I think the working class is buying Ruger Americans, Mossberg Patriots, and whatever they call the cheap Savages, and mounting Vortex scopes (at best) on them. We’ll see if the market supports the Ruger notion of what lever-guys want. The 1895s sure seem to be a success, based the prices they brought at first. No idea if that’s still “normal”.
At $1200 they won’t be buying Marlins. The way to reduce costs of the new machinery is to sell lots of rifles. Each rifle they sell helps to dilute the cost of that new machinery. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t improve the rifle and get what they need to be profitable, but I think Ruger screwed up by taking what used to be an affordable utilitarian rifle and turned it into a rifle for loonies. It’s going to be hard for the typical hunter who remembers Marlins costing $300-400 just a few years ago to justify spending 3-4x that much on a new Marlin.
