Hillarious Marlin customer service experience

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someguy2800

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So I bought a new Marlin 45-70 guide gun back in August when they had there mail in rebate going on. I immediately fell in love with it except for one nagging problem. The front sight is canted on the barrel. The dovetail for the rear sight is straight but the front sight was angled about 5 degree to the right.

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As a result when shooting with the factory iron sights the gun would shoot several inches left at 50 yards. To zero the sights the front sight had to be drifted to the left half way out of the dovetail.

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I was planning on putting a Williams peep sight on the gun anyway and could just use that to correct from the back which I did. It still irritated me every time I shot the gun that the sights were crooked though so I finally decided to send it back to fix it. Remington sent me a call tag for it which was addressed to a gunsmith shop here in Minnesota. A couple weeks later I get a post card from the gunsmith shop saying they can't fix it and it needs to be forwarded to the factory.

Well the gun showed up at the house today out of the blue addressed from the gunsmith shop in Minnesota. I opened up the box and there is a document inside that says that it was repaired by indexing the barrel.

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Immediately before even unwrapping the gun I thought oh great, now the rear sight will be crooked! Sure enough the rear sight is now canted to the left by 5 degrees! Unbelievable!

(edit: you can see it best with rear sight folded down)
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I'm going to knock out the rear sight and put a dovetail filler in it anyway so not sure if I want to send it back again or not. It really doesn't matter but I think its going to bother me looking at the crooked rear sight filler. In any case I'm going to have to get another month of enjoyment out of the gun if I'm going to send it back again. Absolutely love the gun but this is just silly. I would still buy it again.
 

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Looking at the photos it appears the front sight was slightly bent. I doubt the barrel needed to be indexed. The barrel is ruined now in my opinion. I'd have just bought a new front sight before. But it would go back now and I'd demand a new barrel.

It looks that way in the photo but it was not bent. The whole front sight base was crooked.
 
reminds me of a ruger .45 colt blackhawk I bought about 35 years that came in with the front sight canted to the right, the dealer noticed it before I did and said it,s going right back to the wholeseller. I received another one in about two weeks, it was ok. eastbank.
 
What does it mean to “index the barrel” and why does it ruin it?

Basically they tightened the barrel another few degrees. They may have taken a tiny bit off the shoulder of the barrel first and reamed the chamber to correct the head space, or maybe they just tightened it up some more. It doesn't really ruin it per say, but its not an appropriate fix because now the rear sight and magazine tube are crooked.
 
Called Marlin and they sent me another call tag to send it back in. First I think I am going to drift out the rear sight and put my dovetail filler and williams peep sight back on and see how noticible it is. If it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb I think I'll just keep it the way it is. If you thinking about getting a Marlin 1895g don't let this dissuade you, its about the most fun you can have out of bed.
 
I had a Taurus PT111 that had the front sight canted like that. Didn't hurt anything but it still bugged the fire out of me. The QC that inspected it must have been drunk.
 
I bought a guide gun years ago, back when they were genuine Marlin and the barrels were ported. I, too put the Williams peep on and also a fold-down rear.

They are a hoot! Very easy to carry and can be easily loaded down to plink and up to stop a grizzly.

It is too bad that QC has gone south since Cerebrus Capital bought Marlin out. It is these ridiculous and recurring issues that keep me from ever buying a new Remington or Marlin again :(...
 
All I have shot in mine is 350 grain oregon trail flat points over a full case load of 18 grains of trail boss. I have not bothered to try a Marlin only load yet since its so much fun knocking over plates with this load. Its about half way between a max trapdoor load and a marlin only starting load in velocity.
 
I worked on it a bit tonight. I drifted the rear sight over a little to where the front sight, rear sight, and action screws are lined up and bent the sight leafs a bit with a pliers to where the rear sight now sits flat. Then I drifted over the magazine tube hanger to straighten out the mag tube. Finally I put my Williams receiver sight back on After my tweaking its impossible to tell anything is misaligned without extremely close examination and everything looks very symmetrical. I can't see it and I know its there. Since I am using the receiver sight anyway and it looks perfectly fine visually I'm calling it good and won't send it back again. I don't mind fixing things but its just silly they sent it out this way twice.
 
That sort of problem on a new rifle is disappointing, and the "fix" is even more so. I have a few Marlins that i like but have had a few experiences with their recently made guns (as well as others from the Remington umbrella) that prevent me from buying any more of their products. Maybe in the future I will see a change in their work that changes my mind, but until then I only buy Marlins from before the 1990s.
 
"... magazine tube are crooked."

Have that situation on a not-marlin leveraction. Causes lighter bullet weights to hit to one side which becomes noticeable past 60 yards. Otherwise it is a nice solid reliable gun for close range. Just have to remember to chose the heavies for 60yds plus.

Got a Marlin 39 Mountie .22 and a Marlin 336W .30-30 marked (JM), made New Haven CT, old school. Count myself lucky I won't have to wonder about QC on Remington produced "Marlin" rifles.

But honestly I have run across canted front sights on three or four rifles between 1965 and today. I can't understand why any maker allows that out the door. It is annoying. Makes me wonder what else they did not inspect, ya know?
 
Id put money on it that the QC TECH has a list they check off, with minimal saftey/function being pretty much it. Id be surprised if someone caught a miss aligned sight as i bet they never shoulder the gun.

The fix is comical, but again cost point, and bean counters, its probably cheaper to toss it in the fixture and give it another 10-20lbs of torque and see if you send it back again, than replacing the barrel.

Ive been unpleasantly surprised with how offten lower cost "serviceable" things have that happen when returned. Least scope manufacturers usually just send you a new scope now.
 
I've loaded a bunch of 405 gr LFP over moderate charges of IMR 3031 for fun, and some 405 JFP over stout charges of 3031 to rattle some teeth.

The GG is a great platform for short/moderate range work. Try a few different power loadings and you will be pleasantly surprised with what the GG can do.
 
From knowing people who work at the factory, the attitude sometimes is ship first, fix later. I bought a 1894 this year. Its quality is good. So it is hit or miss at times. But as you can see, other brands have had the same problems. I too have an 1895G. I got it when I got back from the war in 2003. It was traded in on a new model. The gunshop owner said the person who traded it in didn't like the recoil. I got it for $350 barely used. Love it.
 
I sent a Remington 700 in that wouldn’t group under 1.5”. Target that came back with the new barrel was worse :thumbdown:
 
Many years ago, I purchased a Browning O/U X-cess (12 gage) that over a couple years of shooting developed a very small and short hairline crack in the butt stock next to the receiver. I lived very close to Arnold, MO. so I returned the gun in person. The service person stated that it cost more to repair than replace the gun so a new shotgun was in order. There was no inventory at the time so he said that he would call me when a new shipment arrived from Japan; he would then ship a new gun to the FFL of my choice. I pointed out to him that the stock wood was exceptional, that is the reason I selected this particular gun in the first place - I did not want a lesser grade of wood by someone else's selection - he agreed. He then offered that when the shipment arrived, he would allow me to return to the facility to select a new gun from their inventory - about two months later, I returned and was allowed to hand pick a beautiful replacement from (about) ten boxes that I was allowed to open. That is the only gun warrantee that I have ever had to exercise - it was a neat experience,
 
Called Marlin and they sent me another call tag to send it back in. First I think I am going to drift out the rear sight and put my dovetail filler and williams peep sight back on and see how noticible it is. If it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb I think I'll just keep it the way it is. If you thinking about getting a Marlin 1895g don't let this dissuade you, its about the most fun you can have out of bed.

I would send the rifle back to Marlin. When something isn't made properly it bugs me to no end. Every time I would use the rifle it would annoy me and I'd end up selling it and probably take a beating on it as a prospective buyer would very likely notice it also. It needs to go back so Marlin can identify how the gun left like that and who allowed it to happen.
 
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