off and I was inspecting what the heck was happening, it appears at the factory when they fit the rail to my SBL they didn't do it correctly. Instead of following the instructions for the XS Lever Rail that say if the mounting pillar is too tight in the dovetail take material off the bottom... well, they fitted the side of the block removing enough material that it had almost ZERO bearing in the dovetail, and pulled through the dovetail when the grub screw/ nut was tightened and peened/ bent both sides of barrels dovetail upwards. And those lips of the dovetail are sharp! I slid my finger over them and got parrelell cuts on my index finger :p

Needless to say I've reached out to Marlin and want to hear what they have to say and can do for me as the rail can not be tightened at the front, the mounting pillar is beyond repair, the barrel is damaged and Im not too happy with two cuts on my finger :runaway:

Sorry for the rant, just wanted to share my story and see what you guys have to say. Also the pictures are quite large and I don't know how to shrink them!



Click to expand...

Something is definitely out of whack,but,like anything else,it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a clunker got through. Keep us posted.
 
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