Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sad story -Marlin firearms

Just wanted to relate a story. A friend of mine bought a Marlin lever action from Wal-Mart ( I know) a couple of weeks ago. He went out to shoot it ,and noticed that the rear sight was cock-eyed to the barrel. He brings it over and the dove-tail for the rear sight,is cut at an angle. He calls Marlin, and explains the problem,and ask how the gun passed final inspection and test firing. After some dancing on the phone, they send him a RA and he packs up the gun and sends everything back to them. Its been about a month now and he calls them to find out how about the status of the gun. The girl on the phone tells him its in final inspection again,and would go out in 2 days. He gets the gun today,the gun looks like it was just thrown in the box,the new owners manual that he returned with the gun ,is gone and in its place is a winkled up dirty one. The rear sight is now straight,but there is no front sight on the gun,and the tapped hole were the front sight would be screwed to the barrel looks like it is cross threaded,and all bunged up. He is just a little mad! Going to call them tomorrow and ream someone one out!

I would say being a little mad is an understatement!

These Remington people don't know how to make a gun let alone a Marlin

These Remington people don't know how to make a gun let alone a Marlin

Wow!

One story making the rounds among distributors is that when the marlin operation was acquired and moved, there was no adequate bluprinting available. Marlin employees had the manufacturing procedures in their heads and knew what to do at the various stages but, these things not being written down is the major cause of the decline in marlin quality.

Not a gunwriter, but I have a FFL, and do police supply for the most part.
Few months back a buddy asked me to order a Guide Gun. Ordered from a popular distibutor, gun comes in UPS.
Being a Marlin fan myself, I was anxious to see the new Guide Gun.
I really could not believe what was in the box.
The wood was RED. Marlin advertises that they use walnut, but it was the strangest walnut I've ever seen. Really looked cheap.
Gaps between wood and metal. Big gaps. Rear sling swivel stud drilled off center and crooked. Marlin "bullseye" off center. Polished bolt had big obvious scratches.
I really didn't want my friend to see it, but I called him when the UPS truck pulled up.
My buddy arrived within minutes. I decided that he should be the judge.
I could see the disappointment when he took it out of the box.
He said, "what do you think?" I said, "Guess we're supposed to believe this is how you get a new factory rifle nowadays"
I told him that I would send it back if he didn't want it. He bought it anyway.
Four months go by, and the same friend comes by to trade in a bunch of guns, one of which was the same Guide Gun. He said, "what will you give me for that?, I know it's used now, so I'll have to take a hit". He had never fired it.
I said, "oh, you'll take a hit, I'm giving you all your money back because you really didn't want it at all"
Well now I can't get rid of it, and my friend is looking for a nice older, high quality one.
So, looks like I'm stuck with "UGLY RED". Maybe I'll get it some new wood.
The new Marlin sucks. Give me an older Marlin anytime, especially 39A's..
Right about now, I'm hating all of the azzhole gun companies, except maybe FNH-USA and HK.

Remington people don't know how to make a gun..... That's funny...

I heard that too, smells like BS to me.
They moved the operation, reduced costs, fewer employees, more machine made parts less manual fitting, finishing. Then charge more money. We pay more, get shat on.

No, that's [bleep]' sad...as well as the truth.

Remington's entire R1 project was all set to crash and burn until a friend of mine went to the plant and straightened them out. He works for another Freedom Grope company.

Yes. Recent advice is to stay away from them until they get things worked out. If one is in the market, look for one made before plant colsure was announced.

I am sorry to hear that the Marlin name is being destroyed. I hope they get their stuff wired tight before it is completely run into the ground.

It kind of reminds me of the AMF generation of Harley Davidson's.

To the original poster, I hope your friend took photos of the rifle before he sent it back the first time, and again before it returns for more work. Be sure to make note of the serial number in the photos as well.

It is a crying shame to see two great American gun companies being undone by some bozo's who don't care about their customers or the grand and historic traditions of their companies.

Read the following thread from the Marlin forum on this site. Make sure you read to the end so you'll know the final verdict. If they can't remember to do this the product is worthless...

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5922805/336_Question#Post5922805

I won't touch a current-production Marlin. They have dropped the 444 Marlin chambering, and the big bores are in hiatus until they get QC problems fixed. This has been an ongoing rant over at Marlinowners website. The only immediate solution is as specified..find an older used one if you want a decent one.

It's truly a sad state of affairs when firearms coming from Marlin and Remington cannot be trusted to be built right.

I have a deep and abiding hatred for Cerberus/Freedom Group.

I would be afraid to shoot anything over the SAAMI 28K in one of the new Remington models.

Jayco

Awe come on. Brian Pearce recently wrote that it was just the pains of moving shop. Nothing more...

Too bad Brian Pearce couldn't do a little journalistic investigation on his own. He just ran the corporate literature in that article.

was hard up for cash a few times and almost sold the Guide Gun i bought 11 years ago......glad it never came to that, would hate to try and replace it, its one of my favorite rifles and has decent wood on it....

That is a sad statement.

I hope Marlin pulls their head out and is able to recover.

I am getting a Rossi 92 customized by Steve Young.

It is pricy but I don�t mind and I would not mind paying for a quality Marlin but I just don�t want to take a chance.


Snake