mullen7 wrote:Ovenpaa and Sim, you both seem to know a bit about the new Marlins. I know just after Remington bought over they weren't great, but from reading what you've posted, it seems they got their act together again?
I'm looking to buy a Marlin when I get my ticket through, was initially going to get a pre REM JM but if they're just as good now I don't think I would bother.
Or would you still say the JMs are better? It's a .357 that I'll be looking to buy.
That's a very subjective question. Would I buy a new Marlin today? I'm still not sure, but that could be because I've sold off a lot of my modern Marlins to concentrate on pre WW1.
But, that said, they are so much better. Remington have put a lot of investment into the brand, which despite the troubles, was still strong. But, if looking for a new one, you really want a late 2014 or 2015 manufactured as the cut off date. Those that are being picked up stateside look very good indeed. But you also have to ask yourself, since all of the Marlin issues, how many of the Remington produced guns have been sold by the importers, SMK. The fact is, all of the guns that SMK have will be Remington made. All of the JM guns were imported by either Edgar Bros or South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies.
When the Freedom Group bought Marlin in 2008, it was initially intended for the factory to remain in North Haven where it had done for nearly 150 years. But when looking at the whole manufacturing process, the Freedom Group reckoned they could improve it so much by moving it to the Ilion location and Kentucky. They had space available where whilst taking advantage of a modern manufacturing infrastructure, Marlin could remain automatous. In 2010 they closed the Marlin plant.
But, what they hadn't banked on was the machines that had been churning out Marlins were old, some well over 60 years old and were being held together with Band Aids, almost. Old machines didn't travel well. Also, of the 250 odd employees of Marlin, next to none of them made the transfer to Remington. This part though, is allegedly all FGs fault! They sacked everyone when they moved the factory!
So, here they were trying to make rifles on machines that were falling apart, by a workforce that didn't know the product! It was a disaster! The list of issues is phenomenal! When they looked st trying to rectify things,nth us is when they found that technical drawings of the rifles didn't even exist! The specs had been passed down by generation to generation of craftsmen!
By the turn of 2014, technical drawings of the 336 and 1895 had been completed. The 1894 is not as popular in the US, do it was last on the list after the model 39! New machinery was ordered and installed and former Marlin professionals employed to train the new work force. By the end of 2014 all technicals were finished, a dozen or do so models were dropped from the catalog and production started in earnest.
Good guns are coming out of Marlin, the main question should be, when will we get them in the UK? SMK should really send all of theirs back, get an up to date batch and shout that from the roof tops....
I'll refrain from commenting further on SMK....