Fanner50 -- Your experience is a good example of what's happening to the U.S sporting arms industry. Marlin buys these guns from overseas to sell under the NEF brand name, and they just switched models, or maybe even suppliers, without telling anyone. Might have had trouble with the shotguns that were originally sold as Excels, or just got a better deal from another supplier. It's a darn shame that an old company like Marlin or H&R/NEF does this sort of thing. Makes me wonder how long they will keep the Massachusetts NEF plant running, if they can get a better deal on something made overseas. We all saw what FN did with the old Winchester factory. What a world we live in!