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The Decline of Marlin


Doc Fill 'Em 67797

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Was at the gunshow today. As usual looking for Cowboy guns. I see a rack with several leverguns. Some Rossi 92s and Marlins. He had two Marlin 1894 44 Mag carbines. One was blued, made by Marlin, had the JM stamp on the barrel. The other was stainless, made by Remington, had REP on the barrel. At first glance they look about the same. Look closer, I thought the Remington-made one looked cheap. The checkering on the stock had no grip, it was just scratched into the wood. The checkering on the other you could feel had points to it. Marlins have always been stiff until slicked but the stainless one seemed really rough. Overall it just looked bad compared to the way they used to be. The latest model Marlins were not great, but this made them look good.

 

I know it's all about the bottom-line, but it's a shame to see something that was good and respected turned to junk.

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I have recently been looking for a .44 mag lever gun for scabbard carry and all the new ones seem to be made of pot steel and the quality is terrible. I understand the actions will be heavy from the factory but the ones I have handled are horrible. It is a quite sad. I am looking for an older one in the cowboy design but no one is letting them go. I am sure one will turn up...

 

Remember the Vet's on Memorial Day :FlagAm:

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REM needs to hire Adirondack Jack to run its Marlin line.

 

AJ is already up there in NY and REM would be getting a dern good employee who could straighten out their mess.

 

 

..........Widder

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While I am not personally fond of the Marlin (I am a southpaw), I do sympathize with those who are fans of the gun. while they may not appeal to me personally, I have always acknowledged that they were well made rifles, and to hear of them declining in quality is indeed a sad thing.

 

And I know how the Marlin afficanados feel. I watched the steady deterioration of the Winchester 94 that started in 1983, with it getting worse seemingly every year until the plug was pulled. It's sad to see a once great gun, and gun maker, fall by the wayside.

 

I wish it didn't happen, but it does.

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Had 3 on the bench for awhile now, 2 were bought new and out of the box we couldnt get them to function, 1 of them you had to put the stock under your leg and pull up on lever to get the lever open. When disassembled we found it was put together as cast, very very little machining. The used one a 1970 centenial is amazing, like working on a piece of jewelry. Its a shame, but hopefully and soon quality will improve but because of economics and changes in Mfg practices they will never be the same as "older" ones. just my 2cents worth. They still can be made to run tho

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Marlin.... now owned by Remington.... which is owned by The Freedom Group.... which is owned by Cerberus Capitol.... largely invested in by Jacob Merkin.... who's a close associate of one Bernie Madoff.

 

I don't think they're much of a gun company anymore - investment and marketing seems to be their major focus. :(

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Shame. I was just looking at buying a new 94CSS for the wife.

 

But after reading this and some other post saying the same thing.

I got ot wonder if I should.

 

Would be sending it to LongHunter for his work. But are they so bad that even

he may not be able to make it a good race gun for her????

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They have the POTENTIAL to be great guns again. Remington IS a gun company, and in the same building make Bolt guns, shotguns of all types, 1911 pistols, AR type rifles, etc, etc, etc under Remington, H&R, Bushmaster, and I dunno what else brands. Now they have to learn to make leverguns. I suspect they will, OR, if they don't get their act together and sales plummet and the reputation of the rifles is ruined, BIG GREEN could decide to dump em. I dunno what will happen, but I expect they will try hard to get it right. Meanwhile, we'll see the used market take off like wild fire. There are FAR more existing rifles that have never seen CAS use, have not been modded and maybe have been shot little if at all out there than those that have been shot hard in CAS...... I expect em to draw big bucks on GB, etc.

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..

 

Really sad tu see,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, wish Marlins was still made by folks that understood lever-actions.....

 

Jabez Cowboy

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Was at the gunshow today. As usual looking for Cowboy guns. I see a rack with several leverguns. Some Rossi 92s and Marlins. He had two Marlin 1894 44 Mag carbines. One was blued, made by Marlin, had the JM stamp on the barrel. The other was stainless, made by Remington, had REP on the barrel. At first glance they look about the same. Look closer, I thought the Remington-made one looked cheap. The checkering on the stock had no grip, it was just scratched into the wood. The checkering on the other you could feel had points to it. Marlins have always been stiff until slicked but the stainless one seemed really rough. Overall it just looked bad compared to the way they used to be. The latest model Marlins were not great, but this made them look good.

 

I know it's all about the bottom-line, but it's a shame to see something that was good and respected turned to junk.

 

I hope you take the time to contact Remington and let them know of your experience with the Marlin.

 

It is a new product to them and won't get improved if they don't get feedback letting them know what the problems are!

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Two weeks ago my pard went to Cabellas and bought a new Marlin 1894 in 45 LC to use in Wild Bunch. When he got it home he looked in the barrel and sees what looks like a piece of metal that resembles a piece of arc welding rod stuck to the inside of the bore about one inch from the end of the barrel. He took it back to Cabellas and they exchanged it for a new rifle. So the next day he takes it to a SASS match and the new rifle he exchanged for will not fire. It has very light indentations on the primers.So the next day he takes it to one of the local SASS gunsmiths and he works on it for over an hour and it still will not fire. He keeps working on it and finds internal parts dragging aganst each other and not letting the hammer hit the firing pin hard enough to fire the primer. He then has to do some grinding on internal parts to get the gun to finally shoot. Kudos,to the gunsmith for not giving up as my pard took it to the Wild Bunch match yesterday and it functioned OK. Needless to say Marlins are not my pards first choice in the future.

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Well the Barrel is Accurate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, That's bout all I can say is right on the 3 I have seen so far ....

 

 

 

 

Jabez Cowboy

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