Remington has cancelled production on dang near everything with a Marlin name tag. Specifically the lever action rifles. The Savage knock-off X7 rifles, I believe are still rolling out the door. We’ve had no problem getting those. Just Lever Actions, and the Rep told us that most of the orders we had were cancelled because they not in production. This doesn’t make me very happy. The problem Remington is having is that all the guys that used to know how to build a Marlin Lever Action are all now retired or laid off or working someplace else. This is just the tip of the iceberg that I’m seeing here. They buy Marlin pretty much to get into the lever action business… and then ruin it. Yet Remington is still cranking out the Savage Clones. To me, that makes no sense. If I was Remington, I’d kill the X7 line completely and concentrate on moving Remington’s own Bolt Action rifles. But Remington can do what it wants… that’s fine. But I also don’t get why Remington has moved the Sendero rifle to the Custom Shop, which has a completely different Dealer Program. What was one of the best production guns they made, and one of the most popular out here in my area of operation… they go and hamstring it.
I can’t get the Marlin Lever Actions to sell and now the Senderos are going to be difficult… Great. No, really… You guys concentrate on getting that ACR Contract and ignore the Hunters that have made Remington what it is. That’s a good plan. Worked great for Colt.
Here’s the deal… if you guys can’t sort out production of a gun made since the 1800’s… sell Marlin to someone who can actually build the things. Springfield would be great. Lifetime warranty, aggressive marketing, customer service like Marlin has never had before, and custom shop work that’s top notch. That would give Springfield some serious Hunting chops in the industry. I’d love to see Springfield own Marlin.
I can get worked up about Lever Actions… I love them. I have always loved them. And Marlin has always been a favorite brand. Most of the deer I’ve taken was with a .44 Mag Marlin 336… So it has a solid place in my heart. And we can’t even get any of the Marlin pistol calibers. I could have sold a hundred this summer… instead, I sold none. Can’t sell it if I can’t get it. Come on Remington!
Tag Archives: Lever Action
Lever Action Reaction
There are few firearms that just give me such gratification as a lever action rifle. The elegant lines that fuse form and function with a mechanical simplicity that makes the Lever Action one of the most beautiful of all firearms. Doesn’t matter which lever you have… they are truly lovely. I find myself simply taking out my Rossi made Winchester 92 clone, just to look at it, just to feel it, just to hold it in my hands. I’ve got a lot of other guns that I like… but they don’t stick in my mind like that little 92. I’ve got my guns I use for certain purposes… and to be honest, this 92 doesn’t fall in to any of those purposes. But that’s all besides the point. I could probably very easily adopt the 92 for more serious purposes. Maybe I will. But I do prefer the right tool for the right job, shotguns, magazine fed semi-auto rifles, long range precision bolt actions. And they are all fine and good within their spheres. But if I had to have just one gun… well… that would still be an 870, but the 92 is encroaching on that in a big way.
Marlington
I think Marlin, and by that I mean Remington, needs to stop making the X7 centerfire bolt action rifles. Marlin is a Lever Action Company… they need to stick to that. They do fine Rimfires… which is fine. Remington has nothing in that market. But Remington making a Marlin branded Savage Knockoff? Feh… Why? To get that 300 dollar rifle Market? I thought they already had that with their 770. Which is total crap, but hey. It’s at least a Remington.
Now, there is really nothing wrong with the X7 rifles. It is quite good for a cheap knock-around gun for those that have a hate for Savage and refuse to buy one… so now they can buy the Marlin option, which is a Savage knockoff crossed with a Vanguard if it got drunk with ambition and delusions. Reportedly the X7’s shoot pretty good. Especially their heavy barreled .308. But why would Remington want make that, when they would rather be selling their own 700 SPS Tactical? I don’t get why they feel the need to make a product that competes with their own product. Remington needs to squelch that.
I still assert that Mossberg needs to GTFO of the Lever Action market too.
Winchester 94-22M Temptation
We have a Winchester 94-22m .22 Magnum that came in on trade. It’s sporting a nice peep sight set up, nice checkered wood stocks… really nice looking. From a distance. Up close the gun is ugly. Pitting everywhere and the wood has more dings than I’ve ever seen. Some are unfortunately too deep to fix, and wood was amazing. New, this rifle would have been stunning.
The temptation is to restore it. No collector value, that’s just gone. This would be a rescue.
More thoughts on the Tactical Lever Action
I’ve had many questions about why I picked the Rossi M92 over other rifles such as the Legacy Puma, the Marlin options, or Henry, or Uberti… etc. My selection of the Rossi example is by no means disparaging the others. They are all quite good Arms and if you have one, then it’s going to serve you well. Before I made my choice, I studied the Level Action platform very carefully, to include going through history books and talking to old cowboys (we still actually have those around here) and talking to new cowboys – The Cowboy Action Shooters. (We have a lot more of those around here) What I didn’t do was search internet gun forums past 3 minutes… because most of those were “Well, I use this so this is the best… no, I’ve not even seen any others, but this is the best because I have it.”
I selected the 92 design because of two things.
Rossi M92
Let me tell you, guys. I had a day from hell. Today just flat out sucked every which way… So I had to change the karma. Nothing works better than doing the New Gun Thing. .44 Mag is more money than .357 Mag, but I can reload pretty affordably. I like this gun. I’m happy with it. Hmm… the rest of the day sucked too… but every time some bullshit happened, I just thought, “I have a .44 Mag 92”, and that made me feel much better.
The next Tactical Lever Action Rifle
I am dead set on making another tactical lever action rifle. I think I’ve mentioned before that I am going to use a Winchester 92 type platform and I’ve settled on the Rossi example of the breed. I’m thinking 16 inches on the barrel and a scout mount for a low set red dot.
This Caliber Conundrum has me flummoxed. .44 Mag or .357 Mag. I’ve been leaning to the .357 Magnum… However as of late, I am now leaning to the .44 Magnum. Ammunition for the .44 is more expensive, but handloading for it is easy enough. I think I’m going to do a .44 mag. Out of a 16″ barrel .44 tends to gain all it’s going to get and past that it seems to go down hill.
Gun Wants
Recent message asked what guns I was thinking about getting in the future.
That’s a good question. Because there are so many awesome guns out there, and new ones coming down the pipe.