New Marlin's quality

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New Marlin's quality

Post by pete1 » 28 Mar 2016, 10:32 am

Hello,

So as we all know Marlin was brought out by Remington a few years back and the story goes quality dropped, I have heard conflicting reports if there qualities improved or not since then to now, and was just wondering if any of you guys have used these guns lately and have any opinions on there quality?

Thanks
Peter
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by No1Mk3 » 28 Mar 2016, 11:42 am

G'day pete1,
Yes, the quality has improved a lot in the last few years. The balls ups from the transition period have been addressed and the prices have become more competitive. I would still have a close look at any new Marlin to make sure it wasn't NOS from 2009 to 2012/3, which should all have been sold or scrapped by now. Even the Marlin Owners Forum "Rant" section has quietened down in the last couple of years, as they begrudgingly start to accept that new REM stamped rifles are nearly as good as the old JM rifles. Cheers.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Wm.Traynor » 28 Mar 2016, 1:33 pm

My Marlin is a good one.
MarlinOwners.com can tell you an awful lot about them :)
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by GLS_1956 » 28 Mar 2016, 5:40 pm

The new Marlins are good guns. I have two Marlin 22 rifles, the first one is a Model 39A lever action that I bought back in 2000, the second is a Model 60 I bought 4 years ago after Remington had bought Marlin.

The Model 39A broke it's extractor the first trip out to the range. Can you say not fun? Yes Marlin fixed it but it was several weeks going back and forth. The Model 60 is blued with synthetic stock and it took a few hundred rounds of 22s going down range to get the action broken in, but that is common to most semiauto's. Both guns are accurate

Since the Model 60 is fitted with the synthetic stock I can't really address the question of fit but the finish is consistent over all of the gun. I bought this rifle because it was the cheapest 22 rifle in town, I paid just under $150US for the gun, including tax. Now the sad/glad part. The Model 60 has out shot every Ruger 22 rimfire it has gone against , not just 10/22s but the bolt action and the lever actions too.

Remington has admitted that there were QC problems when they took over Marlin. Mostly from disrupting the work force during the move and also from worn out machines and tooling. I have seen, a few years back, Model 336s that had poor wood to metal fit, machining marks, mostly in the interior, left unpolished, no front sight blade, uncrowned barrels and atrocious triggers. But I would also see guns that were built right. Remington addressed the problems and from what I've seen in the stores and on the range the Marlins of today are up to expected standards. I was a little hesitant to buy the Model 60 when I did, all of the rumors, but I'm glad I did. I hope to add a Marlin or two to the collection.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by David Brown » 30 Mar 2016, 4:06 pm

My wife had a go at a 444 Marlin on the weekend. Off hand 30m and hitting the gong……..now she wants one for mothers day.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Oldbloke » 30 Mar 2016, 6:22 pm

David Brown wrote:My wife had a go at a 444 Marlin on the weekend. Off hand 30m and hitting the gong……..now she wants one for mothers day.


You lucky bastard
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by David Brown » 30 Mar 2016, 9:39 pm

Oldbloke wrote:
David Brown wrote:My wife had a go at a 444 Marlin on the weekend. Off hand 30m and hitting the gong……..now she wants one for mothers day.


You lucky bastard



She says I am lucky!

Here is shot number 5, she was having so much fun she lost count.

https://youtu.be/SI-9M4oyOLQ
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Harts » 05 Apr 2016, 3:28 pm

David Brown wrote:My wife had a go at a 444 Marlin on the weekend. Off hand 30m and hitting the gong……..now she wants one for mothers day.


Just be happy she doesn't want fugly garden gnomes or something :lol:
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Tiger650 » 05 Feb 2017, 8:21 pm

Be grateful that i am too old and buggered to go North and charm that wonderful girl away from you LOL.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Gaz52 » 05 Feb 2017, 11:47 pm

My XS7 .222 Rem is all that I could ask for, for the $$ spent . Ordinary synthetic stock but great trigger, with no operational issues.
Some owners would prefer a detachable magazine or at least a hinged floor plate , but I can live the 4+1 fixed mag which cannot be lost or left at home . I have thought about a Boydes stock , but I am a tight ass and the rifle does the job just fine as it is .
Apparently Marlin did not offer the XS7 chambered in .222Rem for sale in the USA . Their loss I reckon.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by in2anity » 06 Feb 2017, 6:56 am

pete1 wrote:Hello,

So as we all know Marlin was brought out by Remington a few years back and the story goes quality dropped, I have heard conflicting reports if there qualities improved or not since then to now, and was just wondering if any of you guys have used these guns lately and have any opinions on there quality?

Thanks
Peter


I bought a new 336W chambered in 30/30 in 2014 - not sure when it was manufactured. Not once has it malfunctioned after 2500+ rounds, and it's now silky smooth (was a bit gritty at the start). I strongly suggest replacing the trigger with something like the "Wild West Trigger Happy" kit though - those factory triggers are HEAVY :( Also replace that factory dovetail ASAP; it's pretty lack-luster and quite hard to use (with any degree of accuracy) - i.e. a real "truck gun" sight. On mine I have a Williams FP-336 aperture receiver and a Lyman 17AHB .404" front, this combo works a treat and can be very accurate (if you do your part). Those two mods alone turn a good, practical rifle into a real shooter.

My only complaint with my 336W that it's finicky when it comes to ammo; Remington and Winchester factory grouped to 3moa+ :cry: Rather than just defaulting to your classic 150gr, I get the feeling those new Remington barrels like a heavier projectile; ~160-170gr seems like the sweet spot; be sure to give these a look-in at some stage during your testing. I've got my handloads down to consistent <=2moa now, but it's been a long and arduous road getting here; ping me if you want more tips about accurazing, as there's many many areas you can tweak to get her to group tighter.

If you just wanna shoot factory (but accuracy is important to you), try and order in some Federal http://www.federalpremium.com/ammunitio ... ifle/3030b through your LGS. Else if you hand-load, try the Sierra 170 grainers - they seem to work pretty well.
Last edited by in2anity on 06 Feb 2017, 8:11 am, edited 3 times in total.
At what point does lack of maintenance become patina?
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by straightshooter » 06 Feb 2017, 7:34 am

This pre Remington and post Remington business seems to me to be well overdone.
I bought a new 444S in the mid 70's and it has never missed a beat. Well it did have a 'little' problem, the 'bullseye' in the stock fell out and now the recoil pad is starting to perish.
A new 44 magnum bought a year or two later, still in the 70's, has had a number of problems the most noticeable being when the front sight fell off once when out hunting. It seemed the screw threads had been stripped in the factory and held in place by some kind of goop until it let go.
I have owned and sold other pre Remington Marlins over the years, some of which had minor easily rectified issues.
My issues don't seem to be too different to some of the post Remington complaints.
So I think some of the complaints I have read about post Remington Marlins are over relatively trivial issues which, although not acceptable, are consistent with the sort of quality you might expect from relatively cheap firearms. Even though they are not so cheap in Australia due mainly to a limited supply versus demand.
Now if you think I am being a little hard on Marlin, the worst Winchester I have owned, also in 44 magnum, had a barrel with a bore so crooked the rear sight protruded half way out of it's dovetail if you wanted to set it correctly to shoot straight. The only fix was to fit a Lyman peep sight.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Wobble » 06 Feb 2017, 9:55 am

The old Marlington saga :lol:
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by in2anity » 06 Feb 2017, 2:17 pm

Wobble wrote:The old Marlington saga :lol:

Don't you mean Remlin? :sarcasm:
At what point does lack of maintenance become patina?
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Oldbloke » 06 Feb 2017, 6:33 pm

Gaz52 wrote:My XS7 .222 Rem is all that I could ask for, for the $$ spent . Ordinary synthetic stock but great trigger, with no operational issues.
Some owners would prefer a detachable magazine or at least a hinged floor plate , but I can live the 4+1 fixed mag which cannot be lost or left at home . I have thought about a Boydes stock , but I am a tight ass and the rifle does the job just fine as it is .
Apparently Marlin did not offer the XS7 chambered in .222Rem for sale in the USA . Their loss I reckon.


Yep, same here. I have two. A 223 & 3006. Both shoot just under moa with hand loads.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Gaz52 » 06 Feb 2017, 7:56 pm

My only concern is the replacement parts situation in the event of a component failure . Loss of the bolt or an extractor failure are about the worst that could happen, possible but highly unlikely I think. Mechanical simplicity usually equals functional reliability in my experience.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by juststarting » 06 Feb 2017, 9:50 pm

Pete1, which model?

I got 1894 44REM MAG - I had a jam every 100 rounds or so, where the cartridge would hop out of the tube and lodge itself under the lifter. Tested with 300 rounds. Pretty bad, had to unscrew lever, pop the round out and reassemble. Cost me around $120 to get it to the gun smith and have parts polished and issue corrected. This is known as a 'Marlin jam'. After the fix the thing works flawlessly (250 more, no issues what so ever). The sight - I am not a fan, so I changed to peep sight, but that's a personal preference.

A friend owns a 30-30 and that thing is great. No issues what so ever. But he scoped it, so the rifle is dead to me.

Hope it helps.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by straightshooter » 07 Feb 2017, 7:26 am

juststarting wrote:Pete1, which model?

This is known as a 'Marlin jam'. .


So that is what it is called.
It happens when you operate the lever too slowly and to use computer talk it seems to be an 'undocumented feature'.
I have only owned 44 mag model 94's so I don't know if this problem also happens with pipsqueak calibers.
The later model 94's seem to have a stronger lever detent which kind of encourages you to operate the lever briskly which obviates the problem.
I never had the problem with my 444 or a now long gone Glenfield 30-30.
I suspect that even with your 'fixed' 94 if you operate the lever slowly enough you will still be able to provoke the problem.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by juststarting » 07 Feb 2017, 8:17 am

Yeah, mine is late 2015 model, I emailed Marlin to ask that... So who knows. Like you said, I have noticed that jam happened when the lever wasn't cycled fast enough. It's like, you rack it and immediately feel that something is about to happen when it's not done quickly or in one smooth motion.

After gun smith, I have tested that - the issue seems to be gone.
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by Supaduke » 07 Feb 2017, 10:25 am

Cough....Shoulda bought a Henry........ Cough
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Re: New Marlin's quality

Post by juststarting » 07 Feb 2017, 10:27 am

I love my gremlin thank you very much
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