Marlin 980S trouble

[tmette]

I am in need of a bit of advice. Almost a year ago I purchased a Marlin 980S .22 bolt-action rifle. I really liked the feel and looks of the rifle, and also heard Marlin was a reliable firearm company. I bought the rifle from the local Wal-Mart since they offered it at a lower price than the gun shop about 30 miles away from my home. Well I took it out to shoot a couple of weeks after the purchase with my friend who just bought a 10/22 Ruger.

After firing some rounds, my gun seemed to stop firing every time. I would pull the trigger and just hear "click". After waiting about 20 seconds I pulled the bolt back and inspected the round. Sure enough there was a mark on the rim of the bullet. I figured it was just those rounds, that I had gotten a bad brick of Remington hollow points. I tried my friend's CCI rounds and even some of those did not fire. EVERY round of mine fired in my friend's 10/22.

So I decided to send the firearm back to the company for repair since I filled out the registration card to get a lifetime warranty. They sent it back saying that they had replaced the bolt. I took it out a couple of weeks ago out to my friend's farm and fired some rounds. Seemed like it was shooting well and I was pleased. The next day we did the same thing, only after about 4 spent magazines, I would get 2 or so rounds that would not fire from each full magazine. I have decided to send the gun in once again with a note saying this will be the second time for repair.

My question is if I get the gun back and I end up getting more misfires, should I just give up on it and purchase a different .22? I know I made a mistake purchasing it from Wal-Mart and not a gun dealer, but keep in mind I'm new to guns so I really didn't know any better. Any chance Marlin will just send me a brand new rifle if I request it in the letter?

I really want the same gun, I love every aspect of it!

 

[rangerruck]

they should see that they replaced the bolt once, and next , either they got a bad bunch of bolts in a batch, and should try another one alltogether, or they should rebarrel it, or put a new receiver on it. If I were you , I would call marlin firearms, after you suspect they have had it, for a week, and make sure to tell them, that the bolt was replaced allready. Ask them If you can replace the reciever, or bbl, whichever it is that contains the chamber on those models. They normally have very good service for a firearms company, and should tell you what they plan to do, or heck, even ask them, what you should do next, if you get it back, and it still doesn't work right? You may have gotten a lemon, thats okay, nothing to be too upset about, every firearms company puts out the occasional lemon. Unless it is a custom shop rifle. it is what the company does after that, which makes them to have a good service dept. or not.

 

[tmette]

Thanks for the reassurance rangerruck!

I have a feeling that when they see it is still causing problems that they will get it working really well.