Call Marlin for the build date
Give Remlin a call and they'll tell you when it was made based on the serial number. I bought a new 1895 SBL this past summer and it had quite a few defects, including a split forearm, buggered forearm tip tenon screw, scratched tenon tip, marred receiver, scratched and poorly machined magazine tube plug, eroded butt pad, and poor internal machining/finishing. Did I mention it was new (2016 manufacture according to Remlin)? Customer support was pretty decent about sending me replacement parts at no cost, but it took a bit of persistence before they got everything correct (they kept sending me blued parts for a stainless gun and just couldn't figure out what a forearm tip tenon was). Remlin had initially asked me to send the rifle back to them for repairs, but I declined because I figured they had already done enough damage. The good news is that it functions and shoots well and the sights were lined up correctly, which I understand a lot of folks have problems with. QC ain't what it used to be unfortunately.