Home Business UPDATE: Marlin Stops Lever Rifle Production to “Maximize Capacity”

UPDATE: Marlin Stops Lever Rifle Production to “Maximize Capacity”

August 19, 2011

I just received an email from Marlin PR. I’d pinged them before yesterday’s post on a reported lever rifle production stoppage. Here’s their response. “There are 13 catalog skus that we are not building for the remainder of this year. We have extremely high demand and therefore we are trying to maximize our capacity by focusing on the products with the largest backorders.” So now you know, no? Know what? I don’t know. Do you?

16 COMMENTS

Brad Kozak August 19, 2011 At 10:53

Sounds like a load of corporate double-speak to me. Why even put out a press release on this? I mean, lots of gun manufacturers (Kimber springs to mind) are running at or over manufacturing capacity. Hell, Kimber basically ships allocations of whatever they can crank out to their dealers – they’re pretty much backordered on everything. The only legit reason I can see for this kind of press release is to function as a smokescreen for what’s REALLY going on, i.e.: solving some serious Q.C. issues.
Ralph August 19, 2011 At 11:05

Marlin is certainly maximizing something, and they’re knee deep in it.
miforest August 19, 2011 At 11:32

I call BS. now that henry, Rossi, and mossberg are offering leverguns now below their price point and they are in trouble.

besides they have Nardelli, so they’re DOOMED.
- cwp August 19, 2011 At 14:24
  
  So who makes the best budget leverguns these days? The wife is in the market for a .30-30.
  - Beer Brain August 19, 2011 At 16:16
    
    Henry.
    - Chris August 23, 2011 At 16:08
      
      Nope….Marlin from a pawn shop is the best budget gun around. All but 6 of mine are from Pawn shops. I purchased a .357 and a .44 in one stop and got both for under $350. The 3030 is everywhere from retail price to $125. I buy them and clean them up and or chop them down to Spikehorn spec.s and give them away to worthy boys (have,’n to a girl yet but…)
      If it says New Haven I’ll buy it.
      cw
    - John December 31, 2011 At 12:35
      
      Absolutely Henry. Their MSRP is pretty low to begin with but if you look at the on-line community of vendors, you’ll find extremely low prices and shipping costs and one company has a pre-approved list of FFL holders and their fees. Go to the Henry page and get the model number and then google it.
Matt H August 19, 2011 At 11:39

I don’t really understand this kind of PR. I mean, do they honestly think people are fooled by that kind of language? If they don’t want to talk about it, they just shouldn’t say anything. All the doublespeak just makes them look like a bunch of creeps.
BLAMMO August 19, 2011 At 12:10

Is there a press release?
- Robert Farago August 19, 2011 At 12:11
  
  Nope.
Chris Dumm August 19, 2011 At 12:24

A production hiatus, with the goal of fixing quality control, is a great idea. Disingenuous press releases (read: flat-out lies) about said production hiatus, however, are a cataclysmically stupid idea.

We’re just not stupid enough to swallow this line of BS about ‘concentrating on demand’, because all of the demand for Marlin products is for the lever-actions they’re halting production of! Cowboy action shooting has really taken off, and nothing kicks as much ass as pistol-caliber lever carbines.

I can’t believe for even one minute that Marlin is going to recover and survive as a brand by building low-price .22s and centerfire bolt-actions for the hyper-competitive Wal-Mart market. That’s like suggesting that Jeep would succeed by killing the Wrangler/CJ series and selling crap like the Compass.
Sean August 19, 2011 At 13:01

Better to fix the QC issues, retool, retrain, etc.

than risk losing reputation by allowing crap to leave the factory with your name on it
CUJO THE DOG OF WAR August 19, 2011 At 13:38

Too bad simple pride in a good job isn’t enough to stop the line and regroup…
Mike in Boise August 20, 2011 At 02:05

The PR is no surprise. Big business is a “top down” thing. You’ll never get middle mgt. to stick their neck out and air dirty laundry unless they’re on the way out the door. Upper mgt. never leaves the office, takes a complaint call or gets overly concerned about quality unless the lack of it causes a dip in sales. A PR like that says “I acknowledge your existence and it’s none of your business”. That’s O.K. Beyond the fact that I’ve had problems with the newer Marlin levers, it really isn’t any of my business. It’s not as though someone has a “reliable” firearm to my head to buy Marlins. I just vote with my checkbook and mostly, so does the rest of the world.
Michael Z. Williamson October 9, 2011 At 14:09

From what I understand, it’s not so much a QC issue as, “Our two lever experts quit when Remington relocated us” issue. They’re trying to find new smiths to do the fitting and working.

Hopefully they work it out shortly.
Aharon October 9, 2011 At 14:24

I sent emails to Ruger and Henry suggesting that they take up the opportunity with Marlin having lots of problems to make cowboy lever action .44 and .357 magnum carbines. I don’t want the Henry .357 model because of the brass, weight, and price. I want a .357 lever action that I can customize to make it into a cowboy tactical carbine.