We got in a couple new Marlins from the factory. One of them is a big loop Guide Gun. Guys, I have to tell you… it looks good. None of the shoddy fitting like in the past. None of the shabby wood like in the past. Everything on it looks and feels good. Like a Marlin should. And this isn’t just one shippment. The last one looked good too, so this isn’t a fluke event.
Now, don’t hold me to it, and don’t hold your breath…. but I’m hopeful that Marlin has fixed their QC issues and is now making good guns again.
I always thought Marlin made a quality product. Is that not true? What QC issues were there? Just the wood choice and the quality of the assembly?
Howdy-
sad to say, they had problems before the transition ( which is likely why the transition became necessary ) I had purchased ( new) a .45 Colt CB for SASS shooting- moderately hard to cycle, but was fuctioned out of the box. Bought another in 38-55 keyholed with everything , fed poorly when it fed at all. Ditched on that one. A couple of years ago, got a 44 mag- gritty, rough operation when empty, and proved itself to be a single shot- would attempt to ( as Marlin puts it ) “let out two” cartridges if more than one was in the magazine, thereby locking the gun up and rendering it useless. The fit of the rear of the closed bolt to the receiver was so poor, cuts from the sharp machined edges were the consequence of handling the darn thing. Oh yeah- I sent it back to them; damn thing should have never been put out for sale that way. Thought they had a lot of nerve when they put out their “deluxe” models- these were reputed to work right out of the box. Imagine that!
They had issues after the transition as well. But it looks like it’s all getting ironed out.
Read pobrian’s comment. Yeah, they had all kinds of issues and it was heartbreaking for me.
Quality went in the dumper during the transfer to Remington.
I REALLY hope you are right George.
Jim
Jim, if you saw this Big Loop I have in the store right now, and said, “Hey, Og… let me see that Marlin.” I’d hand it to you. And you would never hand it back. You would toss your ID and Visa over your shoulder as you ran out of the store heading to the Range.
Just tell me that it isnt an ABL.
Jim
I sure hope so. I know several people who are looking for the Model 1894CSS. Just waiting for it to get back in production again.
I really hope they return to producing quality, nicely fitted and finished rifles. I’ve always been a Marlin guy and it’s been hard reading about all the problems with quality of late. I know they didn’t take along any of the previous skilled employees when they moved the factory and I’m sure it is taking some time to get the new workforce up to speed on building leverguns.
Regarding the older guns with “issues”, I bought a used Model 60 four years ago that would fire a couple of rounds correctly, then, well, not. Cycling the action might or might not get the internal hammer back in the game. Emptying the tube then reloading the gun from scratch would get it back in action, but then it started over again. 4-5 rounds go bang, then, nothing.
Not sure of the age, probably 1990s manufacture, but that’s just a guess.
Turned out to be a defective sear from the factory. I had it apart enough times trying to figure it out that I determined what was wrong just from looking at disassembly/reassembly photos. My sear didn’t look right compared to the ones in the photos.
Should never have had that defective sear in it in the first place.
On the plus side, I ended up with a good scoped plinker with what was probably a very low round count for a little over $100, replacement parts included.