Hillarious Marlin customer service experience

[cp1969]

Nobody can build a rifle w/o following the blueprints. One might be lucky once but that's it.
We are not talking minor tolerances of 1 or 2 thousands nor precision type of rifle process but some basic things that, if not followed, lead to major problems that deliver unacceptable results.

In a manufacturing facility, the only people who work off of blueprints are the manufacturing process engineer and the QC engineer.

The people on the floor doing the actual machining use process instructions given to them by engineers, not the blueprint. They only need to know about the features they're creating at their station and how to verify that their work meets the process instructions.

The process engineer's job is to provide the tools and processes to make product that meets blueprint specifications.
The QC engineer's job is to make sure the process engineer did his.

No out-of-spec stuff should ever get out the door.

 

[warnerwh]

And after being gone a while I was wondering how Marlin and Remington's quality was doing these days. I would rather pay a few dollars more and get my gun correct on the first try. To each their own but I will not buy a Remington or Marlin made since the move. It is a sad thing to see.

 

[hdwhit]

warnerwh wrote:
To each their own but I will not buy a Remington or Marlin made since the move. It is a sad thing to see.

When my son wanted his first rifle, we went to the store and he chose a Marlin bolt action 22 (XT-22) and it has been perfect right out of the box. The problem for manufacturers is that for every 100 people like me who got one that worked from the start, there are a couple of experiences like OP described and that makes everyone leery about buying since they don't want to have to box up a new gun to be sent back to the factory.

 

[Gordon]

The Savage and XT-22 Marlin are designed for mass production using very low skills. About the Marlin Levers we are seeing the unwillingness and now the incapability for large manufacturers to provide the skill and pride of product we all want to see in our $ spent on firearms. The corporate ethic of business has taken this the way of the dodo since the 60s with few and temporary exceptions . The good news is there are a LOT of beautiful older guns out there that will still live for generations with the help of the few remaining gunsmiths of the future and present. Where there is a will , there IS a way . Happy New Year !

 

[Rshooter]

And people wonder why my Marlin is older than me. Quality was built in.

 

[1hobie]

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.

Greetings. Before you do anything to the rifle, you should probably send it to Marlin. You might accidentally void the warranty if you work on it. Hope you get this straightened to your satisfaction.

 

[mshootnit]

Let us know how this turns out.

 

[someguy2800]

It has been resolved. I sent it back, they reindexed the barrel and sent it back with the rear sight and mag tube crooked as a result. I removed the rear sight, put a dovetail filler in its place, put my williams peep sight back on, and drifted the mag tube dovetail over a smidge to center it under the barrel. You wouldn't know anything was wrong with it now unless I told you. Shoots great.

 

[loose noose]

Bought a Browning Gold Hunter back in the late 1990's that had a very hard to operate safety, and very plain wood, not even to the liking of a cheap shotgun, got a hold of Browning in Utah, and they sent me a return tag, and even before I had an opportunity to send it back received the new Browning Gold Hunter with a operable safety, and a beautiful walnut stock. Believe me I was definitely pleased with the customer service, and have bought several Browning firearms since that time, and highly recommend them to my friends.

 

[boom boom]

It has been resolved. I sent it back, they reindexed the barrel and sent it back with the rear sight and mag tube crooked as a result. I removed the rear sight, put a dovetail filler in its place, put my williams peep sight back on, and drifted the mag tube dovetail over a smidge to center it under the barrel. You wouldn't know anything was wrong with it now unless I told you. Shoots great.

Glad that your story had a semi-happy ending. Shame you had to go through all of that.

 

[_N4Z_]

I have a 1894C that was made not long before the Remington take over. It suffered this same issue, rear sight was not properly lined up on the front. I never bothered with sending it back, put a peep on the receiver, removed the rear and blanked it off, never looked back. I am lucky that it shoots great with that fix. I find it disappointing that the rifle passed QC at the factory like that though. Shame on Marlin. Fast fwd many years to this Xmas. Went to buy a Marlin 60 .22 for a grandson and made sure to check the sights before making the buy. Sure enough the front sight was not at 12:00. Just had them get a different one out of a box and good to go. Lesson learned.

 

[Art Eatman]

Since the problem seems to be resolved...