Why I hope you will never reward Marlin with your business!

[Raven Armament]

Im looking at buying a bolt action hunting gun and I doubt it will be a US made gun. Looking at Sako guns now.

Sako/Tikka are great guns. Sako 75 in .375 H&H and a Tikka M595 in 7mm-08 were both very great guns. Seller's remorse.

[a0cake]

I'm not sure how long ago, but I know it was recently, Remington started producing and supporting many of Marlin's lever guns. Marlin used make some of the best lever guns around until Remington got involved. By all accounts Marlin's lever actions have now gone to shit. Hopefully I'm wrong but this "Freedom Group" family of companies seems to be sticking its dick in the prospect of quality made American firearms.

[crusader377]

Its a shame that Marlin seems to have gone so far downhill in terms of quality. I only own one, a Marlin 39 built in 1953. Even though I shoot it almost everytime that I go out to the range and it must have tens of thousands of rounds through it, I still is very reliable and shoots much better than all of my friend's much more modern semi-auto .22s. One thing looking at the rifle is that it is amazing how much quality manufacturers put in relatively basic rifles in the old days. The blueing and woodwork on my old marlin is better than many expensive rifles that are sold today.

[montanadave]

Anybody else suspect a connection between the apparent decline in Marlin's QC and CS and the company being acquired by Freedom Group, a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management, a major private equity firm?

There's another thread (http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=93479) discussing a recent NYT article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/bu...=1&_r=2&ref=us) about Freedom Group, which in the past 4-5 years has scooped up Bushmaster, DPMS, Marlin, Remington, and a handful of other firearm accessories and ammunition suppliers.

Gordon Gecko might be the go-to guy for turning a fast buck on Wall Street, but I don't know if I want him building my rifle.

And this kind of bums me out because a Marlin Model 1894 chambered in .357 mag. was on my short list.

[VLODPG]

Par for the course lately, unfortunately. Marlin was such a good company. I hope they can get it together soon.

It was a good company but everything that was Marlin, except the name, was lost when they shut down North Haven CT operations!

[LoboTBL]

...Sadly, this no longer means much. The firearms industry should have studied history (U.S. automakers) instead of resting on its laurels and relying on their name brands' reputations. Many of the American firearm manufacturers are mere shells of what they once were.

Its all part of the WalMartization of America. U.S. consumers measuring value by price vs. quality.

[hickuleas]

I purchased a new Marlin 1894 in 44 Mag around twenty years ago. Shot it and later that night when i was cleaning rifle i put a bore light down barrel. To my surprise light was coming out of barrel where it wasn't supposed to. When rifle was made the feed tube barrrel band screw hole was drilled all the way into the barrel. Marlin replaced the barrel and rifle was returned in a timely manner.

[Hizzie]

Find a nice used Interarms Mark X/Whitworth or Remington 798 in .458WM. Wisconsin Cartridge Corp loads a 405gr RNSP @ 2200fps. Hunting Shack Munitions loads a 350gr FPSP @ 2500fps. Both sell for about ~40/box and would work for any NA game. I love the look and feel of the Marlin big loop's but there is nothing like a CRF mauser for things that bite back.

Full disclosure: I am totally biased. http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=88949

[Jake'sDad]

I just took my old Marlins out of the safe and hugged them.

[Abraxas]

Anybody else suspect a connection between the apparent decline in Marlin's QC and CS and the company being acquired by Freedom Group, a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management, a major private equity firm?

There's another thread (http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=93479) discussing a recent NYT article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/bu...=1&_r=2&ref=us) about Freedom Group, which in the past 4-5 years has scooped up Bushmaster, DPMS, Marlin, Remington, and a handful of other firearm accessories and ammunition suppliers.

Gordon Gecko might be the go-to guy for turning a fast buck on Wall Street, but I don't know if I want him building my rifle.

And this kind of bums me out because a Marlin Model 1894 chambered in .357 mag. was on my short list.

Careful, you are sounding awfully tinfoil finding conspiracies and such. As to the OP I am sorry to hear this. I used to be a pretty big fan of theirs, but then most of my experiences with them were a few years back or are with their guns that are a few years old.