I was fortunate to find a new Ruger made Marlin 336 at my local Gun Store (Sheels) The price was $150 less than MSRP so I bought it. In the store I looked it over for cosmetic issues and didn’t see any. Rifle fit and finish looked excellent. The lever was zip tied closed so never tried it in store.
Upon getting home and removing the zip tie. I found the lever was almost impossible to open. I had to brace the butt stock on a hard surface and apply significant up force to open.
Once open it functions normally but once fully closed it was locked up tight.
Upon Further inspection I found the lever plunger pin was over engaging. After some buffing and lubricant it began to function normal.
The second gremlin was discovered as I cleaned the gun in preparation for the range. The front sight was extremely loose. I took off the sight hood and found the screws barely engaged. Lucky they tightened up without issue.
How did this gun pass inspection at the factory?
Lucky that the issues were simple enough to solve without sending it back.
One other notable issue was my box contained the wrong user manual. In place of the 336 manual I was given a 1895 model manual. Called Ruger and they are sending me one. So all is good.
Good news the gun shot well at the range with 3 different types of ammo all just slightly over 1 MOA. Happy with that. Lever is working correctly now.
Upon getting home and removing the zip tie. I found the lever was almost impossible to open. I had to brace the butt stock on a hard surface and apply significant up force to open.
Once open it functions normally but once fully closed it was locked up tight.
Upon Further inspection I found the lever plunger pin was over engaging. After some buffing and lubricant it began to function normal.
The second gremlin was discovered as I cleaned the gun in preparation for the range. The front sight was extremely loose. I took off the sight hood and found the screws barely engaged. Lucky they tightened up without issue.
How did this gun pass inspection at the factory?
Lucky that the issues were simple enough to solve without sending it back.
One other notable issue was my box contained the wrong user manual. In place of the 336 manual I was given a 1895 model manual. Called Ruger and they are sending me one. So all is good.
Good news the gun shot well at the range with 3 different types of ammo all just slightly over 1 MOA. Happy with that. Lever is working correctly now.