remington bought marlin in 2007 then closed the factory soon after and moved marlin mfg. to ny and kentucky ,they still dont have all models back in production and those that are people say are not of the quality that they used to be ,but it seems to be improving ,your 1964 model is well in the real marlin zone, there has been so much of this in the last several years ,it bothers me every time i pass the former thompson center factory location ( smith and wesson bought them and moved mfg. to mass. ) many of there products are not back in production ,cust.service is nowhere near what it was ,it's all about corporate greed . by the way ,thats a nice looking rifle but it's funny to see that type of sight on a lever action although you proved how good it works.
Yours is definitely a pre-Remington. Remington (well, The Freedom Group who owns Remington) bought Marlin in 2007, and shut down the Marlin plant and moved the production equipment to their own facilities in 2010. Around that time the quality of the Marlin lever actions started going downhill, to the point that Remington actually stopped production of the 1894 citing worn out equipment. There’s been speculation if the lower quality is because of poor quality control, disgruntled Marlin employees, or if the equipment truly was worn out. But most people will pay more for a “pre-Remington” Marlin lever action with “JM” stamped on the barrel than a “Remington owned” gun with “REP” stamped on the barrel. Mine was made in 1981, long before Marlin’s quality was questioned.
Nice deer, be a good one for the freezer. I've always hunted the young tender ones, have taken a couple "nice" bucks out of necessity. A quick, clean kill improves the quality of the finished product, no matter the size/age of the critter.
Oops, didn't see your reply for some reason. As to the sights, I wasn’t impressed with the factory sights and was going to buy a Skinner peep sight but figured I’d put that on my Christmas list instead. I actually put a scope on the lever action and put about 10 different types of ammo through it for accuracy testing right after I bought it last month, but I hunt in thick woods and never get a shot past 30-40 yards so a scope is useless to me. I had a couple of these red dots on my .22’s for a couple years and love them for fast target acquisition so I figured I’d throw one on the lever gun and try it out. I really like it so far.
Congrats. You're doing better than me this year. What kind of red dot is that? Never seen one on a lever gun.
It's a Bushnell TRS-25. I think they're one of the best sub $100 (maybe even sub $200) red dot sights available. I've had one for 5 years and another for 3 years and both are still going strong.
I've been debating going with that or the Primary Arms Micro (older, cheaper one) for my AR. Good to hear you like your TRS-25. I've also been thinking of a red dot for my turkey gun and considered, again, both the TRS-25 and the Primary Arms.
