REM-MARLIN rumor..!

[1894c]

I went to my neighborhood corner LGS to look at a "new" REM-Marlin 336-BL in 30/30. I noticed right away that one of the bigger screw heads (on the left side of the receiver) was off centered and sticking out slightly at a weird angle. I mentioned it to LGS staff they took it back to the on-site gunsmith and he came forward to talk to me. The gunsmith took the REM-Marlin apart and determined that the screw hole was machined off-centered, nothing he could do to fix it--he said it look like it was "intentional", that the CNC machine was out of adjustment.

The owner of the LGS came and told me a story, a rumor, possibly gossip--but if it is true this might explain why Remington took the Marlin guns off-line back in August (I think). The LGS owner said that his REM Rep told him that Remington discovered that someone had tampered with the setting of the CNC machine programing for the Marlin leverguns (happened prior to their moving to NY). Which caused many of the parts not to fit properly, and this is what we've been hearing for the last 12 months or so.

This story may be simply Remington covering their collective assets with dis-information, or simply gossip, or BS... :(

I wanted to add one other thing to this post--When Remington bought Marlin I think the selling price was 40 Million $$$, very cheap in today's corporate world (I may be wrong--others can verify or deny). This told me that Marlin Firearms was in deep trouble before Remington got a hold of them--Unfortunately leverguns is a niche business--I own nothing but levers--but in the crowd that I hunt with I'm the exception...

[Leverdude]

JMO but I call BS. I know a couple guys who worked for Marlin before Rem thru them in the dirt and from what I gather the biggest problem is Remington not letting their people get taught by the people who had been building the guns for decades. At any rate since every gun coming out doesn't have the same issues its not a simple machine setting. Even if it were one would think that they would check out the product for a few units after they plugged the machine in rather than just boxing up whatever popped out the other end. Its easy to blame the other guys, after all they dont work there anymore, but if Remington doesn't have engineers capable of checking out a CNC program & making adjustments if needed they should stop making guns & make salsa or bean dip instead.

[.45colt]

It looks like a Duck,Quacks like a Duck,swims like a Duck and flys like it too..in this case it's a Giant Load of B.S...... , after haveing been in production and Customer Service since 1972 I can say the first thing You do is not to sell something You wouldn't use Yourself. and if there are problems You fix it RIGHT NOW. not what has happened at Remlin. .ran't off.

[tman]

Even if no one rechecks the CNC programming , Quality control should never let a gun leave the factory with such a blantant mistake. Could it rarely happen, i guess, but at the rate that screwed up MARLINS are leaving the factory , somethings up. Perhaps the policy today is to let the customer do the quality control and return the gun. That way the factory can use unskilled labor at reduced rates. Look at the money remington can save with less workers while you get the privlidge at returning the gun over and over The best levers are now built outside the US.

[olyinaz]

Its easy to blame the other guys, after all they dont work there anymore, but if Remington doesn't have engineers capable of checking out a CNC program & making adjustments if needed they should stop making guns & make salsa or bean dip instead.

BINGO!!!

Oly

[adirondakjack]

When Remington took on making Marlins in NY, NOT ONE of the key people from CT took the offer to move to NY. The CNC machinery is, for the most part, not even part of hte move. Remington had plenty of new machinery. They lack levergun-skilled people.

[1894c]

thanks guys for your input--my gut told me that this is more BS than anything else--just a quick excuse from a REM rep... :/

[kasTX]

Story does sound a little fishy. Even if it were true, stuff like that shouldn't have left the factory in the first place.

A lot of the comments above seem to point to Remington being the root of the problem, but from personal experience I can say that Marlin had serious quality problems before production left New York. A 336 with a barrel that exits the receiver at an angle, an 1894 with the barrel so far off to one side of the receiver that bullets would not feed (replaced by the factory with another 1894 that looked like it was someone else's return), and another 1894 with a lever that pops open when you fire it, poor accuracy, and wood that is simply inexcusable. All of the above were built at the old factory less than 10 years ago, and are in no way comparable to the pre-safety 336 and 1894 I also have.

[tman]

Regardless of whom, if any factory lets junk get into a customers hands, it ain't gonna last long. It's either total stupidity and blatant neglect on the CEO's part, or a plan to ROMNNEY it.

[kasTX]

Regardless of whom, if any factory lets junk get into a customers hands, it ain't gonna last long.

Agreed. And they have a lot of competition right now, with at least two 336 look-alikes.

...plan to ROMNNEY it.

[pricedo]

Even if no one rechecks the CNC programming , Quality control should never let a gun leave the factory with such a blantant mistake. Could it rarely happen, i guess, but at the rate that screwed up MARLINS are leaving the factory , somethings up. Perhaps the policy today is to let the customer do the quality control and return the gun. That way the factory can use unskilled labor at reduced rates. Look at the money remington can save with less workers while you get the privlidge at returning the gun over and over The best levers are now built outside the US.

I WON'T buy a Marlin made after 2008 or a new Remington at all.

It's a sad comment on American pride in craftsmanship in the gun mfg industry when the only guns you can trust to be in good working order right-out-of-the-box are made in Japan like all the new Brownings & Winchesters are.

Marlin used to be such a brand until you-know-who got hold of them.

Savage is now my goto brand for bolt actions & I'll buy Rossis after I inspect & function test them thoroughly.

[tman]

Regardless of whom, if any factory lets junk get into a customers hands, it ain't gonna last long.

Agreed. And they have a lot of competition right now, with at least two 336 look-alikes.

...plan to ROMNNEY it.

Mint Romney made his fortune as a corporate raider, Buying companies, intentionally sabatoge them and sell the machinery to china; The original "Gordon Greco" character from the 1986 movie WALL STREET. Just my guess

[pricedo]

Regardless of whom, if any factory lets junk get into a customers hands, it ain't gonna last long. It's either total stupidity and blatant neglect on the CEO's part, or a plan to ROMNNEY it.

Big Green is sinking fast.

Another defunct American ICON company for the Chinese to buy cheap in 5 years or so.

[rimrock]

I have a pre 2007 Marlin .444. It's nice. But for my next purchase--a .45C lever-- Henry keeps calling my name, calling my name. I have a Remington VTR, but Savage and Browning keep calling my name, calling my name for future bolt guns.

rimrock

[Jeff Quinn]

I was at a Freedom Group event in South Carolina a couple of months ago, along with a few other writers. When it came comment time, I told the Remington folks that Marlin quality pretty much sucks. They admitted that it was a lot harder to make leverguns than they had anticipated. I think they are really trying to get it right, and have a new model or two on the way. Not really new model, just a new variation of the 336. I really hope they get it right, as both Remington and Marlin are great old gun companies, and I want to see them survive and prosper. I remember the Marlin ads from several years ago, showing that the stock was fitted to the receiver, then kept together throughout the manufacturing process. Now, the receivers are made in New York, and the stocks in Kentucky. Leverguns, compared to bolt actions, are much more expensive to build these days, and I hope that Marlin gets their quality back up where it belongs. Folks will pay more for a good American-made levergun, but only if the quality is there.

Jeff

[pricedo]

I was at a Freedom Group event in South Carolina a couple of months ago, along with a few other writers. When it came comment time, I told the Remington folks that Marlin quality pretty much sucks. They admitted that it was a lot harder to make leverguns than they had anticipated. I think they are really trying to get it right, and have a new model or two on the way. Not really new model, just a new variation of the 336. I really hope they get it right, as both Remington and Marlin are great old gun companies, and I want to see them survive and prosper. I remember the Marlin ads from several years ago, showing that the stock was fitted to the receiver, then kept together throughout the manufacturing process. Now, the receivers are made in New York, and the stocks in Kentucky. Leverguns, compared to bolt actions, are much more expensive to build these days, and I hope that Marlin gets their quality back up where it belongs. Folks will pay more for a good American-made levergun, but only if the quality is there.

Jeff

Big Green musta fired all the skilled Marlin employees who knew a finger lever from a banjo after the takeover as a cost saving measure & now expect a bunch of morons who'll work for minimum wage to build quality lever guns.

It don't work that way.

Maybe the Remington execs need to eat some humble pie & go hat in hand to these guys and ask them if they want their old jobs back while there's still something left of Marlin to save.

Once shooters (many already have) ditch the brand it will be hard if not impossible to bring back.

[Griff]

I would suspect that Remington offered to keep any Marlin guys willing to relocate to SC. I'd bet there VERY few takers; especially in this economy. If you were a skilled machinist, your wife held a good job, you were near SS age w/a mortgage, who's income could more easily be replaced. Ny wife & I faced that decision twice. The 1st ttime we passed, the 2nd time we moved. But the package was far better the 2nnd time. Relocating if you have a mortgage is an expense deal.

[6pt-sika]

Well hears my very NEGATIVE comment on the whole thing !

At this point in time I don't really care if Marlin and or Remington get it straightened out or not !

I still like Marlin and Remington products .

Well that is if they were made before about 1975 for Marlin's and about 1990 for Remington 700's .

I seriousely doubt that I ever buy another new production Marlin or Remington .

Now of course new in the box from the earlier years is another story

[tman]

Calculated move. Rem had a majority of aged 50+ craftsmen whom they knew wouldn't move. Move south for cheap labor. After all, monkeys can build leverguns because their predecessors didn't have Masters degrees in Libieral Arts When u pay peanuts you get monkeys, Corporate figured that out too late Top heavy corporations are too far removed from the factory floor.

[Leverdude]

I would suspect that Remington offered to keep any Marlin guys willing to relocate to SC. I'd bet there VERY few takers; especially in this economy. If you were a skilled machinist, your wife held a good job, you were near SS age w/a mortgage, who's income could more easily be replaced. Ny wife & I faced that decision twice. The 1st ttime we passed, the 2nd time we moved. But the package was far better the 2nnd time. Relocating if you have a mortgage is an expense deal.

From what I understand they offered some a job in NY where they now make the lever guns, in a union shop, North Haven was non union, I dont care either way but only mention it because I'v heard so many say they thought the sell out & move was to get away from unions while the oposite is true. Anyway as I understood it there was no guarantee of a permanent position & the job offer came with a cut in pay. Given the way that the employees were lied to already by the new bosses nobody took the bait.

The way I see things once a company is owned by a corporate entity like Freedom group that company no longer really exists. Its name does, but now that name is just a licensed logo that can & likely will be put on anything the corp thinks it might make a buck from. Kinda like the chinese Winchester knives Walmarts had for a few years now. So, while we can buy a gun that says Remington, or Marlin, or Winchester or Browning on it, its not the same thing as when Win, Marlin or Rem were their own companies. I left out Browning because unlike the others they never actually produced guns, but rather sold designs or had someone build them for them. Thats not to say that the guns will always be junk, Browning obviously always held their manufacturers to a high standard. The Freedom group is trying something different, letting the lowest bidder build their guns, and it shows. I already disliked Rem loooong before this stuff started, but I still hold out hope that they can pull their heads from their backsides before they ruin another good name. Or maybe it'll work like after Rockwell sucked them dry, someone with foresight & tenacity might buy them back & rebuild it.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I suspect that Remington took the people making their rimfire ammo and moved them over to the Marlin line. Seem like a similar rate of misfires anyway.

[adirondakjack]

I would suspect that Remington offered to keep any Marlin guys willing to relocate to SC. I'd bet there VERY few takers; especially in this economy. If you were a skilled machinist, your wife held a good job, you were near SS age w/a mortgage, who's income could more easily be replaced. Ny wife & I faced that decision twice. The 1st ttime we passed, the 2nd time we moved. But the package was far better the 2nnd time. Relocating if you have a mortgage is an expense deal.

From what I understand they offered some a job in NY where they now make the lever guns, in a union shop, North Haven was non union, I dont care either way but only mention it because I'v heard so many say they thought the sell out & move was to get away from unions while the oposite is true. Anyway as I understood it there was no guarantee of a permanent position & the job offer came with a cut in pay. Given the way that the employees were lied to already by the new bosses nobody took the bait.

The way I see things once a company is owned by a corporate entity like Freedom group that company no longer really exists. Its name does, but now that name is just a licensed logo that can & likely will be put on anything the corp thinks it might make a buck from. Kinda like the chinese Winchester knives Walmarts had for a few years now. So, while we can buy a gun that says Remington, or Marlin, or Winchester or Browning on it, its not the same thing as when Win, Marlin or Rem were their own companies. I left out Browning because unlike the others they never actually produced guns, but rather sold designs or had someone build them for them. Thats not to say that the guns will always be junk, Browning obviously always held their manufacturers to a high standard. The Freedom group is trying something different, letting the lowest bidder build their guns, and it shows. I already disliked Rem loooong before this stuff started, but I still hold out hope that they can pull their heads from their backsides before they ruin another good name. Or maybe it'll work like after Rockwell sucked them dry, someone with foresight & tenacity might buy them back & rebuild it.

The thing is, yes it was a pay cut, but having lived in the town where Big Green is, and having visited New Haven, the cost of living in Ilion is about HALF what CT is. The Marlin employees in CT were disgruntled since the sale (almost bankruptcy) of Marlin to freedom, and Freedom looked askance at Marlin employees. Only KEY PEOPLE were offered jobs. NONE took em, I suppose because many are upside down in their homes, etc, as well as the above stated reasons. I'm NOT speculating, but cannot reveal who I talked to.

[claybob86]

I suspect that Remington took the people making their rimfire ammo and moved them over to the Marlin line. Seem like a similar rate of misfires anyway.

You may be right!

[Dave]

All the problems at Marlin are very disturbing. Fact is a Marlin with no scope already costs more than the promo bolt guns with a scope that are all over the place. With the economy the way it is and people liking cartridges with more range than a 30-30 I am afraid Marlin is teetering on the edge. I picked up two really nice, older 336's over the summer for not much. A guy offered to buy one the other day. I told him I was going to hang on to them.

[pricedo]

... I love poetry, long walks on the beach, and poking dead things with a stick.

You must mean Marlin.