Ive been walking past a Marlin 336 Youth for the past four or five months, feeling it up, and debating on whether or not to buy one. I love little short rifles with a short LOP, and it was right up my alley in that respect.
Id heard of the newer Marlins having issues, and saw a couple with AK type canted sights and some fitting issues, but I bought a 1895G "Guide Gun" last year, and its been OK. No problems, and once I got that silly recoil pad off the thing, it fits a lot better and is more comfortable to shoot.
So, I went ahead and picked up one of the 336Y's.
I looked a couple over, and took the one they had on the shelf. It had the nicest wood to metal fit, sights were straight, and the action was fairly smooth (a Winchester it aint!).
The wood on the others wasnt fitted as nicely, and one of the rifles rear sights was leaning to one side. That should have been a warning, but I hadnt bought anything in awhile, and I was Jones'n.
So far, Ive shot it three times.
First time out, I discover the extractor was never tuned, and the gun wont cycle. The extractor will pull the case from the chamber, but as soon as the neck clears the chamber, the case drops down just as it tries to kick it out, and doesnt clear the port, and locks the gun up. ***!
If they test fired it, they did it singly, and had to shake the empty case out of the gun each time.
I get home and get to checkin', and see that the extractor looks to be the problem. OK, being a former Springfield 1911 owner, and having the same issue with a couple of them, I was on it. I popped the extractor off, put it in the vise, a couple of quick taps, and Im back in business. That was simple, maybe Ill make a video and send it to marlin so they know how to do it.
I also had to drift the front sight center, it was way off, and the gun was shooting way right out of the box.
OK, round two. So far, so good. Gun cycles and ejects like its supposed to, shoots pretty good too. Towards the end, I notice the stock has loosened up. No biggie.
Get home, and find the tang screw must have been put in with an impact gun, and after a lot of reefin on it, it finally breaks free. It appears the stock has been over cut, and doesnt fit right. So I go ahead and shim it.
Back to the range today. Halfway through the first box, click. Work the action, no round in the chamber. The buzzards overhead are learning new words. The shell carrier isnt letting rounds out of the mag unless you do some shaking and gyrations.
Get back home and get to checkin', again. See whats up and get on Youtube, watch a couple of complete disassembly videos, and get to work. I get the carrier out, and do some judicious filing and emery work, put it back together, not quite, tear it down again, diddle some more, back together, and looks like I got it.
Guess we'll see how the next round goes.
In the very beginning, I was going to send it back to Marlin, but after reading in the manual, the shipping/insurance back to them for warranty work was on me, and it was just the extractor, I initially figured even if I had to pick up an extractor from Brownells, Id be ahead.
Then I got to looking around on the web to see if others had the issue (why I didnt do that in the beginning is beyond me), and after reading a couple of horror stories on the web, from people who sent them back, and got their guns back worse than they went, I figured Id just do it myself, if I thought I could. Im hoping I got the problems worked out now, cause if its anything worse, Im gonna have to get my gunsmiths license.
I going to suggest that if youre looking at one of the new Marlins, you really look critically at the one your going to take, and dont take anything for granted. Wood and sights seem to be common issues these days, as well as some other things.
Id heard of the newer Marlins having issues, and saw a couple with AK type canted sights and some fitting issues, but I bought a 1895G "Guide Gun" last year, and its been OK. No problems, and once I got that silly recoil pad off the thing, it fits a lot better and is more comfortable to shoot.
So, I went ahead and picked up one of the 336Y's.
I looked a couple over, and took the one they had on the shelf. It had the nicest wood to metal fit, sights were straight, and the action was fairly smooth (a Winchester it aint!).
The wood on the others wasnt fitted as nicely, and one of the rifles rear sights was leaning to one side. That should have been a warning, but I hadnt bought anything in awhile, and I was Jones'n.
So far, Ive shot it three times.
First time out, I discover the extractor was never tuned, and the gun wont cycle. The extractor will pull the case from the chamber, but as soon as the neck clears the chamber, the case drops down just as it tries to kick it out, and doesnt clear the port, and locks the gun up. ***!
If they test fired it, they did it singly, and had to shake the empty case out of the gun each time.
I get home and get to checkin', and see that the extractor looks to be the problem. OK, being a former Springfield 1911 owner, and having the same issue with a couple of them, I was on it. I popped the extractor off, put it in the vise, a couple of quick taps, and Im back in business. That was simple, maybe Ill make a video and send it to marlin so they know how to do it.
I also had to drift the front sight center, it was way off, and the gun was shooting way right out of the box.
OK, round two. So far, so good. Gun cycles and ejects like its supposed to, shoots pretty good too. Towards the end, I notice the stock has loosened up. No biggie.
Get home, and find the tang screw must have been put in with an impact gun, and after a lot of reefin on it, it finally breaks free. It appears the stock has been over cut, and doesnt fit right. So I go ahead and shim it.
Back to the range today. Halfway through the first box, click. Work the action, no round in the chamber. The buzzards overhead are learning new words. The shell carrier isnt letting rounds out of the mag unless you do some shaking and gyrations.
Get back home and get to checkin', again. See whats up and get on Youtube, watch a couple of complete disassembly videos, and get to work. I get the carrier out, and do some judicious filing and emery work, put it back together, not quite, tear it down again, diddle some more, back together, and looks like I got it.
Guess we'll see how the next round goes.
In the very beginning, I was going to send it back to Marlin, but after reading in the manual, the shipping/insurance back to them for warranty work was on me, and it was just the extractor, I initially figured even if I had to pick up an extractor from Brownells, Id be ahead.
Then I got to looking around on the web to see if others had the issue (why I didnt do that in the beginning is beyond me
), and after reading a couple of horror stories on the web, from people who sent them back, and got their guns back worse than they went, I figured Id just do it myself, if I thought I could. Im hoping I got the problems worked out now, cause if its anything worse, Im gonna have to get my gunsmiths license.I going to suggest that if youre looking at one of the new Marlins, you really look critically at the one your going to take, and dont take anything for granted. Wood and sights seem to be common issues these days, as well as some other things.
