Anyone found Marlin levers coming out of the new factory to be of poorer quality?

M

micksis86

New member
I'm wondering what the thoughts are of people regarding quality of the marlins coming out of the remington factory compared to the ones that were coming out from the conneticut factory?

Have you found there to be a drop in overall quality?
 
I can't speak about the quality of the current production Marlins, but i've read enough complaints about them for it to be a concern. I doubt that Marlin is producing defective rifles left and right, but the number of complaints i've read about bothers me. I want a Marlin but i've now decided to buy an older production model rather than new. but what do I know?
 
I am an owner of nearly 20 marlins. I bought a 2 year old 308MXLR wanting to avoid the newer facility, and found it had the dreaded barrel droop that so many of the newer Marlins have become known for. Quality has indeed taken a huge dip, and my local gun pusher is disgusted in that nearly all of his recent sales have been sent back to the factory for a very long reworking and coming back with mixed results. Mine came back fine.:confused:
 
My Marlin Experience

The post surprises me, but I must admit I'm not up to speed on a lot of topics. I can't evaluate one or another in an A-B comparison in this case. My only recent purchase of a Marlin 336 in 30-30 has been fine as far as I can tell. I began with one scope and dialed that in for the first season, then put that scope on a different gun just last week. I placed a second scope on the Marlin and visited the range this morning. In both cases, my gun functioned and shot well. Spot on the money with no problems a layperson like me could tell. The only thing I thought was bad was the finish on the metal under the scope mount. When removing it, it looked like LocTite weeped and ate away some of the finish. If I removed the scope mount and put the factory filler screws back in- it had a huge blemish on the top. But as far as shooting, I shot the gun and every hit was just where I expected it to be. I dialed it in in short order and it is ready for this upcoming deer season. At this point, I can't find any fault with my Marlin 336, 30-30.
 
On the .22lr side over on rimfirecentral the auto and bolt seem to be fine, but Remington has lots of experience with those. The lever guns are fairly hit and miss in the cosmetics department though. Function seems to be OK, but QC lets out guns with scratched or gouged blueing, bad fitting stocks to cracked stocks. Again function seems to be fine as those who sent their guns back to be fixed usually are satisfied when it gets returned. Most of these are posted by people who are just too excited to get it they leave the store without looking over the gun.
 
An issue that I have read about & seen is the newer Marlins with a non-centered hammer. Some will work ok but quite a few rub. Mostly on the 1895 type models. Not a biggie really but is a quality issue. Check yours if you want....
 
Go over to marlinowners.com, all the horror stories are there-it's not good.
I own several Marlin rifles and they're all great, but all pre-Remington.
 
A friend has been waiting months to get one back from them over some issue, a .308 Marlin Express
Don't know the exact issue except he said the problem was apparent after firing 2 or 3 rounds, a parts holdup is delaying the repair, and he was cursing the thing cause he bought it to hunt.
 
Its really sad that these companies dont give a crap about quality like they used to. Now its all about money. They care more about that than the product they are making. Its sad that there is no pride in work like there used to be.
 
In my opinion quality at Marlin was on the decline before the new ownership and manufacturing facilities. I have a few older Marlins, 1960s vintage 336 and 39s that are great. I have an 1895 purchased in 2005 that has issues. The 1895 shoots great, but the checkering on the forearm is screwed up, and the front sight is clocked to the left, towards the 11:00 position. Both of which should have been caught by quality control before leaving the factory.

However, I have examined some new Marlins recently at gun shops that are worse, particuarly in the wood to metal fitment. The old Marlins had impeccable wood fit, the newer ones often show inletting gaps.
 
I can't believe someone actually bought into that MSNBC special.

Wow.

On topic, my 1894 Cowboy model is fine. No barrel droop, shoots great.
 
I've had two Marlins in the last 40 years--an old 39M and a 336T--that I genuinely wish I had never sold/traded. All the rest were just 'trading stock'.
 
I find this news unfortunate. I had a Marlin 1895 Stainless in .357 on my short list because it was suppossedly alot better than a Henry Big Boy. It sounds like I may need to reconsider my decision. Anyone have experience with these two rifles?
 
I have been shooting remington rifles since I was 4 years old and never ever experienced that problem..personally I think people goofed off with the trigger group and safety mechanism and there is your problem..or just shot the people and blamed it on the gun...sorry for the off topic remark
 
I had a Marlin 1895 Stainless in .357 on my short list because it was suppossedly alot better than a Henry Big Boy. It sounds like I may need to reconsider my decision.
Click to expand...

No need to reconsider. You just have to inspect the gun before buying it. The actual "quality control failures" are not a huge amount. It is just those who get a bad fitting stock post about it and then anyone reading it posts on 15 other forums in threads like this about how this guy had a bad fitting stock so it sounds like 30 people have had the experience when it was only 1 guy. For the small amount of "problems" posted on all the various forums versus the number sold you are highly likely to NOT get a bad one.

An 1894 Cowboy .45 Long Colt is still sitting at #2 on my list(right behind a Glock 30).
 
Marlin is now owned by Cerberus. The same company that is ruining Remington and that ruined Bushmaster.
Cerberus is all about buying companies that have good reputations then cutting corners on their product to make lots of money selling mass produced junk. They hide behind quality names like Remington and price thier products based on that name but the product isn't the same.

That company will never see a single cent of my money.

Lucky I have 2 Remington 700's from the late 60's early 70's to fall back on.;)
 
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