Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Marlin 1895 SBL quality?

I came across one for sale. Been wanting one for years but have been concerned about poor quality. This one is a REM Stamped gun. Not sure date of manufacture nor have I seen the gun to assess fit and finish myself. I have read that the more recent Marlins have improved but again I don't know the timing of the improved quality relative to when this particular SBL was made. I appreciate any advice or knowledge any of you can share.

You need to lay your hands on it. Work the action, inspect it thoroughly, check the sights. There's no guarantee, but there are good ones out there. Good luck!

Unfortunately that is not feasible. I am in WA State and gun is in Arizona

Where at in AZ? If its around Tucson at a gunshop, PM me the shop. I am down on the border and wont be back until Thur am, but would go by and look at it if you want.

I appreciate your offer but I do not know where exactly in AZ. It a private seller, not a gun shop. The guy says it was made 2 years ago and feels that it is well built. Might go for it.

I decided to buy it. Hoping for the best.

Never met a 45-70 in any configuration I didn't like.

Good luck with your new friend.

Is it in your hands yet? How did it turn out?

It is at my house but it arrived while I have been in North Dakota working so I haven't seen it yet.

Finally got a chance to look the gun over today. Pretty happy with it for the most part. Fit of wood to metal is better than some others I have seen and Thank God it does not have the cracked receiver that some others have experienced. Plenty of sharp edges though that will need some smoothing. I cannot figure out how to raise the point of impact with the XS sight system. I tried unscrewing the screw that holds the rear aperture sight down thinking that there was a spring under it to elevate it but found that there was not spring so that did not work. Anyone know how to elevate point of impact?

Also curious as to when this was made. Serial # is MR10###B

I called XS and figured out how to adjust for elevation. Just need to loosen one of the windage screws then unscrew aperture then tighten windage screw back. He said 180 degree turn should raise impact about an inch at 100 yards

I have one of those with the JM stamped on the brl. It is more accurate that most of my bolt guns.
Erich

I won't buy any remlins... period.
The best ones are the older ones that have the JM stamp on the barrel.

Maybe the Remlins will be the best today or in the future.
I'd buy one.
I won't make a general statement about the quality of the newer firearms yet as I don't believe we've seen the best of them.
Hope the OP has a gem!

My gun is pretty good overall. Main problem is that the bore is rough and it fouls significantly.

I owned two different 45/70's and one 450, all with the "JM" stamped barrels. I'll never own another. Feeding issues with all of them.
I do plan on buying a "Remlin" some day when I find a nice example in a store that I can inspect in person before buying it.

Looked at an 1895 yesterday in a local shop that looked as good as any and better than most jm stamped Marlins i've ever seen. Especially some of the jm stamped rifles that Marlin was offering the last couple years they were in production just before REM took over.

I think the whole jm stamped thing is pretty well blown out of proportion like most things these days.

From what I gather the tooling at the Marlin plant was pretty much shot the last few years Marlin produced rifles, then when Remington took over and moved the plant to New York it was a mess for the first few years of production until Remington invested in the latest and greatest CNC machinery, i'd say tolerences on the Remlins coming off the line now are the best and tightest ever for a Marlin rifle.........Good luck with your new rifle......Hb