What happened to Marlin and quality control?

sw41mag · Post by **sw41mag** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:05 am

So I traded a rifle I didn't want anymore for a brand new Marlin 1895GS from my local fun store on Saturday. Decided to see how it loaded and functioned on Sunday and found that the cartridges that I fed into the magazine were just coming out into the receiver and that the lifter wasn't lifting them up to the level of the chamber most of the time so that they wouldn't feed. Took it back to the shop and the owner started taking it apart. Every screw in the receiver was lose and he couldn't get it to work. He looks at me and says, "This thing is f***ed." "Why do you think I brought it back?" says I.

He goes into the back and gives me a different brand new rifle, (after he checked it to see that it loaded and ejected cartridges) and I take it home and start cleaning it. You should see the rough tooling marks inside the receiver and the big burrs that were left behind, and half the screws were loose. Hopefully it shoots alright and holds a group. This is very disappointing for a brand new $600 gun.

runfiverun · Post by **runfiverun** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:45 am

winchesters started getting that way just before they closed down
coincidence?

fgarnold · Post by **fgarnold** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:17 am

A friend of mine just bought a new 336XLR and the action was as smooth a butter with sand in it. After further inspection, the lever had very rough welding marks and burrs on where it goes into the bolt. He called Marlin and told them of what he found. Three days latter, he had a new lever at his front door. Marlin has always stood behind their rifles. I don't know how poor workmanship gets out of the factory with all the inspection points they have.

Swampman · Post by **Swampman** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:43 am

I've owned a bunch of Marlins and I've never seen a bad one.

Sixgun · Post by **Sixgun** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:43 am

I've said it a thousand times on this board. Marlin makes some mighty fine guns and lets 'em get to the public with lots of little aggravating problems. Feeding problems, along with fit and finish, combined with loose parts is no way for a fine American company like Marlin to operate.-------------Sixgun

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:14 am

fgarnold wrote: I don't know how poor workmanship gets out of the factory with all the inspection points they have.

I don't know if I have said this before or not, but, take it from me: it happens. Think about how many different guns they make and how many get into the hands of people every year. Your experiance is but a teeny-tiny sampling of what they do. Heck, I just missed some stuff last week that a 4 day-old rookie could have caught. And I have been at it 3.5 years.

Beleive me, it happens.

We don't build guns mind you, but the properties are the same: people aren't perfect.

Leverdude · Post by **Leverdude** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:17 am

Sorry you got a lemon but the truth is theres likely 1000 trouble free guns for every lemon. I'll second Swampy's coment & say I never got a truly bad one.
The internet concentrates the lemons. People dont search out a forum to praise a gun as hard as they do when they have trouble. They just shoot em.

If you sent it back to Marlin I bet it woulda come back trouble free. Should you have to? Nope, but things do happen.

fgarnold · Post by **fgarnold** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:00 am

Andrew wrote:
fgarnold wrote: I don't know how poor workmanship gets out of the factory with all the inspection points they have.
I don't know if I have said this before or not, but, take it from me: it happens. Think about how many different guns they make and how many get into the hands of people every year. Your experiance is but a teeny-tiny sampling of what they do. Heck, I just missed some stuff last week that a 4 day-old rookie could have caught. And I have been at it 3.5 years. Beleive me, it happens.

We don't build guns mind you, but the properties are the same: people aren't perfect.

Yep, I totally agree with your statement. I have 18 Marlins from real old to real new and have never had a problem with any of them. Anything mass produced is prone for some errors in quality.

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:51 am

all mass production has two problems...

Mondays and Fridays

Not to escuse Marlin.. but trouble is bound to slip by... "you cant inspect quality into a product" is a fact.

At least Marlin still has a good service deptartment.

We spent over 6 hours on the phone trying to get a sattilite dish re-connected the other day afte we suspended service to re-locate. 4 call... we finally got a number in the States... invested another hour in circular reasoning and the tech will be out to re-con this week.

~Hill

Lastmohecken · Post by **Lastmohecken** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:46 pm

Well, this is a pet peave of mine. I have had a lot of guns pass through my hands over the years and out of that group, I have the ones I have kept. The sad thing is there are a lot of lemmons out there, by just about all brands.

I have definately had my share and then some, as far as lemmons go, to the point where I am gunshy as heck, when it comes to buying new guns.

Post by **Chuck 100 yd** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:12 pm

I also have had no problems with any of my new Marlins.

I did send a .44Mag 1894SS back to have the barrel replaced due to oversize bore. That rifle shot very good with jacketed bullets and would have with cast but finding oversize molds is dificult so I sent it back and they found and installed a properly bored barrel and had it back 16 days after it left my hands. 5-6 of those dayd were Christmas shut down days.

Any hunter who shoots factory ammo would have been happy with it the way it was as I recieved it.

GEOFF · Post by **GEOFF** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:28 pm

I just bought a brand new Marlin 39AS the other day. Much relieved that it is GREAT in every way. Nicest wood I personally have ever seen on a newer 39. Feeds, extracts, and most importantly ejects with vigor.

I was worried about the Remington purchase of Marlin and it's effect on quality. I guess all that still remains to be seen. This 39 of mine may have been made BEFORE the Remington purchase.

Geoff

sw41mag · Post by **sw41mag** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:38 pm

I got up into the forest today and shot the 1895GS with 405gr hard cast hand loads. It actually shot great and hit whatever I was aiming at. So that's good news. I know that every company has some problems and I already have a couple of other older Marlins that are just great so I was very surprised to get a completely non-functioning gun and have it replaced with one that has such bad tooling marks and burrs. My lever also looks like stuff so maybe i'll take your advice and give them a call. I think you would all agree that it's pretty disappointing to get something bad when you fork over your hard earned money.