looking at a new marlin 336 30-30

whats the story, are they g2g now?

From what I’ve seen posted here the QC has come back around. Not sure if it’s as good as the JM days though. Maybe someone can give a more in depth review.

I won't buy a Marlin even though I've been wanting a lever action .357 Mag.  
About a year ago a friend bought a Model 336 and a Model 60.  The Model 60 grouped like a shotgun and is back at Marlin for a new barrel.  The Model 336 locks up randomly and will be going back to Marlin too.

The only way I would consider getting a Marlin is if I can examine it thoroughly before purchase.

I traded for a 336 this summer that was produced in early 2017.  According to several reviews I'd read on another forum, they had ironed out all the wrinkles by this time.

Fit and finish seem to be fine.  Remington is putting their matte finish on now instead of the old gloss blue.  I myself prefer the matte finish.  It has a good looking walnut stock and forearm on it.  It functions fine.  I put a Leupold scope on it, sighted it in and then hid it until Christmas.  We gave it to my 12 year old son as his first big boy hunting rifle.

The next week after Christmas was the last youth hunt and the first time he shot his new rifle he killed a deer with it.  Overall I really like the rifle and digging the cool experience.

I've got one that was made in 13 or 14. It does everything I expect it to do. Is it an moa gun? No. They never were. Will it kill a deer at 100 yards if you do your part? Absolutely. It's not a Browning blr in terms of fit and finish or smoothness but it was never intended to be. It's a hunting rifle. They are heavy I will say that. I wouldn't be afraid to own another one.

I bought a new 336y not quite a year ago. It's actually a pretty nice gun.

My .45/70 is really nice too. Smooth action, nice trigger, accurate, and if anything, the polish and bluing are better than my older JM Marlins.
Some of the old timers on marlinowners.com are still steamed up about the takeover, and will forever badmouth "Remlins", but there are more and more reports there from guys who have one, and they have no issues.
The only things I'd be concerned about with those made recently are sharp edges around the loading gate, slightly mismatched wood, and if you get an octagon barrel model, they tend to round off the edges of the flats.
One I bought in 2013, right after the bad ones, was fine except for a butt stock that didn't match. I called Marlin, and they sent out a nice butt stock, no charge.
Another CBA I bought last year that was made in 2016 was also great, except for a sharp loading gate opening. When I had it apart, I softened the edges with emery cloth. To be honest every Marlin, old or new (and every Rossi) I've had, needed some gate edges smoothed up. No big deal.


Last year I handled a .45 Colt Cowboy at a Sportsman's Warehouse in Phoenix. I looked it over with a fine tooth comb, worked the action, tried the trigger.
I could fine nothing wrong with it. I considered buying it, but since I was going back to Montana, ended up buying the .45/70 instead.
A couple months ago I found an older JM Cowboy, like new but made in 1988, for $750, about what the new one at Sportsman's cost.

I can say with certainty the only differences were that the new one had that stupid bar code stamp on the receiver, and the old one will have better resale value because it is a JM. Other than that is was a toss up.
The new one did have better polishing/deeper bluing. The old one did not have a sharp loading gate, but the action was quite stiff, as it hadn't been shot much. I polished the normal areas, and had to take a coil off of the hammer spring and plunger spring as they made the cycling jerky.
The old Cowboy .45 I have now took more effort to cycle than the new one, although internal parts like the locking block were smoother finish than the new ones.

This may be a dumb question but how do you figure out when the rifle was built it it is newly made, is it on the box somewhere?

I handled a 336Y last weekend that perked up my interest but I am scared of the new production crap monsters.

Westmalle, the "scary" Remlin years will have a prefix of 87/MR to 91 or so, before the serial number.
http://leeroysramblings.com/Gun%20Articles/marlin_manfg_date_code.html
Any Prefix with MR in it, along with a barrel marking of REP with a circle around it, indicates a Remlin, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
After 2013 or so they got their act together.
Unless the rifle in question has been sitting on the shelf for 5 or 6 years, it won't be one of the "scary" Remlins.