Marlin Clone

[smokepole06]

What do you think about the import guns copying Marlin?
http://www.rossiusa.com/news-detail.cfm?newsID=27

[Siskiyou]

Ugh

[Empty Quiver]

Marlin ( rem/ceberis/dpms/bushmaster/chrysler/notreallysure) is still doing a pretty good job making Marlins. Once they work through all the old barn siding they bought for stocks I'd like to find a .357 chambered carbine.

[smokepole06]

I looked at some pics of the Rossi in a magazine, it looks as much like a 336 as the Taurus pistols [Rossi owned by Taurus] looks like S&W Revolvers. I do not see how they get by with it. I guess only have to change 1 thing to fool a patent.

[Richard P]

Patents expire, they arent immortal.

[eastbank]

i don,t think the rossie lever actions look or feel anything like a marlin lever action, and i own win,s, marlin,s and a rossie. in the dark with one eye closed i can tell the difference between the rossie,s and the win and marlins lever actions. eastbank.

[Swampman]

Having owned Rossis in the past I'm not interested in anything made by Rossi.

[Throckmorton]

They may look like  a marlin on the outside,but it's wht's inside the improt guns that tells the tale.Very poor grade steels and finishing is what I always find. I'd buy a Marlin any day before i'd buy this one.I do like my old Rossi model 92,b but my very old Marlin is twice the gun.

[.Dirty-.30]

If I were dead, I'd roll over a couple times.     .DT

[uncledub]

If I were dead, I'd roll over a couple times.     .DT

I may use that one.

With Marlins available, why would you want a copy?

[smokepole06]

Cheap Imports! Why have Remington 870 Clones from China? Some people, maybe not here, but you know the type, I work with some, would buy it because it was $25 cheaper and looked the same. They do not care! America is full of people like that these days.

[MSP Ret]

I have a couple of Marlin 336's and would not buy or accept a Rossi to replace one. I also shoot and enjoy H&R/NEF Handirifles. Rossi makes a single shot rifle to try to compete with the H&R's and they are not one half, not one quarter, the gun the H&R is. Rossi is trying to get rich selling we Americans loust copies of firearms, made out of the country, that resemble our "Made in the USA" firearms. Don't fall for it....<><....

[uncledub]

Cheap Imports! Why have Remington 870 Clones from China? Some people, maybe not here, but you know the type, I work with some, would buy it because it was $25 cheaper and looked the same. They do not care! America is full of people like that these days.

Save $25 and put an American out of a job.   Maybe that could be a slogan for a political party.  Yeah, right.  I buy quality American products made by American workers.  If we would read the labels on all our purchases, we might just keep this Great Country alive a few more years.

[Keith L]

Cheap Imports! Why have Remington 870 Clones from China? Some people, maybe not here, but you know the type, I work with some, would buy it because it was $25 cheaper and looked the same. They do not care! America is full of people like that these days.

Save $25 and put an American out of a job.   Maybe that could be a slogan for a political party.  Yeah, right.  I buy quality American products made by American workers.  If we would read the labels on all our purchases, we might just keep this Great Country alive a few more years.

I am pleased that Marlin is to be still made in America.  It is harder all the time to find things we still make here.  The WalMart philosophy has had us export our manufacturing base.

[Savage .250]

    As we all know.................it ain`t a marlin!     

[SmokeEater2]

I know that I'm old,grouchy and set in my ways but this is just plain wrong! If it looks like a Marlin then it oughta' be made in the good ol' USA by MARLIN! Seems like we're in an awful big hurry to sell our country one peice at a time for cheap crap. 

[briannmilewis]

Here is how some of the jobs have gone overseas: Pretend I am a computer maker like Apple. I have 3 or 4 manufacturing plants in the U.S., another in Ireland etc, that Apple owns and is responsible for. I can build and sell a Mac and make $1000 profit. One day my number crunchers come to me and tells me we could sell all our manufacturing plants, still design the computers in the US and have someone in Asia build them to our rigorous standards, and we can still make $1000 profit per computer, and we do not have to maintain manufacturing plants, equipment and people.

Now, this works OK for Apple, becasue they have very rigorous manufacturing standards. Where it doesn't work, is the slack companies that do not require top manufacturing quality for stuff made off-shore.

However, the gotcha is if they keep moving jobs off shore, there will be no more folks who make good money from their manufacturing jobs back here to buy all the crap they are importing rather than making here.

[robert4570]

I know that I'm old,grouchy and set in my ways but this is just plain wrong! If it looks like a Marlin then it oughta' be made in the good ol' USA by MARLIN! Seems like we're in an awful big hurry to sell our country one peice at a time for cheap crap. 

Here here,
You took the words out of my mouth.

[petemi]

I'm a Republican....but Richard Nixon.....why'd ya ever open trade with China?......that's where our jobs are still going.

Pete

[Joe S.]

I'm on the waiting list to buy the Rossi ranch hand because I will never be able to afford a JB Customs mares leg (that I think is imported anyway), but for there to be no more difference in price of the rossi rio grande and the 336... Make mine a 336 please!

[JPShelton]

The write-up on the Rossi lever guns in the current issue of American Rifleman has to be one of the worst pieces of firearms journalism to ever grace that publication's pages.  It reads like shameless PR copy.  It really, really, really had me missing Finn Aagaard.

The new Rossi Rio Grande 336 clone might totally suck.  It might be okay.  It might be stellar.  But as long as my 34 year old real Marlin 336 keeps on tickin,' I'll never have a compelling reason to know for sure, one way or the other, on the basis of first-hand experience.

That said, it doesn't seem to offer anything that a real 336 doesn't, but seems to lack a few things that make a real 336 attractive -things like a FORGED receiver (the Rossi's is supposedly an investment casting) and real black walnut stocks (vs. Brazilian hardwood) and the Micro Groove rifling in the barrel.

I can see a point to their M-92 clone, as Winchester quit making real M-92's long ago.  I might see a point to an M-94 knock-off, too.  But an investment-cast copy of a 336 seems pretty pointless while Marlin is still cranking out the real thing.

If, heaven forbid, my 336 should totally give up the ghost, or get stolen, and a replacement does become needed, I won't be looking for a Rossi to replace it.  I'll instead be looking for a nice old pre-CBS 336.  Since they made millions of them, finding one shouldn't be too hard.

-JP

[Rangr44]

Maybe, there's SO many imported people in the US these last several years, that some folks just want a gun made in their motherland - can Mexican guns for America be far away ?   

.

[Dee]

So the NRA and American Rifleman are promoting Foreign made rifles, when Marlin is still trying to sell rifles? That doesn't sound like anything the NRA would do.

[Lloyd Smale]

the new marlins can be junky enough as it is. i sure dont want to fool with a cheap copy.

[JPShelton]

So the NRA and American Rifleman are promoting Foreign made rifles, when Marlin is still trying to sell rifles? That doesn't sound like anything the NRA would do.

I don't have a problem with foriegn made guns.  I likewise don't have a problem with American Rifleman doing a feature on a foriegn gun, foriegn guns, or foreign gun makers.  

I do, however, have a problem with the "shamless plug" nature of that piece in the current American Rifleman on the Rossi stuff.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that American Rifleman is a shadow of its former self, displaying a lack of journalistic integrity when it runs poo like the Rossi Informercial article. It used to be put together by knowledgable folks who could actually write above a sixth grade level and do it well -folks like Aagaard, Dickey, and Hunnicutt.  Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case now.

There might be a point to the Rossi Rio Grande that I am missing.  Frankly, I don't see what Rossi has to gain by making a cheap copy of a rifle still in production.  The article in American Rifleman added absolutely no illumination on the subject,  either, when it might have done, if it were researched and written like a feature article and not ad or press release copy.  I'd really like to know a bit about the thought process behind bringing the Rio Grande to market, mostly because it doesn't make any sense at all to me.  

-JP

[JPShelton]

the new marlins can be junky enough as it is. i sure dont want to fool with a cheap copy.

"They don't make 'em like they used to" is an often used refrain these days.  From what I've seen of Marlin's latest production, the phrase seems to fit.

My first firearm was a Marlin 336 that my parents gave me when I was going on 12.  I've owned it for 34 years.  Because the 336 was my first gun, I kind of have a soft spot in my heart for them.

When Marlin came out with the .308 Marlin Express, I was VERY tempted to jump on board.  Can't really say that I am impressed with the fit and finish of the 308 MX's that I've looked over (or the pair of 336's and 1894SS in the local gunshop, for that matter) which is one of the main reasons why I don't own one.

-JP

[Happy]

As I see it if Rossi can build a Marlin clone that sells , then Marlin would be looking at their own product .
It is not that Marlin needs to undersell , rather shape up with their q/c and not for instance ship out guns with the wrong front site, which they have on the guide for years, and have barrels that are not over bore.( I ask where do you get a 459.5 jacketed bullet for the 45/70? Marlin says it is within spec.I wondered why I could not get the rifle to goup under three inch's on a rest, with any load until I measured the bore .
They have problems with the ME rounds not loading properly . It took some one on the Marlin Forum to see what was going on with these rifles, and come up with a quick solution , which any one could do . Marlin how ever has not resolved that, nor the tight chamber problems on some units . Are they asleep ?
They have a problem with the trigger guard not standing up on their bolt actions . The fix is to use a metal guard from one of their twenty -two models . Yet they continue to put out the product as it is .
It is up to the comsumer to resolve at their own cost.Marlin figures it is cheaper to repair the one's they get back , since their are not that many units returned , so they can just use up the parts on hand .

To some of us north of you in Canada , where we need to import firearms , it makes no difference if the firearm comes from the states or South America , or oversea's , we just would like to be able to use something out of the box and not have to fix it first .

So if Rossi can build a beter unit, or even should we see something from across the pond , I think it just might be something the american gun makers need to clean up their own house .
Now you might get ticked off at me for saying something . I think you guys need to direct it to companys like Marlin to save american jobs at home.

[goofyoldfart]

.
Now you might get ticked off at me for saying something . I think you guys need to direct it to companys like Marlin to save american jobs at home.

@ happy: can't really get ticked off at you for telling the truth. what we need to do is let the Companies know that we are not satisfied with half done products and then put our money were our mouths are. 

[petemi]

The entire Rossi/Taurus line is nothing but cheap imitations of quality U.S made firearms.  We as a nation need to get smart and quit buying the junk and put them out of business.

Pete

[catman50plus]

Pete, I have to agree with you. I do own Marlins, and have shot a lot of rounds through them, and have never had a major problem with them at all. I do have to say that they are not what they once were in the quality, and the price is another thing. The only R/T  copy that I have handled and liked was the 62 and 63. The 62 is an early one and the 63 I have had for 7 years now, and it too is great, and well made. I don't mind shooting it, but don't like to take the Winchester out much now, because someone wants to handle it. I do own both in Winchester, but you can tell a difference if you handle them much like said before.