Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid
I have a 45-70 recent manufacture. Damn already rusting just from sitting in the cab of my truck.
The stainless model would be of interest.
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If "recent manufacture" means since about 2010, your Marlin was manufactured by Remington, who acquired them in 2007. Remington shut down the original North Haven, Connecticut facility and laid off the entire staff in 2010, moving production to Mayfield, Kentucky. Quality of Marlin firearms manufactured in their new facility does not even begin to approach those made in North Haven. Inferior machining, inferior fit, and inferior finishes. As you have found, the "blued" ones (and no, it's not really blueing, it's some cheap ass finish that doesn't even look like blueing) are very prone to rusting. It's a crying shame, bordering on criminal, what Remington has done to Marlin, once one of the proudest manufacturers of firearms in the United States.
If you want a "real" Marlin, an example of the firearms on which they built their reputation, you need to get a North Haven Marlin. Fortunately, there were millions made, and prices remain reasonable.
Here are my three Marlins. From left to right, a Model 39A "Mountie" .22, a Model 1894 "Cowboy" in .45 Colt, and a standard Model 1895 in .45-70. The latter has been one of my main "go-to" rifles for big (sometimes nasty) critters in thick cover for over 30 years. It has spent an inordinate amount of time in our wet Pacific Northwest and Alaskan coastal forests and has
never rusted, in spite of being carbon steel.
