PAGREG said:
Hi, Im looking to purchase a new 1894 in 357 and have some questions. First, why are they so hard to come by? Has Marlin / Remington limited production? My gun dearler can't find any wholesalers that have them.
Second, is the quality really that bad? I mean does anybody have one that they are happy with? I've been reading about all these quality issues and I wonder if they are limited or really prevelant? ALmost makes me scared to purchase one.
Third, my dealer said that if he can find one, the price will be $560. Does that seem pretty reasonable?
After the '08 election, one of the gun rags did a walk-through of the Marlin plant and quoted one of the company bigwigs as saying that their production was sold out all the way through '09. Did the same a few months later and they were sold out through Dec. '10. It's now 2011 and they've closed the original plant and moved production, without moving the original workers. Has to have affected what they're putting out in both quality and quantity. And they're probably still back-ordered.
I remember when Indiana changed the deer hunting regs to allow pistol-caliber carbines, almost immediately, all gun shops were sold out of 1894s for 5 states around. Took a year and a half for the b-in-l to get the one he wanted.
I think the other poster is probably right, they make batches up to fit orders on hand as needed and the least-demanded calibers get the short end of the production stick. The IRS kind of discourages outfits from keeping a large stock of finished product warehoused.
So you're probably looking at demand exceeding supply and maybe that current supply of new ones isn't good quality right now. Around here, .357 is a rare beast in a Marlin and $560 new would be decent, used goes close or even more. Hit the shows, you may get lucky. Or settle for a .44 Magnum right now, nothing says you can't have both.
Stan S.
