Oh, as for the problems, there have been feeding issues with some of the new ones, which Marlin fixes at no charge and pays for the shipping. After that, they work great.
There is also another thread on MO that doesn't get as much attention where a bunch of people reported they never had a problem with their Marlin Express from day one and love their 308 / 338.
One last note on this. 2009/2010 was the first year for the 338MX
When I was looking for one, Dick's checked with their distributors who had none. The rep asked them about another production run. The 338 and 308 are selling very well. Marlin told the distributors there would be a 2010 run (This was before the move was announced, don't know if that put the new run on hold). In fact, the distributors said there were so many inquiries on the 338 that they were not taking back orders as they might wind up with more orders than rifles. So that's one additional thing to take into consideration when wondering about survivability.
I was watching sales while setting money aside, and once the hunting reports started coming in, the 338 started flying off the shelves. Some GB dealers went from several to zero in less than a week. Buds gun shop and Davidsons were cleaned out in less than a month. Pretty good sales record.
They are so hard to find now because Marlin sold the entire production run, and all but a few of those have been bought from the stores / distributors, some of who held a few back to sell at a later date.
