Marlins Quality Control is still spotty

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montess85

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I took advantage of the sale Marlin had going on in July , and bought myself a 1895G. Buds Guns had the best price, made even better with $100 off. When the gun came in it looked decent and seemed to function correctly. I took it home and started comparing it to my JM 336. The bluing on the older Marlin seems to be a bit lighter in color. The newer rifle has more of a black color to it. I also notice a lot more sharp edges on the newer rifle. Along with fine machine marks in the receiver and lever. On the older rifle its almost glass smooth. The stocks also appear to be nicer on the older rifle. All in all the new gun looked ok, but its fit and fish weren't quite as nice and the JM 336. The wood to metal fit did seem to be equal to the JM. All in all I was please with the gun for what I paid for it. I might be a little less please if I had to pay full price. But its not a horrible looking gun.

The next day I took the rifle out to the range after cleaning it. It seemed to function ok at first. I shot several different factory loads in it. I did notice the action hanging up a bit whether it was loaded or unloaded. I cleaned it again and shot it some more. It would still seem to lock up every once in a while. So I decided to just call Marlin and send it back to them for repair. While it was there I figure I'd have them fix some small cosmetic issues I had with the stocks. The foregrip had a very tiny run in the finish, and the buttstock had a very tiny ding in it. Hardly noticeable, but why not have them address it if I'm sending it back. I live about 15 minutes from Illion NY so the turn around was less that a week. Rifle got there on Tuesday and I had it back Friday. The customer service reps were very nice over the phone. No complaints there. However when I opened the box the first thing I notice about the gun was that the stocks didn't match at all. The foregrip was much darker than the buttstock. Then the second thing I notice was that there was a huge crack that splintered off of the buttstock. I couldn't believe my eyes. They replaced my stocks with worse ones. How this rifle got sent to me looking like that is unbelievable. I think Remington Arms needs to offer a better vision plan for their employees.

So now I have to call them again to fix this rifle. I seriously suggest anyone buying a Marlin don't do it via the mail. I'd want to inspect the rifle in person thoroughly. The only problem with that is local prices are often more than online prices. Where I'm from they seem to be in the same price range of a Henry. At that point I'd just buy a Henry. I'm convinced if Henry ever starts offering rifles with loading gates then Marlin is done for. Since that seems to be the only grip people have with Henry. I can't wait to see what stock I get to replace these ones.
 
someguy2800 said:
Well I guess I won't be sending mine back for the front sight not being on straight!
Click to expand...

I just got off the phone with them. I tried not to be an ******* but a little came out. They issued me another call tag so UPS can come pick it up. I let them know it better have the best damn pieces of wood in the factory after this **** up. If its not to my liking then I'm demanding a refund. They told me to put a note in the package detailing the issues. I laughed at the lady and told her they clearly didn't read the not the first time. Should of bought a Henry.
 
montess85 said:
I took advantage of the sale Marlin had going on in July , and bought myself a 1895G. Buds Guns had the best price, made even better with $100 off. When the gun came in it looked decent and seemed to function correctly. I took it home and started comparing it to my JM 336. The bluing on the older Marlin seems to be a bit lighter in color. The newer rifle has more of a black color to it. I also notice a lot more sharp edges on the newer rifle. Along with fine machine marks in the receiver and lever. On the older rifle its almost glass smooth. The stocks also appear to be nicer on the older rifle. All in all the new gun looked ok, but its fit and fish weren't quite as nice and the JM 336. The wood to metal fit did seem to be equal to the JM. All in all I was please with the gun for what I paid for it. I might be a little less please if I had to pay full price. But its not a horrible looking gun.

The next day I took the rifle out to the range after cleaning it. It seemed to function ok at first. I shot several different factory loads in it. I did notice the action hanging up a bit whether it was loaded or unloaded. I cleaned it again and shot it some more. It would still seem to lock up every once in a while. So I decided to just call Marlin and send it back to them for repair. While it was there I figure I'd have them fix some small cosmetic issues I had with the stocks. The foregrip had a very tiny run in the finish, and the buttstock had a very tiny ding in it. Hardly noticeable, but why not have them address it if I'm sending it back. I live about 15 minutes from Illion NY so the turn around was less that a week. Rifle got there on Tuesday and I had it back Friday. The customer service reps were very nice over the phone. No complaints there. However when I opened the box the first thing I notice about the gun was that the stocks didn't match at all. The foregrip was much darker than the buttstock. Then the second thing I notice was that there was a huge crack that splintered off of the buttstock. I couldn't believe my eyes. They replaced my stocks with worse ones. How this rifle got sent to me looking like that is unbelievable. I think Remington Arms needs to offer a better vision plan for their employees.

So now I have to call them again to fix this rifle. I seriously suggest anyone buying a Marlin don't do it via the mail. I'd want to inspect the rifle in person thoroughly. The only problem with that is local prices are often more than online prices. Where I'm from they seem to be in the same price range of a Henry. At that point I'd just buy a Henry. I'm convinced if Henry ever starts offering rifles with loading gates then Marlin is done for. Since that seems to be the only grip people have with Henry. I can't wait to see what stock I get to replace these ones.
Click to expand...
I purchased mine in july and was in a hurry as the store was price matching only that day and they closed in 30min so it was rush in and out. I got home and noticed the foreend was about 1-2 shades lighted than the buttstock and had great checkering while the buttstock had very shallow checkering. I called Marlin and they offered to make it right and this past weekend at the gun show showed me those people don't know their rear end from a hole in the ground!

I saw about 20 new marlins and some the stocks looked horrible. So after much thought on mine my woods nice on both pieces, yes the checkering is half done on the buttstock but why send it off to get something much worse so ill just have a buddy re stain the forend to match the buttstock and save myself anymore headaches. One rifle at the show said new and the checkering was there as far as looking at it but im pretty sure it was drawn with a sharpie and several others had a very pine look stock while the other half was a very dark walnut.

As far as being rude to the CS rep.. Its not their fault and they only do what the big bosses tell them to do so to earn a paycheck they have to follow the script. I despise my cable company and when i call i try my best not to freak out on the call taker because it is 100% not their fault.
 
It wouldn't take much more to convince me Remington is intentionally tanking everything they touch.

They have gone from a proud American company that treated their employees well and who made a great product to making firearms....(many of the same firearms that have been in production for decades)....with about the quality I would expect from a South American or south Asian manufacturer.

Come on freedom group. Gobble up some more Americana.
 
ohihunter2014 said:
I purchased mine in july and was in a hurry as the store was price matching only that day and they closed in 30min so it was rush in and out. I got home and noticed the foreend was about 1-2 shades lighted than the buttstock and had great checkering while the buttstock had very shallow checkering. I called Marlin and they offered to make it right and this past weekend at the gun show showed me those people don't know their rear end from a hole in the ground!

I saw about 20 new marlins and some the stocks looked horrible. So after much thought on mine my woods nice on both pieces, yes the checkering is half done on the buttstock but why send it off to get something much worse so ill just have a buddy re stain the forend to match the buttstock and save myself anymore headaches. One rifle at the show said new and the checkering was there as far as looking at it but im pretty sure it was drawn with a sharpie and several others had a very pine look stock while the other half was a very dark walnut.

As far as being rude to the CS rep.. Its not their fault and they only do what the big bosses tell them to do so to earn a paycheck they have to follow the script. I despise my cable company and when i call i try my best not to freak out on the call taker because it is 100% not their fault.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The checkering is not the greatest on the replacement stocks. I really wish I kept my mouth shut about the original defects. They really weren't that bad. I wasn't horrible to the CS representative. You could defiantly tell I was mad though. I'm not going to be ok with that level of service from a gun company no matter how nice the lady on the phone is to me. Now my standards are even higher with these replacement stocks. Maybe I'm wrong to be like that but they had a chance to make it right and they ****ed up horribly. The person who worked on my rifle clearly didn't care about what it looked like. Its perfection or a refund now. Probably won't be buying anything from Marlin or Remington again either. I'm not going to roll the dice hoping I got a good one anymore. My story isn't in the minority.
 
My Marlin is right around my age (and I am not that old). The fit and finish look great. And whoever put it together made a very honest attempt to match checkering, wood grains, and other aesthetics. It isn't just a pretty rifle either, I put a Leupold scope on it and the thing is a tack driver. The only thing I do not like about the rifle is it was made a few years after Marlin started putting cross bolt safeties in, something I didn't know older Marlins didn't have when I bought it. But that is an incredibly minor inconvenience at best.
 
As you can see the forend is quite a bit lighter than the buttstock on my 336W. When I bought it six years ago the colors were very close but the forend keeps getting lighter as it ages. I wonder if it is a characteristic of birch wood. I decided to live with the situation because of the personal time and effort I've put in to the rifle to get it to shoot, don't want anything messed with. If it were a model with nicer wood I don't know if I'd be as accepting.
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This is where Colt lost me as a customer back in the 90's when the so-called "Enhanced" models came out with gaps in the beavertail/frame fit that you could drive a truck through. For the Colt name, it was shameful.

QC from a lot of so-called high end manufacturers is crap. It's sad how guns used to be made with pride by artisans and craftsmen in the Colt and Smith factories. Now the "custom shops" are putting out alleged custom work that doesn't equal the work they used to do as a matter of course.
 

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montess85 said:
Yeah. The checkering is not the greatest on the replacement stocks. I really wish I kept my mouth shut about the original defects. They really weren't that bad. I wasn't horrible to the CS representative. You could defiantly tell I was mad though. I'm not going to be ok with that level of service from a gun company no matter how nice the lady on the phone is to me. Now my standards are even higher with these replacement stocks. Maybe I'm wrong to be like that but they had a chance to make it right and they ****** up horribly. The person who worked on my rifle clearly didn't care about what it looked like. Its perfection or a refund now. Probably won't be buying anything from Marlin or Remington again either. I'm not going to roll the dice hoping I got a good one anymore. My story isn't in the minority.
Click to expand...

I think it's wrong that you should hold off sending something away to fix a problem fearing that you'll get a worse product in return. Check out the products on their website and you'll see pristine examples. THAT is what the customer should be getting, and THAT is what the company should be sending back out in the event of a customer return.

Speedo66 said:
Unfortunately, when conglomerates or private equity firms gobble up a company, their thoughts are never "how can we make this better?", it's always "how can we make this cheaper?".
Click to expand...

You nailed it on the head. Let these companies find out the hard way that people do not want bad products and just vote with your feet. I have an early JM Marlin 1894 and in fairness it's not in bad shape. I had the "elusive" Marlin jam which I fixed and I haven't had any problems since. The wood matches pretty well and there's no sever tool marks or sharp edges. I also have a custom R700 (well, it's a custom rifle built on a R700 receiver and bolt) which is great, only because the receiver was blue printed to get rid of any slop in the tolerances.

I would never buy a brand new Marlin or Remington after their quality control fiasco.
 
it seems to be more and more miss than hit. I bought a marlin 1895 45-70 at Walmart on sale for 299.00 with a rebate of 50.00 for a total price of 265.00 including tax. that has no problems at all, but I did look it over very closely before buying it. eastbank.
 
I guess I have a slightly different take on things, hard to prove either side of the argument but here goes: people have already voted with their feet and they did it over price.

What's that you say? Yep. Every cheap overseas rifle, revolver, pistol that's been snatched up because it was "as good as but cheaper" caused the demise of the industry and the rise of corporate widget producers.

Express finishes, aka tool marks, replaced polished blue, MIM replaced forged, birch replaced the ungraded walnut that replaced #1 select.

We can want and demand better but the reality is that every guy who opted for a cheaper foreign version contributed to plummeting profits (as did so many other factors). I fear voting with feet at this point will be the death knoll of the entire industry.

I don't condone the corporate strategy but I do understand they're in the business for profit and not to please discerning customers who want heirloom quality and looks on a Walmart budget. Perhaps what they really need is a semi-custom shop with 6 employees that understand what it is they're actually making.

Now to the OP, good on you for stepping up and asking, and I'm crossing my fingers that you receive something better; that much you do deserve.
 
Skylerbone said:
I guess I have a slightly different take on things, hard to prove either side of the argument but here goes: people have already voted with their feet and they did it over price.

What's that you say? Yep. Every cheap overseas rifle, revolver, pistol that's been snatched up because it was "as good as but cheaper" caused the demise of the industry and the rise of corporate widget producers.

Express finishes, aka tool marks, replaced polished blue, MIM replaced forged, birch replaced the ungraded walnut that replaced #1 select.

We can want and demand better but the reality is that every guy who opted for a cheaper foreign version contributed to plummeting profits (as did so many other factors). I fear voting with feet at this point will be the death knoll of the entire industry.

I don't condone the corporate strategy but I do understand they're in the business for profit and not to please discerning customers who want heirloom quality and looks on a Walmart budget. Perhaps what they really need is a semi-custom shop with 6 employees that understand what it is they're actually making.

Now to the OP, good on you for stepping up and asking, and I'm crossing my fingers that you receive something better; that much you do deserve.
Click to expand...

Rifle was picked up by UPS today. I included a letter detailing the issues , and told them I know they can do better. We'll see if they actually read it or care.
 
The unfortunate truth of the matter, in terms of mass-production industry-wide, is that too many people today don't want to pay for quality.
They just want cheap.

Coupled with a rising generation that has no concept of what quality was & wouldn't know the difference if it bit 'em on their latte-powered smart phone.

This is not restricted to Marlin. :)

I was fortunate enough recently to stumble onto a 1916 S&W triple lock in .455 Webley that saw service in the trenches of France in WWI.
In incredible condition for a 101-year-old war dog, a close look at the machining shows the later progressive deterioration in quality quite clearly, as you look closely and note specific areas where steps in manufacture were eliminated over the years.
Tight as a drum, smooth DA & clean SA, and no signs of it ever being tinkered with.
Just the way they used to turn 'em out.

My latest Smith custom project just finished is a late 1980s 686-3.
Not as nicely put together as the old triple lock, but it was a minty specimen that showed clean machining and desirable features for what I wanted to do, from a timeframe before certain S&W trends began. :)
Nothing exotic, just some basic upgrades to essentially bring it up to quality levels I wanted.

Many of us old farts still do know the difference, but there's not enough of us who demand quality & are happy to pay for it to get it from the factories as regular production anymore.

Far too many people willing to settle for far too much less.
Denis
 
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DPris said:
Many of us old farts still do know the difference, but there's not enough of us who demand quality & are happy to pay for it to get it from the factories as regular production anymore.
Click to expand...

Which is the reason I don't own a RAR, Axis or 783. Not that they aren't functional, I just can't stand the look and feel of them.
 
Skylerbone said:
I guess I have a slightly different take on things, hard to prove either side of the argument but here goes: people have already voted with their feet and they did it over price.

What's that you say? Yep. Every cheap overseas rifle, revolver, pistol that's been snatched up because it was "as good as but cheaper" caused the demise of the industry and the rise of corporate widget producers.

Express finishes, aka tool marks, replaced polished blue, MIM replaced forged, birch replaced the ungraded walnut that replaced #1 select.

We can want and demand better but the reality is that every guy who opted for a cheaper foreign version contributed to plummeting profits (as did so many other factors). I fear voting with feet at this point will be the death knoll of the entire industry.

I don't condone the corporate strategy but I do understand they're in the business for profit and not to please discerning customers who want heirloom quality and looks on a Walmart budget. Perhaps what they really need is a semi-custom shop with 6 employees that understand what it is they're actually making.

Now to the OP, good on you for stepping up and asking, and I'm crossing my fingers that you receive something better; that much you do deserve.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure which cheap overseas rifles you are referring to aside from a few Turkish models most imports are of good-great quality from Europe. Glock, HK, Walther, Beretta, etc.

Remington has empirically gown down in quality.
 
I really couldn't care less.

Until they bring back the .357 1894, I won't be giving them any opportunities to sell me one of their firearms.

Marlin, if by chance you are listening, this is getting ridiculous!
 
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