What's going on with Marlin?

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Howdy DOC.

 

About 3+ years back, I worked on 2 of the  original Remington issued Marlins in .38/.357 (Remlins as most of us refer to them).

 

They were pretty bad.   Bad enough that I swore I wouldn't work on another.

 

Then a friend of mine ask me to work on his Remlin .45 Colt.

It was different.  It wasn't such a nightmare to fix up like the 2 previous rifles in the .38/.357 caliber.

This same friend has a daughter who was an employee of Marlin in the Carolina's.  Two summers back, the company sold some of their employees some new Marlins in .38/357 with (according to her) the assurance that these newer issued .38/.357 were, and I quote... "Made Right".

 

In reality, it was later learned that some of these newer issued .38/.357's were some of the returned Marlins from previous customers that Marlin could not fix.

And they sold some of them to employees for $300.

 

Now the rest of the story..........

My friends daughter ask me to slick it up.  So, out of kindness of my heart and curious of their quality, I checked it out.

HORRIBLE.

When I first tried to run 2 dummy rounds thru it, it gave me the Marlin Jam.

Timing was horrible.  It wouldn't even feed the first round because of the timing jam.

I documented 9 QA issues inside that rifle and shared the info with her dad.

There was NO WAY that particular rifle was ever cycled with dummy or live rounds at the factory.

 

End of the story.....

I fixed her rifle, set up the timing correctly and corrected all the issues inside.    She now owns a really nice, fast, slick and reliable Remlin in .38/.357

But it took a lot of patience on my part to stick with it and make it work.

 

OPINION:

Based on some comments from folks I know on the SASS Wire, the .45 calibers seem to be o.k. rifles that appear to serve the owners well, although there isn't an abundance of owners who share their experiences with the .45 Colt caliber.

But I have yet to hear anyone say anything positive about the .38/.357 calibers.

I've worked on 3 of them in that caliber and everyone of them were plagued with multiple internal mechanical issues.

My opinion is that Remlin and their experts don't seem to know and understand the timing factors that make the Marlin run reliably.

 

If you can find a good JM branded Marlin, that would be your best investment.

 

Good luck.

 

..........Widder

 

 

 

[Jefro, SASS#69420]

18 hours ago, Griff said:

.   Today's best leverguns come from Japan.  

Be nice if they and/or Uberti would start making a 94......heck maybe even Henry When ever Marlin or others start to make them again it would be nice if they talked to the Marlin man first to build a good reliable lever action from the gitgo.   Good Luck

 

12 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

I fixed her rifle, set up the timing correctly and corrected all the issues inside.    She now owns a really nice, fast, slick and reliable Remlin in .38/.357

 

But it took a lot of patience on my part to stick with it and make it work.

 

My opinion is that Remlin and their experts don't seem to know and understand the timing factors that make the Marlin run reliably.

 

.........Widder

 

[Straight Stock]

On 3/11/2018 at 6:50 PM, Doc Shapiro said:

I'm looking to get a model '94 (CB in .357) for my son. Nothing is available.  What's going on with Marlin and when will rifles be available?

As things currently are, you'll have to find a used JM stamped model (around a grand) or settle for a different model/manufacturer or caliber. With the help of Widder and OLG, I finally got my Remlin in 44 mag to work...but the work and effort that went into it was tiresome. I found there is a difference between slow fire and shooting it SASS style (hard and fast). Anyway, to this day I am still hesitant on that lever jamming on a round, and as such, am just too gun-shy to run it hard and fast. I have no such inhibitions on my Rossi 92, so I am just damaged that way. My remlin is still picky about bullet profile as well, and I just may sell the thing off.

[Lone Spur Jake SASS #7728]

Don't hold your breath Doc.  If they ever come out with a 1894 Cowboy .357 (20" octagon barrel smooth stock) like the 45LC they are making now, the price will floor you.  DEALER cost on the 45LC Cowboy is about $100.00 more than the 1895 Cowboy 26" 45-70.  I know because I work in a gun shop and could not believe the wholesale prices of both guns. 

[Doc Shapiro]

I'll likely just end up getting another '73.

[Hollywood]

From the 2018 SHOT show it sounds like Marlin is getting ready to come back into the market with their .357 MAG '94's.  As most know, they pulled these off the market some time after the Remington acquisition and move of the manufacturing facilities.  Seems the guns were just no good, and Marlin at the time couldn't figure out how to build them right.  But now maybe they have (or maybe not?) and they will be bringing them back to the market.  I hope that they are good!!!

 

Check out the video posted by KYGUNCO here:

 

 

[Cowboy Junky]

On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 10:01 PM, Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903 said:

They were so bad after Remington bought Marlin they had to quit making them, I worked on a couple that were rough as a cob. I haven't handled one since they started back, hopefully they got the problems worked out.

 

Randy

I know that is correct as well. It burns me up that we can't get a quality firearm made in the USA.........never thought I'd see that. 

[Lawman Mays]

On 3/12/2018 at 6:07 PM, Griff said:

Today's best leverguns come from Japan.

And, Italy - Uberti.

[LostVaquero]

2 hours ago, Cowboy Junky said:

I know that is correct as well. It burns me up that we can't get a quality firearm made in the USA.........never thought I'd see that. 

HRAC makes very nice rifles fit and finish equal or better than most anything out of Japan or Italy

[Cowboy Junky]

3 hours ago, LostVaquero said:

HRAC makes very nice rifles fit and finish equal or better than most anything out of Japan or Italy

Sorry you are correct.........I should have said fast SASS rifles. 

[Griff]

6 hours ago, Lawman Mays said:

And, Italy - Uberti.

If it takes work to make 'em work right... they ain't quality.    None of the 3 I own will feed SAAMI spec ammo.  In fact, all three will only accept ammo that's some .022" shorter than spec; one will accept ammo that's .019" shorter, and the third will accept ammo that .008" shorter.  I've had 4 new Winchester 94s, purchased new, top eject that have not required any work to operate properly.  The only recent, newly purchased rifles that I've had that were smooth and operated correctly out of the box have been Miroku's.  I won't own a AE version, so I don't know from personal experience that those from Miroku also correctly, right from the factory.   But, given the experience I have had with their 1885, 1886 & 1892 versions, I would guess those are might good also.

 

I have fired a few Henry rifles.  One of their .22s and a couple of the .30-30s.  The .22 was nice as was one of the .30-30s.  The other, not so much.  I'm not a big fan of Marlins either... so no surprise I'd like one w/o a loading gate even less.