I am currently considering a NIB Marlin Model 1895 that was made in November of 2013 so For you guys that know much more about Marlin than I when did Remington retool the Marlin facility with the latest greatest CNC machinery? From what I can gather when Remington first got Marlin the old New Haven equiptment was mostly worn out then at some later date after many shoddy rifles were produced they got their ducks in a row and retooled with the latest CNC machinery and also tightened up QC considerably.....From what I have been reading these latest Marlins are some of the best rifles ever produced but what year did these better quality rifles start being produced?.........Thanks Hb

Flip a coin and pick a year. The only way to determine the better quality rifles is to hold one in your hand and examine it paying close attention to the wood and metal fit. Then run 4 or 5 dummy rounds through the action and see how it feeds and ejects.

Also check the sight alignment. I have seen two at the LGS that had the front sight clocked around to about 12:30. I understand this is a common problem with the bad years, whatever they are.

I have a pre Remington SBL and it works and looks great. I have read that Marlin is producing a better product than resent past years, lets hope that is true.

I'd look around a buy a pre Rem.......

lots out there.......

better odds on getting a good one.......

From what I understand the Marlin machinery was practically worn out toward the end before Remington bought them, from what I gather the first Remington/Marlins were shyte, fit and finish was shameful but Remington at some point retooled the whole factory with the latest CNC machinery and as of late are producing some of the best Marlins ever made but I dont know exactly when this change took place, i am currently eyeing a nice looking model 1895 that was made in November of 2013 but the rifle is on gunbroker so I cant get a hands on look at it........Hb

One feature I do like on the old Marlins is the no pushbutton safety, I would like to see this removed as I see no benefit in a push button safety on a lever action rifle........it kind of rediculous really..........Hb

If it don't say JM on gun stay far far far away it's junk !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reports are getting better on the so-called "Remlins".

Recently I've seen some very well fitted and finished rifles and carbines and suggest you look at them and keep the older Marlins in mind, too.
The older Marlins can often be bought for less money and do have a better reputation for fit and finish quality.

Same thing I'm hearing.

I bought a brand new 2015 guide gun a couple of weeks ago. Unlike
my last 3 NIB Marlins (2 JMs and 1 Remlin) this one actually feeds from the magazine.
Fit and finish is the best I've seen on an 1895 in years. Hopefully they finally got their act together.

bufaf,

That is great news. I been holding off buying a new Marlin hoping they would improve. My experience is similar to yours with the JM models. I must of purchased 6-8 of them in various calibers from the mid 90's to about 2004 and finally gave up. None of the one's I owned would feed and eject 100% and accuracy was mediocre at best.

I got a 1895SBL last year. Accuracy is fantastic. I put a Wild West trigger, ejector, and follower on it. Out of the box, it fed fine and ejected flawlessly. Only problem was the edges on the loading gate and ramp were very sharp with burrs. Took it apart and cleaned those up a bit with emery cloth, and it was good to go.

My dad bought a 1895GBL just a month or so after that. He left all the factory parts in his. But, on his, the magazine tube was screwed up from the factory. The follower would get stuck if you loaded more than 2 rounds in the mag, and that in turn would jam the action. Marlin had no problem replacing the part, but it took over 2 months to get it, so that gun didn't see the woods for hunting season. Best we could tell is the tube had a thick spot in the wall, which made the internal ID too tight. There was no bend in the magazine tube. The replacement tube works perfectly.

Both guns seem well built and put together, it was just the small QC errors they had with final checking and testing.

I have heard they invested in some very nice machinery, so now that they have good people running it, they should be producing quality items.

pre Remington guns are the best marlins out there

Good to hear.

The last few years that Marlin made them were nothing to brag about!

You guys that have bought model 1895s recently - did they come with the hammer spur extension? I bought a guide gun a few years ago that came with one, but I just bought an 1895C that didn't have one although the owners manual shows an illustration of it being installed.

??

I will say that they are still heads above the early Remingtons. There were some simply atrocious samples sold to the public.

Looking at recent examples, I'll have to say the they (Remington) have come a long way.

The newer ones are doing just fine quality wise.

That has been my impression. They (Remington) seem to have gotten their Marlin game together.

It's quite possible that with the new machinery, the quality and uniformity from rifle to rifle may exceed the Marlin-made rifles.

It's funny how many people believe good guns depend on good machinery. It isn't so. Good guns depend on skilled craftsmen hand fitting, filing, grinding and polishing until everything fits and functions as it should. The latest and greatest machinery simply cannot produce high quality firearms. It still takes skilled human hands to do that.

Worn out machinery doesn't enhance a skilled Craftsman's work, either.

The two will work together. You can't make Chicken salad out of Chicken Schidt.

Guess I'd better quit my job then. You see, I'm a gun builder by trade. I spend 40 hours a week fixing machine shop shortcomings {which are too numerous to count} to come up with a perfectly functional, good looking, good shooting firearm. You might even say I get paid to take chicken shyt and turn it into chicken salad. Most of the problems I've seen and heard about with the Remlins were/are the result of untrained/unskilled/inexperienced staff, moreso than worn out machinery.

You probably don't do it with crappy equipment either.

Like I said, they both go together.

As was mentioned earlier, the original Marlin machinery was wearing out.

Remington invested in new equipment.

They failed to keep the skilled workforce.

That workforce is now gaining the necessary skills to exploit the better equipment.

I certainly don't want to build rifles with a Little Smithy.

You'd be shocked by the truth. It recently took me 4 months of constant bitching to get a new 60 degree dovetail file. My old one was so dull it removed material by the process of erosion rather than by cutting. The list of things I need that I'm constantly out of is longer than the things I have. Adapt, improvise and overcome is the motto here. I do know wtf I'm talking about here regarding the lack of quality in the Remlin leverguns.. Poor fit and finish, incorrectly indexed barrels/sights are CERTAINLY NOT machine shop issues. And rifles that don't function/feed correctly most likely aren't either. It comes down to poorly trained/unskilled/inexperienced gun builders just as I said. Denying it won't make the FACTS OF THE MATTER change one iota. Period.

Well, I commend you on your persistence and you apparently have enough pride in your work to accomplish what you do with what you have.

That is what a Craftsman's skill is about.

It's a joy to combine good skill with new equipment. We are in the process of engineering a new line with equipment for product-specific manufacture of one of our products, rather than adapting the existing equipment, as we are now doing. We're having good results, but the effort can be more than necessary, and quite frankly, we have some individuals who won't ever be able achieve our quality objectives with existing equipment either because of skill(lack of) or the fact that they simply don't want to work that hard, and we have to relegate them to other tasks.

We've also had an influx of new-hires, and it simply remains to be seen where they stand in regards to skill/motivation. I imagine about one-third will be what I consider "good".

With the new equipment, we'll be able to significantly increase the output of this (very profitable) product without undue physical effort, and state of the art instrumentation will give some of the less-skilled a crutch.

The individuals who possess more skill and motivation will still out-perform their less motivated/skill co-workers, though.

Thanks Vic. I certainly meant no disrespect in our conversation. I consider you one of the most courteous and respectable posters here and have always enjoyed your input on multiple subjects. I've been in the gunsmithing/ gunbuilding busines for a long time and see much erroneous information posted on multiple websites. I work for a small manufacturer building first quality semi custom, custom and production firearms. Guns I've built have been featured in magazine articles several times over the years but company policy forbids me to give any details or say who I work for. Hard to garner any credibilty on these forums without giving any proof so I don't make a habit of talking about it much out of pure frustration.

Thank you for your comments.

I did not see any disrespect, and fully understand the frustration.

As merely a hobbyist, I have dabbled enough to know the level of skill it takes to make a good-performing and aesthetic custom rifle/shotgun/pistol.

Anyone who can do it for a living earns my respect.

I don't know what year my 450 was made it says North Haven CT on it.
Never had a failure to feed or eject.

I shoot a Ranch Dog mold 430 grain, GC, wide melplate that hits like Thors Hammer.
Last time I shot it at the range, it shot a 3/4 inch 3 shot group, which was basically one ragged hole.


It came with a 24 inch barrel which I promptly had a gun smith cut to 20 inches.
Trigger was smithed to a crisp 3 lbs.

I looked it up and it was made in 2006, and has a JM stamp. What does the JM stamp signify?

Proof mark for Marlin. Now it's REP. There were some JM marked barrels used after the Remington takeover-during the transition phase.

That's not correct.

JM was a proof mark that was only used after a gun was test fired at the Connecticut factory.

The proof marks aren't stamped until the gun is finished and has been test fired.

Any gun with a JM stamp is a 100% Marlin made Marlin in North Haven Connecticut.

Some digging over to Marlin Owners forum will verify this info.

Sorry. Got it backwards:

http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/marlin-collectors/181545-value-hybrid-jm.html

(North Haven stamp with Remington proof)

all marlins pre remingtons are much better guns and it won`t be long those pre Remington marlins will cost you more used too. so buy used you will be much better off ! I am also a gun dealer so I hear and see what`s happening with guns and its terrible Remington purchased marlin and now I don`t really want to carry new marlins to many mechanical problems now and gunsmiths know it too. so good luck finding a used one look under> guns international.com

I personally would put less value on a Marlin built in the last few years before Remington, and the ones built by Remington just after the transition. This is from a using standpoint, not a collector standpoint, but I certainly wouldn't buy a Marlin as a collector in the first place.

If I was looking for another hunting gun from Marlin, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a later 2014 or 2015 model. I have an 1895SBL that was mid 2014, and have absolutely no complaints. The newer ones are even better.

I have an 1895 Guide Gun marked JM, w/the safety (neutralized with a neoprene "o" ring around the red "Off Safe" indicator). I bought it new, probably mid to late '90's. Everything's well-fitted and it has always functioned flawlessly. It shoots around an inch, easily, for three shots. I slicked it up a bit. Buddy of mine has one a year newer that he bought after borrowing mine the first year I had it and killing four deer with it that year. His is just as good as mine. Another buddy has one somewhat newer, stainless and not ported. He brought it to me to fix, took it apart and it had chunks of wood floating around inside the receiver. This was a new gun. Mine has become one of my favorite rifles.

I could not agree more. The three Marlins I owned/purchased approximately 2004-2008 were all junk and none would feed correctly 100% of the time. I would buy a new model Remington without hesitation in today's world