What would you do?

S

scarysharp

Joined
Mar 4, 2008
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I've already taken a course of action but I'm curious to hear what my fellow forums members would do.

As deer season approches I've got long guns on my mind :).
I had a 30-30 Winchester I got from a trade and really never used it much, upon further inspection I realized that the dovetail for the front sight was not cut perpendicular to the receiver/action, hence giving the shooter a front sight that "leans" to the right :( Terrible!!
I took it to the local gun store and did a trade and cash for a new Marlin 336 in 35 Remington. Great... so now I have big bore rifle I could use on a rainy day. So I get home and I start to give what appears to be the untreated Walnut stock a coat of boiled linseed oil. Upon further inspection I see that the where the rear stock and the reciever are attached that it is a pretty sloppy job - the inletting is a little deeper than it should be, and the receiver to grip fit is less than stellar, probably off close to an 1/8".

What would you do??
 
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Lay down the money to buy a new rifle and quit buying other peoples' problem children?
 
Weird, I thought you were buying used guns too. Uhh, I would return it,:confused: Uhh.
 
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scarysharp said:
Uhh, it is a brand new rifle.
Thanks for your brilliance though :rolleyes:
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You're welcome. A "brilliant" person would return a "new" problem child gun to the store it came from and look for a better brand of firearm. Possibly one whose stock has been finished? If you can't tell the difference, ask a knowledgable friend to accompany you, or ask a gunsmith for help.
 
You could inspect the rifle before you buy, I've never had a problem looking anything over that I'm going to buy.
 
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So like most people, you would think "Hey I'll bring it back to the seller, its unfired, maybe they can do something" as they are the retailer.
Well they were kinda helpful, but excellent service is not what I would bestow upon them
 
Here's what I would do with the understanding that "returning" new registered firearms isn't an easy thing to do:

1. Show it to the gun shop you bought it from and see what they say. Don't expect them to do much, because once registered and you take it home, it's considered a used gun.
2. If it doesn't affect the way that it shoots (.35 cal Marlin 336 is a great rifle BTW), then leave it be and shoot lots of deer with it. It would probably be my last Marlin, but these days fit and finish on even much more expensive rifles isn't always great.

Go kill some nice deer.
 
Planetcat said:
Here's what I would do with the understanding that "returning" new registered firearms isn't an easy thing to do:

1. Show it to the gun shop you bought it from and see what they say. Don't expect them to do much, because once registered and you take it home, it's considered a used gun.
2. If it doesn't affect the way that it shoots (.35 cal Marlin 336 is a great rifle BTW), then leave it be and shoot lots of deer with it. It would probably be my last Marlin, but these days fit and finish on even much more expensive rifles isn't always great.

Go kill some nice deer.
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Yep, planetcat you just about nailed it. I went back to the shop where I got it, more to look at other Marlin 336's but the only one left was in 45-70 caliber. It was finished much nicer, and fitted properly. They pretty much told me I was better off calling Marlin myself, that Marlin would provide a shipping label and all. Well the nice lady at Marlin did just that, sent me a pre-paid, pre-insured UPS label with a Service request for their repair dept.
I was advised to ship it to them with my request in writing and they would take care of it. So off it goes in the AM and I'm hopefull they will do the right thing, I would hate for this to be the last Marlin I buy because of that. I am partly to blame for not looking it over more carefully, I guess I was just happy to get a new rifle and should have realized "new" doesnt necessarily mean perfect.
Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst.
 
I've heard Marlin has great customer service and sounds like they are doing everything they can to make amends. It probably a pain for you to do that, but if they fix it right for you, that's about all you can expect. I probably wouldn't write them off if everything comes out nice in the end. Give us a post when you get it back. Hopefully your deer season won't be over by then.
 
Well, Marlin will probably make it right.

For what it's worth, you can closely examine any gun and make yourself unhappy. If your standards are gonna be sky high(?!), then only consider pristine, beautifully manufactured guns. These cost way more than average.

The first time you hunt with a gorgeous rifle, you'll just slip and put a huge bash in it. I think you're swimming upstream on this.

Hey, it's your wallet. Spend until you achieve gun Nirvana.
 
Well the firearm is back from Marlin and guess what? They didnt fix the problem.:mad:
I spent the time to include a letter describing what was wrong with the gun, how very poorly fitted stock to the receiver was. Like I mentioned in the original post, other marlins I looked at appeared to be fitted much much better, guess I just got the lemon out of the bunch. What really shocked me was that he repair order I got back states that the barrel was actually replaced :eek: I never even shot the gun!!. Granted I know its not Blazer, or Beretta quality but the stock shouldnt be sitting 1/8 proud on one side of the reciever and 1/8 shallow on the other side. I just got off the phone with CS @ Marlin and will send it back, hopefully it will get resolved properly.

Just a little rant I needed to get off my chest.

Happy hunting all
 
There are nice aftermarket walnut stocks available for these weapons. Happiness may be only a VISA card/ UPS truck away.

Personally, I say shoot any new rifle you acquire, first. If they are particularly accurate specimen, I think you will find it much easier in your heart to forgive them their sins. I have a lot of trouble holding anything against accurate rifles.
 
I kinda know what you mean about the accuracy and all that jive, but I guess from my perspective its a brand new gun, why should I have to spend money on an after market stock when I should just be able to have the manufacturer make it right in the first place?
If you saw my rifle compared to other exact models on the shelf, which really are finished nicely you would probably pursue the same avenue as me. I mean heck almost 600 bucks, why not have them make it right?

Especially when their warranty is worded like this:

What is Marlin's Warranty?

FIVE YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY AGAINST DEFECTS IN MATERIAL AND WORKMANSHIP

I'm not looking for Super Grade style workmanship but heck, let 'em honor their words. Hopefully Customer Service will pan out to be all they claim to be.



12.19 - Well I'm getting a little pi$$ed of with Marlin now. Its been a few weeks since I returned the firearm (again). It mystifies me that they did repair I didnt ask for with a 2 week turnaround, and now almost four weeks and two e-mails later I havent heard a thing. Tried using their on-line repair tracking utilty and that dont work.
Oh, yeah called them directly too, "but due to the increased call volume your wait time is 15 minutes". I just dont have the time right now so I'll have to call them later when I'm not doing anything :rolleyes:
 
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