Marlin Damage Control?

[Gtek]

Just picked a new Rifle Jan 2012 magazine. The State of Marlin Firearms page 28, and it appears to me IMHO they are feeling it. I will admit at fifty I am probably a little cynical. The writer tells you how some of the "experienced " employees CHOSE to retire, much of the tooling was replaced with more modern and efficient CNC machinery, which potentially will yeild a better product. This is the one that made me run up the bull**** flag- Programs and blueprints had to be rewritten, as many of the drawings were dated back 60 plus years and were not suitable for CNC tooling. 2011 minus 60 equals 1951. Did some one make .020" not .020" since then? Opinions are like----- everybody has one. Mine- I pick apart everyone I handle and tell everyone who is interested in the Marlin, run, run, run, back to 07 or earlier to have a chance at happy. I have more than a couple, love them, yes. I hate to see greed win, the fine people whose lives have been changed for an increased profit. I guess we should get used to it. Gtek

[Dutch4122]

I was disappointed in Brian Pierce for authoring that article. He's been pretty much the only reason I'd kept my subscription to Rifle/Handloader active. Now I'm not so sure.

[jblee10]

Haven't seen the article yet. But Marlin is a company that I do not want to see die. I've never been a fan of their 22's. But I've had a couple older 30-30's and bought a new 444 about 6 years ago. I had to work on the extractor a little to get it to work the way I wanted, but I still think it is a great gun.

[9.3X62AL]

I don't think I've seen any Marlin products from the new facility, but the concerns about QC caused me to go Miroku/Win 92 for a 44 Magnum levergun recently. It cost more, but I couldn't be happier with fit, finish, and overall initial quality. NOW--if the &%$# doctors would get outta my grill, maybe I could SHOOT the thing and really enjoy it.

Ahem.

Marlin better understand that they are NOT the only lever rifle builder "out there", and that consumers have expectations of the finished products. Fall short in a significant way, and you'll be history.

[6pt-sika]

I pick apart everyone I handle and tell everyone who is interested in the Marlin, run, run, run, back to 07 or earlier to have a chance at happy.

Outta the 25+ Marlin's I own at present ALL but ONE were made before 1976 !

And I wouldn't have the one from 2001 if I didn't wanna shoot 400 grainers in a 444 and needed a fast twist ballard rifled barrel !

[rtracy2001]

Having to redraft drawings for use with new equipment is quite common and has little to do with the actual toleance and everything to do with the order of operations and the format of print.

CNC machines require that a dedicated electronic "model" of the part be created, usually in a 3D type environment. Dimensions must be referenced not only from the correct feature (reference) but in the right order. With a flesh and blood machinist you can give him a paper print, and he will generally choose the order of operations that best suits his technique to make the part, stopping periodically to check the part against the print, and maybe repositioning the part or changing from a mill to a lathe and back. CNC machines can't do that, they have to have a program (made by their flesh and blood operator) that will allow the machine to make the part without once stopping to check dimensions or (in an ideal situation) adjust how the part is held in the machine. Once you have this model and program the CNC machine can produce high quality parts faster and with fewer rejects than a traditional machinist. No the part won't have the same love or pride of workmanship, but it will funtion.

[frnkeore]

I too, hope Marlin will survive. But, it doesn't look good. And yes, I'm sure a lot of the staff were layed off permantly because of the move, I'm sure some quit because they were told they'd have to take salary cuts and the same with the retiries.

But, this is the way it is in big business, ONLY the dollar counts and quaility is second!!! Queeze the employee and quality to get those big bonuses

Frank

[MGySgt]

Anytime a company moves from point A to point B a good portion of the employees do not move with the company - Why??? - They don't want to move - they have lived in that area all their life (no matter age) and while the company has offered them the same job at the same pay they don't want to move away from family and friends.

Seen it more times than I want to remember - good people that MAY be making a bad decision in today's environment.

Just my $.02 worth!

[1Shirt]

It will be interesting to see what time proves. Right now it is all conjecture.
1Shirt!

[hornsurgeon]

once again an article is written to sell products, not to do an honest evaluation. if i wanted that i would watch infomercials

[starmac]

Anytime a company moves from point A to point B a good portion of the employees do not move with the company - Why??? - They don't want to move - they have lived in that area all their life (no matter age) and while the company has offered them the same job at the same pay they don't want to move away from family and friends.

Seen it more times than I want to remember - good people that MAY be making a bad decision in today's environment.

Just my $.02 worth!

I was in the market for a new pickup in 76 and wanted a ford. I looked at some that had obvious problems. A friend bought one with a terrible rattle, that turned out to be a coke bottle. A salesman friend of mine told me I should wait a year, it seemed ford had moved one of their plants that built the pickups, and many of the employees didn't want to make the move and did all kind of things to hurt ford.
I had friends that were mechanics, that claimed they found lifters upside down and when they would pull the valley pan it would have obcenities painted on the bottom side.
I have wandered if marlin hadn't had some of these problems, as it seems some of their problems have come from the old facility.

[MGySgt]

I have wandered if marlin hadn't had some of these problems, as it seems some of their problems have come from the old facility.

It could very well be - lots of bitterness when a company closes and moves away. Doesn't matter if the offers were there to move with the company or not.

Most people don't like change - and when you have a place where your grand paw and dad worked, now you are working there up and leaves - there is a lot of resentment from the employees.

[ohiochuck]

Certainly hope Marlin survies and comes back better!

[uscra112]

Moving production out of Connecticut to ANOTHER unionized plant is borderline insanity. Furthermore, the Ilion union is in its' own internal turmoil due to it being a division of..... (wait for it)..... The United MINE Workers. http://www.topix.com/forum/city/ilio...LDF95#comments

The failure to move to a right-to-work state will sink the whole enterprise.

And having been in the machine tool and process control industries most of my career, and having had Ilion on my itinerary many, many times, I wanna tell ya that Ilion is not a hotbed of manufacturing competence. Another Rust Belt town whose intelligent young people flee as soon as possible.

[northmn]

As to the comment about not seeing a new Marlin from the new plant. A sales associate from a local sporting goods store handed me on. It was pretty rough, and should not have been on the floor.

DP

[JIMinPHX]

CNC machines require that a dedicated electronic "model" of the part be created, usually in a 3D type environment.

...If you are generating code from a post processor. If you write your G-code by hand (like I used to do) then you can just look at an old fashioned print & start coding.

[9.3X62AL]

As to the comment about not seeing a new Marlin from the new plant. A sales associate from a local sporting goods store handed me on. It was pretty rough, and should not have been on the floor.

DP

Sorry to read this, sir.

[Chris Smith]

I bought a brand new 336W a few weeks ago and all I can say is the quality seemed fine till I shot it. It feeds and extracts perfect but the best groups I got at 100 yards was in the 5 inch range. I tried cast, jacketed and factory ammo and it will not put two bullets even close to each other. Nothing is consistant. In a bit of bragging on myself I am not a bad shot. I have a 79 vintage 1895 in 45-70 that I have had since I was a teenager and it will put three rounds in a cloverleaf at 100 yards. For any hunting rifle to shoot a best group of 5 inches, off a rest with the forend supported by my left hand, is just not good. Especially since it is brand new. I'm not turned off Marlin's but somewhere along the line something got messed up.

[Gray Fox]

Just for grins, in the current real estate market, I'm sure I could find some kind of job loccally looong before I could ever move and sell this house, and I'm in a "good" neighborhood. This probably had lots to do with the number of employees who stayed where they were. Sometimes the most obvious reason is the correct one. Where you folks live may be different, of course.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

When did sales clerks become "Sales Associates?" Associates describe someone you associate with; and I would wager a yankee dollar that the store manager is not associating with any of the employees unless they are younger and female.