New Remlin!

[Rick Hodges]

I have to laugh at those who complain about the fit and finish of the Remlins...have they never seen a Marlin manufactured in the last 20 yrs.? I have a 1895 GSS made in the mid-late 90's (??). The wood is beautiful with some remarkable figure, but the finish and fit leaves a lot to be desired. The metal finish is average at best. The action needed cleaning and smoothing as did the trigger. I have reworked 4 other Marlins to clean up the action and trigger for friends. I have not seen the new stuff, but the older stuff was no great shakes.

They are still solid guns...but pre'64 Model 70's they are not.

[750k2]

I have not seen a company change that resulted in a better product in
40 yrs of trigger pullin - or for that matter even without a co. change.
Sad but true.
New and improved sure seems to be a myth to me

[W.R.Buchanan]

750K2: look at the New Model 70's that FN is producing under the Winchester name.

These guns are light years beyond anything that Winchester ever made.

My bro in law has one and the fit and finish on the gun is excellent and all for $800. The gun is a .308 lightweight and consistantly will put 3 shots into .5 " at 200 yards using his reloads.

And since he was taught to reload by me 2 years ago, it is obvious that it is the gun doing the work and not some miracle ammo.

My Browning Citori XT trap gun is far superior to any B25 Made in Belgium as far as utility goes. The typical B25 is worn out by 25K rounds, but I have seen many Citoris with over 100K on them and not even had the springs changed out. Made in Japan my Citori is, and it is one of the most popular guns in competative trapshooting.

Here's what you need to take away from this conversation. "Change is Inevitable"

To think that the technology we have now is not going to produce a better product than the technology from 50 years ago is just not going to win any prizes.

The point is that you can still buy things that were made the old fashioned way it's just they are going to cost you alot more due to the high cost of the master craftsmen used to produce said products. Look at the cost of custom guns, we are talking tens of thousands, and they really won't do much better at anything than generic guns of today. They look better, but looks don't make bullets go where they're supposed to. Nice barrels do !

I have bought quite a few guns in the last 10 years and most of them have been new product.

2 Marlins 1894 (05) and 1895 (07) required extensive rework and refinish before they could even be shot. This was before Remington came along, and the recent mfg'd guns I saw were better fit and finish than the older ones I bought by a longshot.

I have bought 2 Glocks which function perfectly right out of the box and I shoot them both frequently. These guns did not even exist before 1980 something?

My Ruger Gunsite Carbine is my most shot gun currently, and it is an absolute joy to shoot. My Mini 14 (2006 mfg) is so much better than earlier guns it is pathetic. One minor change to the gas system and a few add ons and this gun is a consistant 1.5" performer with any ammo.

I've been doing guns for over 40 years too, and can understand what you are saying,,, I just don't agree with it.

But in the end, neither one of our opinions matters a whole lot in the greater scheme of things. It would seem that we are going to get, what we get,,, and we can either like it or lump it.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Randy

[geargnasher]

FWIW the beauty of my 1966 336 .30-30 is entirely on the inside. Several thousand rounds have smoothed it up, but it was pretty slick when my grandfather gave it to me 30 years ago along with the remaining 13 rounds from the only box of ammo the little carbine had ever known. He also gave me the rust pits from 15+ years of sitting in a closet with a dirty bore, but it still shoots fine after firelapping. I've had it apart numerous times for cleaning and never did a thing but oil it and grease a few places. The outside, however is just plain horrible. There are saw marks from the blank still visible on one side of the forearm, the buttstock is half sapwood, I think they forgot to sand it at all, there are wavy places, the top and bottom of the reciever look to be sandblasted, and the polish on the sides only got about half the grinding marks polished out out. I don't think they polished the outside of the barrel at all. Ugly on the outside, but a heart of gold. What does one expect for an economy gun?

Gear

[btroj]

Butit shoots well, doesn't it Gear? And that is what I care about most of all.
My Marlins all started out a bit rough. I figure that if I shoot them enough over a few years they will slick up just fine.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Gear I have 5 of them and have worked 4 with instructions from Leverguns.com. The 5th one is on hold for a takedown conversion.

Both of the new ones I bought were so rough they had to be re-worked just to be shootable. The 1895 was attrocious, and my 39 AS took better than 15 hours to make run smooth,and I'm still not to where I want to be with it. I can't stand the rebounding hammer and the only ways to get rid of it are to find a ahmmer and trigger from an older gun or somehow file a half cock notch into the existing hammer.

I refinished the stocks on all of those guns and it made a world of difference, and I posted a whole thread on this process. The 1895 is standing next to me and looks real nice despite the sap wood in the stock that I stained to match the rest.

What people don't seem to get is that Marlin rifles are generic guns. They are working guns , and as such they just aren't going to have the fit and finish of a more expensive firearms.

You can't compare a Marlin to a Winchester. One costs $500 and the other costs $1000. hence it should be twice as good. You get what you pay for and I would submit that a $1000 Marlin would be a very nice gun indeed. In fact I think it would be a nicer gun than the Winchester!

The reason I like Marlin Rifles is because I can "Work with them" they are inexpensive and so I can advance my gunsmithing hobby with out fear of ruining something that can't inexpensively be replaced.

The problem with most of the naysayers, other than they are mostly FOS!, is that they just don't view these guns in the proper light. I have never seen a Factory Marlin that was anything other than a working gun.

What exactly do you expect?

Randy

[smoked turkey]

IMO Randy and Gear have a good handle on this issue that we all need to grab ahold of, and its this: Marlins are working guns and not show guns. Although I'll admit to really liking the feel and look of walnut and blue steel. Thanks for the reminders.

[TXGunNut]

My goodness, Randy! Marlins aren't purty? You're hurting my feelings and I've seen at least one of yours and liked what I saw. They're working guns, I'll give you that. They're not fancy or highly polished. Mine may not be the prettiest guns in my safe but they get out more than the pretty ones. The Guide Gun is as accurate as most bolt guns and the 336 is no slouch. Both are relatively new, started out fairly smooth and get better every year. The more I shoot and hunt with them the better they look to me.
I'm thinking we'll be seeing some rather handsome Remlins in the next few years, sure hope so, these two need some company.

[W.R.Buchanan]

This is what I'd really like to see. These guns were redone by Turnbull. The first is a 1894 takedown carbine in .44-40. The second is an original 1895 in 45-90 and sold for nearly $35,000! Both have the Marlin combination receiver sight which is pretty scarce and worth just about as much as the guns. But this is the type of thing and the look I am pushing towards on my refinishes. Turnbull gets $5K for a restoration like the carbine above, and I want to be able to do something like this (not necessarily the exact same level of work) but similar, myself.

The 1894 carbine I have was purchased specifically with the intention of getting as close as possible to the look of the one in the pic, including the takedown.

Marlin has no custom shop, and maybe if we strain really hard Remington will include Marlin Rifles into their custom shop. Then we could see fit and finish of a much higher level. These guns would be the type of gun that no one could fault for fit and finish, and when done in a factory environment they would be much more affordable than having someone like Turnbull do it.

Turnbull does impecable work and I have seen some of their guns up close and can indeed verify that they are that good. I just can't afford them. Hence Marlin generic guns with some TLC seems to be the order of the day.

Randy

[starmac]

It is funny here, There are two fred meyers stores. One has been out of marlins for a couple months. They had four on the shelf today and at least one 45/70 had the mr serial number.

A couple of days ago I talked to the manager of the other one, and he told me he had ordered enough to tide him over, while they were out of production. He still has several that are not the mr serials.

[TXGunNut]

Marlin has no custom shop, and maybe if we strain really hard Remington will include Marlin Rifles into their custom shop. Then we could see fit and finish of a much higher level. These guns would be the type of gun that no one could fault for fit and finish, and when done in a factory environment they would be much more affordable than having someone like Turnbull do it.-Randy


Are you saying that building Marlins in the custom shop would raise the bar for regular production guns? I think we've seen that @ Colt and S&W and in some ways @ Winchester. Interesting possibility. I like it.

[colt1960]

Well, I'm back from missouri and put a few rounds thru my new remlin. it shot just fine fine with no hiccups. with the sights left as they come in the box shooting at 40 yards free hand it was about 1/2 in high on elevation. I was hitting a little to the left bit no more then a inch and a half. I dont have a rest so im pleased with what it did. Im 51 and my eye sight isnt the best so im thinking of getting a scout scope. the factory sights are not the greatest in low light conditions with weak eye sight. overall im very happy with it and am glad I got a good shooting gun. Rick !

[Rrusse11]

Gents,
Good to hear some good reports on Remlins. I'm eagerly waiting for an MXLR in 338, that's stainless with 24" barrel and grey laminate stock. According to the MarlinOwners board I stand a reasonable chance of getting a good one, without the dreaded "barrel droop", ie misaligned receiver/barrel thread problem, an "08 production. Talked with an owner of one yesterday that says it's the most accurate rifle he's got, so it's a bit of **** shoot obviously.

If the ballistics are to be believed, the cartridge is a real step up in terms of levergun performance, couple that with Hornady's soft tip bullet and they may well be right in terms of a 300yd levergun.

Randy's right about Marlins, and I like them for many of the same reasons. Simple to work on, and with some basic tweaks, can be made much more accurate.

I had the chance to handle a 1894 SS in 44Mag today that was looking not bad at all. The salesman pointed out some minor boogering of screws, and had no problems admitting that they sent some back without even putting them on the shop floor.

Cheers,
R*2

[floodgate]

I wanted a plain .22 LR single-shot for plinking and light target work at the range, and got the little Savage with molded stock and integral trigger guard and the Accu-Trigger, which was what I was really after. It arrived and after all the paperwork, waiting time, and shooter's exam I finally picked it up at my local FFL's. A real disappointment! The barrel was misaligned, with the front sight dovetail about 10* left of horizontal (pinned, not screwed in); the dinky extension "target" rear sight tangled with the bolt handle, the metal finish was so-so and the gray plastic stock was mofugly! But the process of returning it for overhaul from California was too complex to deal with, so I took off the sights, added Weaver bases and a Weaver 1 - 4X 'scope, and it does shoot nicely enough. And I do say that the Accu-Trigger is a real dream! Good enough that I can live with the rest, I guess. But I'm still on the lookout for a good .22 LR Winchester "Winder" or a Stevens "Armory".

Floodgate

[bbqncigars]

btroj:
Be very careful if you find a 25-20 Marlin. They can be extremely addictive. To the point you will buy an automatic progressive reloading press to keep up with your ammo use. For your own sanity, buy a butt load of 25-20 brass when it's available. Trust me on all of this. BTDT.

[btroj]

My 32-20 is a grat little gun. I need more brass for that one too. A 120 gr cast bullet and 5 gr of unique is such a great load. Some day I need to get some tree rats with that gun.