Ruger buys Marlin

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It would be fun to see the levermatic short-stroke lever system in a model 39 configuration. I wonder if Marlin doesn't have many other designs that never saw the light of day or were impractical then but not now.
 
With the caveat that I'm not a world-savvy businessman and that a lot of what follows is largely a WAG: Ruger also gets all of the IP on which patents have not expired, customer lists, inventory, machinery, research, reputation & good will, etc., and control of one of its competitors. Which is the most valuable? I have no idea.
Just playing devils advocate below and being an engineer it skews my opinion in its on unique way. :D

IP in the gun industry is not worth much as it's too easy to engineer around and/or too expensive to defend in many cases. And the really desirable Marlin Products (ie the leverguns) are long out of an IP protection.

Customer lists in the age of super vendors and distributors and the such is less valuable that in earlier years.

Inventory of unknown quality that you did not make, you would really have to trust Marlin's (Remington's) QC and we all know it was not what it needed to be. Imagine the risks of build your first Ruglins on old Remlin parts. :eek:

Used machines are like buying used cars, there are good deals but you really have to test drive them to be sure. I suspect Ruger did not get a test drive.

Research is nearly useless without the people that created it and they are all gone. Nothing is left of the original Marlin staff and Remington has lost nearly 90% of it engineering staff since the first bankruptcy.

Reputation and good will are nice but buying Marlin gets the good and the bad parts of Marlin's reputation (baggage) and the good will only lasts until they buy the first Ruglin then it all go away if you screwed it up.

Competition is good IMHO, competition keeps you honest and driven.

Just the engineer speaking I would have simple started making Ruger leverguns and skipped the Marlin/Remington baggage, but the business guys rarely listen to the engineers, justifiably in many cases. :D

ETA: I vote for Ruglin!
 
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I have mentioned this tangentially is some of the other Remington threads but why buy Marlin (or Remington for that matter)? The marriage of products between Ruger and Marlin makes sense. Ruger's Single action revolvers pair nicely with Marline lever guns. But why by Marlin? Ruger if they wanted to could simply start making Marlin (or even Winchester) lever actions. The patents and other IP on most of Marlin's models have expired many years ago. There is no reason Ruger had to by Marlin to make a lever gun. Seems like fixing Marlin is going to take more money and time than simple starting fresh and making a Ruger lever action from the ground up.

If Ruger didn't buy Marlin, someone else would. So yes, they could compete directly with a new line of lever actions, but that hasn't worked too well in the past. This means less competition and all the designs and specific equipment. It's probably just a case of turning the lights back on, and bringing the staff back in.
 
When I look at Ruger history, what I see is new and less expensive ways of producing firearms that have some resemblance to popular guns of the past. The standard pistol had the luger/high standard/colt/nambu vibe, the single six was a nod to the old colt single actions, and long arms harkened back to the M1 carbine with the silly barrel band. The Marlin operation brings not only machine control files but history, good rep before Remington, and barrel tooling that Ruger can capitalize on. I just hope they can resist the polymer plague :D
 
If Ruger didn't buy Marlin, someone else would. So yes, they could compete directly with a new line of lever actions, but that hasn't worked too well in the past. This means less competition and all the designs and specific equipment. It's probably just a case of turning the lights back on, and bringing the staff back in.

If it was that easy why did it take Remington 7+ years to figure out how to make a decent Remlin? And there are very few people left at Remington to turn the lights back on. As I said earlier Remington has lost ~90% of their engineering staff since the first bankruptcy in 2018, there have been similar losses and turn over in other division of the company too since the first bankruptcy. Nearly all the knowledge/people that manage to make a decent Remlin out of the mess that was Marlin have already left the company. It's not like this decline was unforeseen.

The modern Henry Firearms stood up a pretty successful company making leverguns (well a gun with a lever, it did not become a levergun until they added the side-gate loading port :p) and did not buy a former company to do it. That seems better IMHO than buying the Marlin/Remington baggage. Not enough good to offset the bad IMHO. I personally would would be more tempted to buy a Ruger 1894 without the supposed Marlin history than a Ruglin 1894. YMMV.
 
I find Ruger tends to take short cuts in some of their designs, i.e., using stamped parts, castings rather than forgings, aluminum parts, etc. They no doubt are strong enough, but to me, detract from a solid feeling in certain aspects.

Wonder if they'll employ these cost cutting methods in new Marlin production?

However, with Ruger's seemingly excellent capitalization, advertising, and distribution, if they're now going to be in the lever action marketplace, if I were Henry I'd be scared, very scared.
 
I find Ruger tends to take short cuts in some of their designs, i.e., using stamped parts, castings rather than forgings, aluminum parts, etc. They no doubt are strong enough, but to me, detract from a solid feeling in certain aspects.

Wonder if they'll employ these cost cutting methods in new Marlin production?

However, with Ruger's seemingly excellent capitalization, advertising, and distribution, if they're now going to be in the lever action marketplace, if I were Henry I'd be scared, very scared.
I can easily see Ruger setting up a Cowboy line that is more traditional along with a discount line that is made to be inexpensive. Lever guns have been getting expensive the last 10 years.
 
I think that's great news. Interested to see what Marlin becomes. I've been wanting a 44 mag level gun for awhile.
 
If it was that easy why did it take Remington 7+ years to figure out how to make a decent Remlin? And there are very few people left at Remington to turn the lights back on. As I said earlier Remington has lost ~90% of their engineering staff since the first bankruptcy in 2018, there have been similar losses and turn over in other division of the company too since the first bankruptcy. Nearly all the knowledge/people that manage to make a decent Remlin out of the mess that was Marlin have already left the company. It's not like this decline was unforeseen.

The modern Henry Firearms stood up a pretty successful company making leverguns (well a gun with a lever, it did not become a levergun until they added the side-gate loading port :p) and did not buy a former company to do it. That seems better IMHO than buying the Marlin/Remington baggage. Not enough good to offset the bad IMHO. I personally would would be more tempted to buy a Ruger 1894 without the supposed Marlin history than a Ruglin 1894. YMMV.
My guess is Ruger bought them to get the brand name as well as the design and manufacturing drawings. Remington had closed the old Marlin factory and moved all the equipment to their location. I have no idea how many people are left who were originally Marlin people. I don't know what facilities, if any, are dedicated to Marlin production.
 
If it was that easy why did it take Remington 7+ years to figure out how to make a decent Remlin? And there are very few people left at Remington to turn the lights back on. As I said earlier Remington has lost ~90% of their engineering staff since the first bankruptcy in 2018, there have been similar losses and turn over in other division of the company too since the first bankruptcy. Nearly all the knowledge/people that manage to make a decent Remlin out of the mess that was Marlin have already left the company. It's not like this decline was unforeseen.

The modern Henry Firearms stood up a pretty successful company making leverguns (well a gun with a lever, it did not become a levergun until they added the side-gate loading port :p) and did not buy a former company to do it. That seems better IMHO than buying the Marlin/Remington baggage. Not enough good to offset the bad IMHO. I personally would would be more tempted to buy a Ruger 1894 without the supposed Marlin history than a Ruglin 1894. YMMV.

I seem to recall Ruger making a lever action or two for a while then they disappeared. So I guess they weren't that popular. I'm confident they can handle bringing the Marlin name back as well as anyone else could. And considering how up until recently, the voices I heard suggesting brands of lever actions were mostly saying Marlin, I think the name is probably still pretty strong. Henry makes decent guns, but if it weren't for the flashy models, I doubt they'd be in business. The steel receivers are good guns in my experience, but that's not how they managed to achieve success. At least not from what I've seen. They offer pretty range toys more than bare bones serious rifles.

I could be wrong, but I think it's likely that if the factory (or factories) are part of the deal, they could get staffed up fairly quickly. All those workers had to go somewhere, they may well be willing to return under the much more successful management Ruger seems to have. If Ruger bought one of my old companies and I wasn't doing anything better, I'd give them a chance. But I might be in the minority.
 
My guess is Ruger bought them to get the brand name as well as the design and manufacturing drawings. Remington had closed the old Marlin factory and moved all the equipment to their location. I have no idea how many people are left who were originally Marlin people. I don't know what facilities, if any, are dedicated to Marlin production.

I seem to recall Ruger making a lever action or two for a while then they disappeared. So I guess they weren't that popular. I'm confident they can handle bringing the Marlin name back as well as anyone else could. And considering how up until recently, the voices I heard suggesting brands of lever actions were mostly saying Marlin, I think the name is probably still pretty strong. Henry makes decent guns, but if it weren't for the flashy models, I doubt they'd be in business. The steel receivers are good guns in my experience, but that's not how they managed to achieve success. At least not from what I've seen. They offer pretty range toys more than bare bones serious rifles.

I could be wrong, but I think it's likely that if the factory (or factories) are part of the deal, they could get staffed up fairly quickly. All those workers had to go somewhere, they may well be willing to return under the much more successful management Ruger seems to have. If Ruger bought one of my old companies and I wasn't doing anything better, I'd give them a chance. But I might be in the minority.


I am fairly certain none of the original Marlin people are left. I believe only some of the original Marlin workers were even offered jobs with Remington and even fewer accepted as they would have to have moved from CT to NY or KY after the closure of the original Marlin plant. Now 13 years later I am fairly certain none of the original Marlin workers are part of Remington. I believe the last Marlin engineer left Remington when they moved the R&D group from Elizabethtown KY to the Huntsville AL facility in early 2015.

It took years for Remington to produce a decent Marlin after the Remington take over. Now again Marlin production will have to move. Since Ruger did not buy the Huntsville or Ilion facility that means that all Marlin production will have to eventually move to a new facility. The leverguns were made in Ilion and the rimfire in Huntsville. Marlin production was fully integrated into Remington, ie a barrel machine might make 783 barrels one day and the next change over to Marlin 60 barrels. How long will it take to stand up Marlin production in a new facility? How badly will QC suffer as part of that move? Hopefully and likely Ruger can do it faster and better than Remington did but time will tell.

I guess I am just pessimistic having watch how badly gun companies in general absorb new brands. But to this engineer's brain the brand name means very little to me. I want a quality product, proven in use, and what name is on the product means very little to me. Like I said earlier a Ruger 1894 has as much or more appeal to me than an JM Marlin, Remlin, Ruglin, as long as it works well the name on it is immaterial to me.

-rambling too much, mcb
 
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All this talk about “fixing” Marlin... I don’t get it. Yes Remlins sucked for a while but the most recent guns seemed to be back up to par from all reports I have heard with the exception of the occasional canted barrel. Seems there’s nothing to fix. Adjust roll stamp to remove any inkling that Remington may somehow be involved in the production of the guns, stamp the barrels SR where it used to be JM and keep the lines rolling. Any changes made should be slight and should be in the form of tighter tolerances. Running changes or minor changes may be acceptable, but otherwise there’s nothing to fix, nothing to fuss about, and nothing to get into the slightest uproar about. Rumor has it that Marlin was making money and keeping big green afloat for a while. Keep it going.
 
Ruger wants to get in on making lever action rifles and Marlin has long been well known for their lever guns. Instead of tooling up, buying machines, paying design engineers, going thru the testing, and paying to expand the production facilities to accommodate all the necessary equipment to buy a company already set up and ready to produce is a much safer investment.

I expect Ruger will improve the customer service, the out the door quality... not right away.

What I expect in the future:
-The 795 is gone, Ruger already has the 10/22.
-The Model 60, iconic .22 rifle, lots of fans, I think it will stick around.
- A .327 lever action will be in the works.

They didn't get the equipment. They got the name and the IP.

My guess is Ruger bought them to get the brand name as well as the design and manufacturing drawings. Remington had closed the old Marlin factory and moved all the equipment to their location. I have no idea how many people are left who were originally Marlin people. I don't know what facilities, if any, are dedicated to Marlin production.

Remington didn't move equipment. The equipment at Marlin was worn out. It had more worth as scrap. That's why Remington had such a hard time producing working rifles. There were no current blueprints. Documentation was basically "back of a napkin" if it was written down at all. Most of the knowledge on how to build Marlin rifles was locked up in the heads of the workers. There were very few of those workers who were offered the chance to move and even fewer who did.

Remington basically had to reverse engineer the Marlin products.
 
All this talk about “fixing” Marlin... I don’t get it. Yes Remlins sucked for a while but the most recent guns seemed to be back up to par from all reports I have heard with the exception of the occasional canted barrel. Seems there’s nothing to fix. Adjust roll stamp to remove any inkling that Remington may somehow be involved in the production of the guns, stamp the barrels SR where it used to be JM and keep the lines rolling. Any changes made should be slight and should be in the form of tighter tolerances. Running changes or minor changes may be acceptable, but otherwise there’s nothing to fix, nothing to fuss about, and nothing to get into the slightest uproar about. Rumor has it that Marlin was making money and keeping big green afloat for a while. Keep it going.

Can't, Ruger now owns Marlin, but they do not own the facilities that Marlin is currently produced in. Roundhill will soon own the Ilion facility and the Huntsville facility is likely to be return to the City. Ruger will have to pick up Marlin and move it. How much of the vanishingly little remaining Marlin product expertise will be lost in that move?
 
...and with the increased interest in gun games like Cowboy Action and SASS, being able to market a SA revolver and matching lever action under the same brand name would be a great advantage.
Yes and it goes beyond that in hunters who have a .44 Mag lever action and revolver made by the same company or the urban dweller who will likely be dealing with semi auto bans, the lever action .357 is the next best alternative to a semi auto rifle.
 
I have mentioned this tangentially is some of the other Remington threads but why buy Marlin (or Remington for that matter)? The marriage of products between Ruger and Marlin makes sense. Ruger's Single action revolvers pair nicely with Marline lever guns. But why by Marlin? Ruger if they wanted to could simply start making Marlin (or even Winchester) lever actions. The patents and other IP on most of Marlin's models have expired many years ago. There is no reason Ruger had to by Marlin to make a lever gun. Seems like fixing Marlin is going to take more money and time than simple starting fresh and making a Ruger lever action from the ground up.
Starting from scratch has never been Ruger's strong suit, if you catch my drift.

It will be easier and cheaper for Ruger to take over Marlin then to try and start their own lever action line. It's a lot of investment in money, but also time. Marlin becoming available was an offer so good Ruger couldn't refuse it.
 
Starting from scratch has never been Ruger's strong suit, if you catch my drift.

It will be easier and cheaper for Ruger to take over Marlin then to try and start their own lever action line. Ruger's been around for 70 years and never produced a lever rifle and it wasn't from lack of demand, the market in the 50s, 60s, 70s were all about lever rifles. It's a lot of investment in money, but also time. Marlin becoming available was an offer so good Ruger couldn't refuse it.

Actually Ruger did produce a lever gun. The model 96.
 
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