[Dave Bulla]

Went to my local Cabella's the other day to enter my boys turkey in their contest (his first bird, pretty nice one but not likely good enough to win a prize) and after we got done with that, we went in and looked at the guns for a while.

Of course, I had to check what Marlins they had and saw one with what appeared to be some real nice wood on it. Asked to look at it and it was a new Remington gun. Barrel is roll stamped New Haven but it has the REP on the right side. I looked pretty hard for defects in the gun but other than being pretty stiff in the action didn't find much. The top tang stood proud of the wood about 1/16" though. But the wood itself was about as nice as any I'd ever seen on a Marlin. Lots of nice figure in both the fore end and in the butt stock. The finish on the wood was the typical flat clear and I couldn't find any runs or obvious thin spots like some have mentioned. Looked at a second one and it was about the same but the front sight hood was missing. When I mentioned it out loud, the sales guy just kinda shrugged. Guess he wasn't too worried about it.

Next I went over to the used rack to take another look at a 336dl I'd seen the previous visit (30-30 cal). It too had some VERY nice wood on it but for a used price of $699 it should.... Then I shouldered it and instantly did a mental "what the......?" The danged front sight was mounted about 1/16" to maybe 3/32" left of top dead center. I mean, obviously off. Not like when one fella mounts his scope where the cross hairs look straight to him and the next guy says they're crooked. I could hold this rifle vertically, look at the barrel and mag tube to get it square and see that the sight was off quite a bit. It's not a dovetailed sight either but a ramp front with a screw into the barrel that would HAVE to be miss drilled to be that crooked. The roll stamp appeared to be properly located in relation to the fore end wood so I don't think it is a barrel clocking problem.

Then I picked up an older 1895 next to it and looked it over real hard, shouldered it and kinda thought, well, I know which one I'd buy...

 

[six_gunz]

Congrats on your boy's first turkey! Post some pics and the story in the Turkey Hunters Roost forum.....

 

[HerkyBird]

That first one you picked up sounds like one of the new 336 Deluxes. They have some real nice wood on them. I still wouldn't take one over a true Marlin, though.

 

[444Hal]

Yeah, I think those higher quality wood ones get some extra special attention too.

 

[1040]

I too handled a couple of Remlins today; 1895GS and 336SS, at the Suncoast Gunshow in Tampa. I was not impressed with the wood. The did not look finished. There was a darker stain, but the wood looked raw: not oil finished or gloss like my 336SS. I ended up buying a used 1895GS, for way too much money, but with a better finish.

 

[StretchNM]

It probably has the Mar-Shield finish on it.

I might be standing alone on this, but I really think people are making way too big of an issue out of this new Remington ownership. Has enough time passed for us to judge that the rifles are automatically of lesser quality now? I don;t know. I don;t think so...yet.