I own old Marlins with JM stamp up to new Marlins commonly called Remlins.
The JM's are coveted and will bring more money. Evidently when Remington first bought Marlin, the quality was poor. In my opinion, my "Remlin's" are as good as the JM 336's.
I don't mean to start a fight regarding the good/bad etc. it's just my opinion.
When the first Remington-made Marlins came out, I saw a couple of them on the racks of the Cabela's here in town. On both rifles, the front sights were on "crooked", either the barrels weren't turned in all the way, or the dovetails were cut wrong. Either way, they'd have been unuseable. Also, the wood was very, very "proud" on both examples, and on a couple more in another store, the same proud wood would make them very uncomfortable to carry or use.
In the case of the Cabela's guns, I pointed that the front sights were crooked, and the sales staff removed them from the sales floor immediately. They sent them back to Remington.
