Remington/Marlin merger.

[Grandpa Ron]

Has anyone noticed a difference in the Marlin lever guns since the Remington merger?

I am talking quality and accuracy differences not opinions and whining about the good old days.

[J Miller]

Oh yeah, we've noticed. And we've beat that dead horse A LOT. There's a thread running right now about the supposedly new Marlin custom shop that turned into a discussion of the pre vs post Remington take over lack of quality.

Do a search if you want, make some popcorn and read on.

Joe

[765x53]

Who took over Remington to begin the downfall?

As a Harvard MBA once said (regarding Sears) "We're not in the business of selling products, we're in the business of selling stock"

[Grandpa Ron]

Sad to say I have heard all this B.S. before going back to the redesign of the model 70's in the 1960's.

I am looking for a decent side ejecting .357 lever gun, for informal target shooting. I may eventually add a scope. That leaves me with a Marlin or a Henry.

[Rusty]

Marlin took a nosedive but they're on the way back up. The quality has been greatly improved.

Just buy what you want in person and don't order it sight unseen.

[AJMD429]

They may well learn from their mistake, and improve their product.

If not, Henry still makes good guns; if enough potential customers beat the drum for them to make 'loading gate' models instead of, or in addition to, 'tube-loaders', they will likely respond. (personally I don't mind the tube-loading in the least).

In the meantime, just buy USED Marlins, and enjoy them. They aren't sitting in every gun shop, but sooner or later those of us who own 'em either die or go broke, and they go on the market...

[sore shoulder]

Im not sure what the market is for used pre Remington Marlins, but if you can find a 94 in .357 that would be my choice. The one I had shot so straight it was boring, and would cycle up to a 200gr cast no problem, I still have a few around here waiting for another 94 someday.

As I stated in another thread yesterday, the current Marlin is nothing more than a reproduction, and a poor overpriced one at that. Remington scrapped the Marlin factory and employees when they took over. The Remington repros I've held were atrocious on the outside, very rough cycling, and I can only imagine what they looked like on the inside. The several new pre Rem Marlins I've bought were smooth, beautifully fitted and exhibited pride and craftsmanship. It's been asked to give "Marlin" a chance. I think we already did. They are a corporate entity whose sole motivation is profit, not a human that is entitled to Grace. Building a repro that makes chinese knocks offs look good, at a higher price, lower quality and a customer service dept that would have been better staffed by monkeys cost them exactly what it should, trust and reputation. Marlin owners had a couple lengthy threads full of pictures and customer service horror stories on the prevalence of cracked from the factory receivers on 1895's. Based on that alone I wouldn't trust a Marlin repro for more than a fence post, particularly an 1895. I'm actually surprised that ammo manufacturers like Garrett haven't put in a disclaimer for those using a Rem repro 1895's.

[TedH]

The new Marlins that I have coon fingered at my local store have all been very nice examples. If I were in the market, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new Marlin.

[cas]

They just don't look the same to me. Forgetting about function, straight barrels and wood fit... just looking at them they don't look right. All the edges and angles seem sharper and the finish is rougher, less polished and the blue seems dull because of it. It reminds me of a few knife companies products pre and post China manufacture.

[Blaine]

There's a "stank" on the new ones...deserved, or not.
I heard a rumor that they might be opening a Custom Shop, so maybe for an extra thou you can get one built to the same level of quality of the old JM Marlins....

[horsesoldier03]

Just my opinion here, but I have a hard time comparing anything Marlin is producing today to being anywhere near the quality of the rifles produced during the JM marked barrels. The rifles have a poor quality of bluing if you could even call it that and the stocks are no longer Black Walnut. IMO, many of the stocks look like they are some type of composite wood product. I haven't shot one of the newer rifles, but when I can purchase an older rifle in good condition for less than a new one off the shelf, I will pick the older rifle every time.

[Griff]

I just don't know anymore. ISTR that there've been forum members displeased with their JM Marlins before the buyout by Remington. Took the personal intervention of the President of JM to provide an acceptable product. So I don't believe that you can categorically state that pre-Remington Marlins are of high quality. Maybe they were better than the average, early Remlins; but, what I've seen of the later Remlins, they're every bit as good as the pre-Remlins.

Frankly, having been involved in cowboy action shooting since the mid '80s, I've seen lots of Marlin 1894s... the vast majority in .38/.357Mag. And the well-functioning example seemed to be the exception, rather than the rule. But, that's a FAST game, smooth functioning is needed, hitches and hiccups can destroy a run.

As with any other rifle chambered in these straight walled pistol cartridges, it takes some gunsmithin' to make 'em run smooth and fast. And that's true whether it's a Uberti, Winchester, Miroku, Rossi, Henry, JM Marlin or Remington made Marlin. Yep, used guns might be smoother than a new production... but, really, IMO, that's because they've already had the "new" worn off. Buying a new gun, it needs the "new" worn off. Some less so than others, and that's generally a function of price.

As Nate so famously sez, you can take the family station wagon racing, but don't expect to win. It takes a heap of work to make that family wagon a race-ready, competitive machine. Same is true of all these leverguns. Fact. You can dismisss this if you want, but you'll just be disappointed.

[earlmck]

Us old levergunners tend to let nostalgia rule our recollections. But there is a reason we talk about "Marlin jam #1" and "Marlin jam #2" -- common enough problems we gave them names. Marlin's quality control was not all that wonderful for the past many years. In fact, my first experience with "Marlin jam #1" was in a 1950 model 336A.

[Grandpa Ron]

Okay so much for the blood letting and complaining, my original question is, if I go into the gun shop and buy a new made .357 Marlin Cowboy,
+ Will it function any less reliably than before the merger?
+ Will be as accurate as before.
+ Will it have a decent trigger pull.

It is fine to have well figured, well finished wood and an eye popping barrel finish; but in my hands those features seem to fade over time. I want a shooter.

I am interested in Marlins because, I like the overall shape, the side ejection and a loading gate. The next on my list would be the Rossi. I like a longer barreled rifle.

[DPris]

I will not participate in any further Marlin Bashing, so this'll most likely be my last attempt to pass this on to you guys.

The Custom Shop is not a rumor.
If anybody wants to give me an email address I can forward an image of the Marlin Custom Shop display at SHOT.

We spent a good 20 minutes talking to the head of that CS at SHOT in Vegas on Tuesday, and looking at the four examples of what they'll be offering.

Once up & running, they'll start out with services ONLY on Ilion-made guns produced in the past 5 years.
Eventually, they plan to open those services up to older Marlins.

They'll offer higher-grade wood options, and hand-fitted wood.
A choice of laser-cut checkering, hand-chased laser-cut checkering, or hand-cut checkering.

Barrel lengths, octagon barrels.

Steel engraving (and GOOD steel engraving, done by hand, no cheesy laser-engraving).
Different finishes, including high-gloss blue & even Cerakote if you want it.
Case-colors.

Hand-tuned action work (slicked-up action & tuned feeding).

And so on.

The samples we saw were the finest Marlin leverguns I've ever seen.

In two weeks, when the CS head gets home & off the road after other traveling post-SHOT, I'll be bugging the livin' bejabbers outa him for a custom Marlin Mare's Leg.

Now- please don't take this as an invitation to get in my face:
But, quite seriously & I say it with all due respect- I am not interested in discussion of Marlin's past history during & after the move to Remington's facility in Ilion, where Marlin has its own production space & workers.

I am not interested in beating or burying that horse any further.
I'm only in this thread with further commentary on the new CS because Bubbles & I saw the SHOT display, talked to a very reliable Remington rep & the CS head, and the CS was mentioned in this thread as a "rumor".

Marlin's taking it slow in the introduction because they're far from ready for a flood of orders.
The CS will be set up at a facility in Sturgess, South Dakota, and the work will be based on standard production raw material (no exotic calibers, no CS-only stainless models, etc.) but won't be done at the Ilion factory.

It'll take time to get fully up to speed, but they ARE moving forward.
They've displayed at the Dallas Safari Club event, and at SHOT.
They'll probably not get it on their website for a bit, till they feel more able to handle the volume that'd probably generate.

If you want to beat the horse some more, you can carry on without me.
Otherwise, I regard the CS as a great thing for Marlin, and I'm looking forward to seeing them build a couple guns for me that would never make it through a standard production line.
Denis