Puts me in mind of a situation I have had with a Marlin 1894CL in .25-20. I bought the gun new several years ago (before they discontinued the .25-20). I put a 1-4 Leupold on it and it shot great, sort of. If you would wait for the barrel to cool off completely (I mean really completely) it would shoot into a half inch at 50 yd. Otherwise, it would string its shots off in a straight line to one o'clock. Five shots would be spaced out about three eighths of an inch apart in a perfectly straight line from poa toward one o'clock. I was going nuts trying to resolve this. Finally, one day, when the light hit it right, I saw chatter marks on the OD of the barrel, a few inched behind the muzzle, right at, you guessed it, one o'clock (looking from behind.) I figured they probably centerless ground the barrel for final finish and something caused the grinding wheel to grab, setting up some kind of stress in the barrel at that point. I sent the gun back to Marlin. They returned it with what appeared to be a new barrel. All excited, I put the scope back on and headed to the range. The gun shot two inch groups at fifty yards. I have not been able to get it to do better. After a while, I noticed that the front sight was not back in its dovetail where it belongs, it was probably an eigth of an inch off center, as was the piece dovetailed into the bottom of the barrel that the magazine tube is hung from. I was so disgusted with the whole business that I stuck the gun in the safe and haven't had it out for several years now. I've given up on the idea of getting any satisfaction from Marlin, I guess if I ever want to resurrect that .25-20 I'll have to send it to a good lever action smith for a new barrel or buy a .32-20 factory barrel for it, but I really want a .25-20. Another incident that makes me doubt Marlin's committment to quality happened this fall. A buddy of mine had gone out an bought a brand new 1895 GG in .45-70, because he liked mine. He called me up after the first day at the range to tell me it didn't seem to cycle as smoothly as mine, could I take a look at it. He brought it over that night and up in my shop, we tried cycling it. It sure was stiff, and after two or three cycles, was jammed shut! I took it apart, and when I started taking the parts out of the receiver wood splinters started coming out with them! It looked like someone had been using the thing to grind up wooden matches or something. In any case, I cleaned the wood out, polished the bearing surfaces, lubed it and sent him on his way, happy as a clam. As a rule I like the lever action Marlins, but somebody sure seems to be asleep at the switch up there.
