Anyone own a Marlin 1895 GSBL?

[Averageman]

I've wanted a Guide Gun for a while and this one popped up.
The questions I have;
Can anyone give a good range report?
Has Marlin Q/C gotten better? I have read there were some real issues when Remington took over.
How happy are you with the over all fit and finish?
Are you using optics and if so which ones?

I was considering a Guide Gun for Hogs, I would like a small tough red dot to go along with it.

[Zim]

I have an 1895 SBL and haven't had any problems with it. The fit and finish on mine is great. The grain of the wood is straight, even, and parallel. There's no gapping or dings to be found anywhere. It's functioned flawlessly for the ~100 rounds I've put through it over the last year. I don't have a dedicated optic on it yet, but it will be getting its own red dot at some point. Worth noting, though, is that the SBL comes with the scout rail for mounting optics while the GSBL does not.

That said, I did see a couple other SBL's at my FLGS with uneven and off-parallel wood grain, gapping, and some weird grittiness to the lever. Caveat emptor.

[jerhelo]

I've wanted a Guide Gun for a while and this one popped up.
The questions I have;
Can anyone give a good range report?
Has Marlin Q/C gotten better? I have read there were some real issues when Remington took over.
How happy are you with the over all fit and finish?
Are you using optics and if so which ones?

I was considering a Guide Gun for Hogs, I would like a small tough red dot to go along with it.

I have the 1895 SBL and absolutely love it, hard hitter and fun to shoot. I have absolutely nothing but positive to say, wood grain is perfect, everything functions perfectly, no feed or ejection issues and it is pretty accurate with the ghost rings. I do not have an optic yet but am ringing the steel with irons at 200 yards all day long. haven't pushed it any further than that but IMHO it is a 100yard or less gun without an optic let alone the bullet drop beyond 200 yards. I am running the 325 grain Hornaday FTX rounds mostly and some 405 blunt lead rounds as well.

[FlyingHunter]

Got one with a Leupold DPP on top. Mines an older model but has been rock solid reliable. It's my strapped to the ATV as an "on the farm" gun and get's little attention in regards to maintenance. Rain, dust, whatever. The fit and finish got banged up early and often as a farm gun. That was its intended use. Trigger is a little tough compared my nice AR after market triggers but it works. I can keep a 6" group at 100yds with a red dot lobbing the favorite old 405gr in kinda like mortar rounds. Younger eyes I'm sure would do better. Within that 100yd range it's a show stopper for whitetails.

[Bluto]

I bought one sight unseen off of gallery of guns because I could not find one locally. I figured an action job into the price and am glad I did. The wood on mine was ok, but the action was terrible.

I was going to go with a low magnification scope on it but ended up with Skinner Alaskan sights and could it be happier!

[BKennedy]

Had one a few years ago that was stone cold reliable and very accurate. Hard times forced me to sell it and I recently bought another. I haven't been able to fire two rounds in a row through it yet without a hard lockup requiring disassembly. Sent it in to Remington, got it back in under two weeks but haven't been able to verify function yet.

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YMMV

[Watrdawg]

I have an older 45-70 Guide gun with a Leupold 2.5 power scout scope on it and love it. Recoil is just a bit stout!! Actually it will knock the snot out of you with pull power Buffalo Bore loads. They have a reduced power load that is awesome. My son shot a 300lb black bear with it last winter and dropped it in its tracks.