I bought my Marlin must be close to 20 years ago. I had a little trouble working the lever every since I owned the gun. I figured it just needed to break in a bit. Over the years it got worse and worse. I pretty much left in the safe. I finally called Marlin customer service. Sent the gun in for inspection and repair. It took about 6 weeks to get my gun back. Paperwork said the carrier was broken. They replaced the carrier with a "upgraded carrier and upgraded lever". Went to the range yesterday ran about 60 rounds of 38's and 357's through the gun. It worked perfect. Anyway that's my story.