Does Marlin Still Suck?

[mr.tickle]

I am looking to re-enter the lever gun world but would like something that is made in the US and has a side loading gate. I was wanting something in 45LC. I realize that limits my options. Henry's are nice but have that weird tube loading method. Winchester is made in Japan, and of course the several Italian clones on the market. So my question is does Marlin still suck? We all have heard about the poor QC after the Freedom Group take over but has Marlin been able to clean up its act as of April 2018? Anyone here with a recent experience?

 

[mcb]

My dad and brother both bought Marlin 1895GBL in 45-70 in later 2016 and they where very nice looking and shot well too. Brother mounted a scout scope on his and has taken a deer with it. Fit and finish was very nice on those two samples I have had my hands on. I would hope there pistol caliber versions are of comparable quality. That said it's hard to beat a Winchester 92 (and the clones) in a pistol caliber for its light weight handiness.

 

[Blkhrt13]

From what I’ve seen here yes, yes they do. Buy an older rifle. One you can hold first.

 

[BigBore45]

Yes they suck. So bad in fact that the last one I seen could not even be sighted in due to piss poor quality control. The front sight was to short and loose in the dovetail

 

[adcoch1]

I would not buy a Marlin without careful inspection first. I have looked at a few recently, and they seem to be hit or miss by large margins. If you find a good one though it should be fine, but with the instability at freedom group I wouldn't bet on long term factory support.

 

[GAF]

Time to go looking in the LGS and pawn shops.
I know where there is a 1950 Marlin in 32 Winchester with an unmolested waffle top.

 

[greg_r]

I just looked at a Marlin 1895 in 44 Magnum. I did not get past the butt stock. The sling stud was mounted off center and the wood to metal fit between the stock and reciever had a gap that must of been 1/16 inch wide.

I want a long barreled lever action. Thinking about the Marlin 336 XLR, but with an MSRP of over $900, I just do not see me ordering one when the Marlins I find new in the store look so rough. I would rather take my chances with a Mossberg 464.

 

[Cokeman]

I got a 336Y lately and like it a lot. I actually got it at Walmart. I checked it over first. I mounted a scope on it and can easily blow up 2 liter bottles at 100 yards.

 

[someguy2800]

My 1895g I bought last year was really nice except for the front sight being crooked. Now that it’s fixed it’s one of my favorite guns I’ve ever had. I won’t buy another without getting to inspect it.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

They've changed the name of the company from Marlin to Hoover. That should be a clue.

 

[Axis II]

I purchased a Marlin 1895 and looked it over real well and the wood fit well, sights not bad but it has two different types of wood. Buttstock is a hardwood and forend is a softer wood about a shade and half lighter in color and also the checkering is goofed up on it too. Check out Marlinowners.com they maybe able to help a little better. I found a bunch of old marlins at cabelas today and every single one was junk but they wanted $450-550 for them but the henry's next to them looked amazing not much more.

 

[midland man]

i just bought a new marlin model 70pss the little take down semi-auto 22 rifle and I fell in love with it as it shoots super tight groups with a simmons 4x32 scope using Winchesters m-22 ammo. I loved this rifle so much 5 days after I got this one I ordered a another one and will be here next week! but this first one looks amazing and shoots great and I am glad I bought this one and the second one is on the way!!

 

[Llama Bob]

I see a lot of variations of this question on some Marlin groups I follow, and sadly the answer is that yes, they still seem to suck more frequently than they should. That doesn't mean any individual person gets a horrible gun, but it means there's way more bad ones out there than there should be. Furthermore Marlin's attempts at factory repairs frequently show they lack basic shop skills, so you can't just send it back and expect them to make it right. This is especially true of repairs for crooked sights.

I would not buy one without inspecting it by hand and looking at literally every single part. I would say the same about later era JM Marlins.

Let me be clear, I do not hate Marlin. But what they have become is not good IMO.

 

[hdwhit]

Marlin still suck?

I think it depends. A little more than a year ago, I took my youngest to get a .22 rifle to start learning to shoot. He decided he wanted a bolt action. The day we went, the LGS only had the Marlin XT-22 in stock. I looked it over very carefully and couldn't see anything wrong with it, so we bought it.

Off of a bench he can do 5-shot groups that can be covered with a dime at roughly 30 yards and by a quarter at 100 yards. He has a great deal of natural ability (it runs through my mother's side of the family, but must have skipped me), but the rifle has to be up to being exploited by that ability and the Marlin has so far been perfect.

 

[Old Dog]

I love the older Marlins; I've looked hard at a number of the new models since the move, but the look of the wood stinks (it just looks cheap, even the laminate stocks/forends), the fit/finish is often noticeably lacking, and the new finish of the receivers and barrels is simply cheap-looking ... I simply cannot bring myself to buy a new Marlin based on how the product looks these days.

 

[Demi-human]

I completely understand wanting to buy American, and applaud ones that do.

I still have much love for a Japanese Winchester though.

 

[Llama Bob]

I completely understand wanting to buy American, and applaud ones that do.

I still have much love for a Japanese Winchester though.

It's unfortunate because I'd love to buy American, but there's a giant quality gap between the Miroku Winchesters/Brownings and the Marlins. I like the Win 1886 design better than the Marlin 336/1895 design too, but that's personal preference as they both have advantages.

 

[CraigC]

They must be hit & miss but I wouldn't say they universally suck. My late model 1895 is a really nice rifle and has better fit & finish than my +20yr old Marlins.

That said, I learned a long time ago to NEVER buy a firearm, new or used, from ANY manufacturer without THOROUGHLY inspecting it. NEVER assume a new gun is exempt. I don't know how anyone buys a firearm and doesn't find obvious defects until they get it home. Blows my mind. I've dismissed in-stock guns and asked the dealer to order another just like it. It sometimes pisses them off but when asked, I show them exactly why I don't want the one they have. They can order another or I'll go somewhere that will.

It's unfortunate because I'd love to buy American, but there's a giant quality gap between the Miroku Winchesters/Brownings and the Marlins. I like the Win 1886 design better than the Marlin 336/1895 design too, but that's personal preference as they both have advantages.

Indeed!

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

They still can't mount a barrel straight. I think their trademark is "we can't our barrels".

 

[someguy2800]

To sum it up I think you could say the current company has inherited some of the greatest rifle designs ever made, they just haven’t gotten the hang of actually making them. So if you find one that has no glaring manufacturing defects, yes it will be a great rifle.

 

[herrwalther]

I last saw a "Remlin" 30-30 in a display case at a Walmart close to where I work. Can't remember if it was a 336W or 336Y. My immediate observation of the rifle is it had the ugliest and cheapest looking stock I had ever seen on a rifle. It looked like they had tried to white stain pine with painted age rings. Needless to say I was not impressed to look further.

 

[CraigC]

I last saw a "Remlin" 30-30 in a display case at a Walmart close to where I work. Can't remember if it was a 336W or 336Y. My immediate observation of the rifle is it had the ugliest and cheapest looking stock I had ever seen on a rifle. It looked like they had tried to white stain pine with painted age rings. Needless to say I was not impressed to look further.

Don’t expect much from the wood on a birch stocked budget model.

 

[someguy2800]

I last saw a "Remlin" 30-30 in a display case at a Walmart close to where I work. Can't remember if it was a 336W or 336Y. My immediate observation of the rifle is it had the ugliest and cheapest looking stock I had ever seen on a rifle. It looked like they had tried to white stain pine with painted age rings. Needless to say I was not impressed to look further.

The matte finished, birch stocked 336W is an appalling thing that should never have been made. If they can't make something look nice they should have just not bothered as it just brings down the whole brand.

 

[Llama Bob]

The matte finished, birch stocked 336W is an appalling thing that should never have been made. If they can't make something look nice they should have just not bothered as it just brings down the whole brand.

There was one of those 336Ws at the range a few months ago, and beyond just being ugly it had at least two major problems related to feeding both the loading gate and magazine tube spring and/or folower were jacked up. I felt really bad for the owner because he was new to shooting and it was his first gun and I could tell it was a big purchase for him and he wasn't rolling in cash.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

From what I heard, the tooling in the Marlin plant was pretty much clapped out when Remington bought it and all the employees that knew how to nurse the machines along had been fired. I have no sympathy for Remington, but it sounds like they were sold a bill of goods.

I don't know if they're continuing to work on the worn-out tooling, or if they've tried to convert it over to new manufacturing processes and had teething issues, but it sounds like there's reasons why most of the new Marlins have been so defective. And that's not including the management team that's focused on 90 day profits and couldn't care less about the long-term health of the company.

Hopefully they get it straightened out, because Marlin really does have some great guns to sell. I'm not a 336 fan, but the 1895s in 45-70 and the Model 60s are classics.

If you just want a 45 LC lever gun, I'd get a Rossi 92 in that caliber. For reasons known only to them, that's the only caliber they even sell the 92s in any more. They're just fantastically lightweight, fun guns. They're known for being rough from the factory and having dodgy QC, but at this point, I don't see how they would be any more of a gamble than Marlin.