I don't own a Remington rifle and never did. However, I have examined several Model 700s recently at Gander Mountain and Basspro and even to my admittedly non expert eyes, they looked terribly put together with uneven gaps on virtually every rifle that I have seen recently between the wood and the barrel. I did make the mistake of buying some Remington ammunition for my Mauser rifle and though the box looked new on the outside, when I opened it at home (it was sealed) every round in it had verdigris on it and was dented at some place on the case. In India I have shot thousands of rounds of old Remington 22 lr ammunition over the years and have never had a problem but in recent years their quality did seem to go down the drain.

When I decided to buy a 22 lr rifle mainly to get my wife started shooting, the choice at the time was between the Marlin 60 and the Remington 597. In Wisconsin at the time every 597 owner I spoke to at my gun club seemed to have feeding problems with his/her rifle. I bought a Marlin 60 and have never had problems with it except when I try to shoot hollowpoint ammunition.

I hope the new owners of the Marlin business decide to work hard on the quality and ensure that the existing Marlin line does not get "Remingtonised." It would be a sad end to the Marlin name if the same people who ran Remington into the ground forcing the company to be sold, mess Marlin up as well.