r/guns – Update on Crownless Ruger-made Marlin 1895 Trapper

Update on my Ruger-made Marlin 1895 Trapper

Nearly a month ago, I posted about my new Ruger-made Marlin Trapper 1895. It came to me from the factory without a crown on the Muzzle.

The timeline from receiving my gun, posting here, shipping the rifle, and receiving it back was updated in the old post ill copy below.

Edit 8/17 7:03 MST – i called Ruger twice this morning. Once at 6 and once at 7 my time which is 8 and 9 for the Marlin guys in NC – both times, get to the Marlin option in the automated system and the Marlin line says “our office is currently closed due to unforeseen circumstances” and automatically ends the call. Edit 8/17 17:27 MST – i worked with Ruger thru email. They asked for pictures, i sent pictures, they said they’d take the rifle in for repair or replacement, i said ok, they sent label. Ill package it up tonight and Hopefully i can ship it out tomorrow after work. I did have to call at one point in the process and She said estimated turn around time on their end was 7-10 days for Marlin’s shop. So ill send the gun off and then its a waiting game. Edit 8/23- firearm package delivered to Marlin for repair. Edit 8/24. I received email notification that gun was fixed on 8/24 and received shipping tracking number. Eta 8/31. Edit 8/31: rifle arrived repaired and good to go today. Will shoot it tomorrow and make up a review video for the weekend.

I did receive the gun on 8/31, so they had a one-day turnaround time on the gun. Many people who commented and spoke of months-long turnaround times were speaking of Remington’s Marlin, so this has changed.

Now – I went and shot the new Marlin, and got fantastic groups from 5, 10, 15, and 25 yards, both standing, bench rested, and prone at my indoor range. I plan on a bigger trip to the desert to test loads at various distances when Utah stops being so damn hot outside.

I did read a review from WolfsPrairieOutdoors saying that he had issues with his Trapper hanging up when rapid fire. His diagnosis with Marlin was a defect in early loading gates – it would cause the rounds to catch up on the gate and not be fully released from the tube onto the elevator, and lock up the gun hard. I didnt have this issue, but because my rifle was so early of a serial number (more on that later), I wanted to try that failure. I was able to induce the failure at home, so I bought a Ranger Point Precision loading gate and now I can’t get the failure to happen.

With the serial number thing – New Marlins have the serial prefix RM for “Ruger Marlin” or “Ruger Made”. Most I have seen in videos start with RM000#### because theyre brand new. Ive seen some videos with the SBL, since it was released first, in the 2000’s. But my Trapper is RM000103#, which is super early. A comment from WolfsPrairieOutdoors on Youtube says that he heard Marlin is taking blemished stainless SBL receivers and beadblasting them to matte stainless for the trapper, which makes a ton of sense. Unsure if thats true or not, but theres not a difference in the serial numbering sequence between SBL and Trapper so it’s entirely plausible.

So why dont I hate this faulty piece of shit?

Well, a ton of the comments in my first post were eager to jump on a bashing train of Marlin, Remington, Ruger, and even referencing some shit Marlins from the 80s and 90s, which leads me to make some pretty generalized inferences and create some of my own opinion on the quality of JM, Remlin and RugLin.

First, we gun people are just super opinionated. If you like what you like, youll tell everyone. If you hate something, you reallllly hate it. And everyone ought to know. We get bashers and fanboys left and right in the hobby, and thats fine, for the most part. But couple that with the next bit, and it doesnt work so well

Secondly, gun people dont ever forget. When it comes to problems, some guys tried a JM Marlin in the 90s and had issues, and continue to shit on the brand. The issues of Remlins are known far and wide, and everyone is ready to post their horror stories. And even when mine is a Ruger-made gun, I could tell much of the Marlin hate was from earlier companies.

Thirdly, gunstore counter rumors. How many of us have bad experiences with guns? In 15 years of gun hobbying, Ive had surprisingly few negative experiences with gun malfunctions – and the few Ive had were mostly ammo related. But we have all heard gun store bullshit about Glocks blowing up because of unsupported chambers, Taurus having issues with random discharges, Sig’s having drop safety issues, 9mm bouncing off windshields where 45 kills your soul, and 10mm being the real Man’s cartridge.

I’m sure a lot of Remlins had issue. I’m sure some JMs had issue. My Ruglin definitely had two issues. But at the same time, a lot of the issues were largely fixable (even if remington took months to do it), and were also a small percentage of the total number of gun produced in a timeframe. Not to downplay Remington’s obvious failures as a greater company, but at the same time, just from the rumor mill in the comments of my original defect post, I can tell it’s almost more of a rumor problem than an actual gun problem – especially when it came to people shitting on every gun company from Marlin to Remington to Ruger and beyond.

When it comes down to these three guns, my JM 336SDT, my Remlin 1895 GBL, and the Ruger-made Marlin 1895 Trapper, all exhibit the one “fit and finish” issue that people nitpick the most – the stock is not perfectly flush where it meets the receiver. But they all function. They are all reliable in the boxes of rounds Ive put thru them. And theyre all accurate. The GBL is also the smoothest lever gun Ive ever owned or shot, and it’s a Remlin.

Ultimately, I love these three great guns. All the frustration and anger I had when the new Trapper was defective has completely been resolved when Marlin fixed the issue and I got back a great rifle. Every company that manufactures or sells a product can have issues. It seems to be that with guns and cars, we expect a certain longevity that isnt demanded from stuff like phones and printers and toasters or microwaves as much anymore. But I was willing to let Marlin correct their mistake, and they did so. I have no doubts its now a great gun and will serve me well for a long time.

TLDR – Ruger/Marlin fixed the issues in a one-day turnaround, and all is right again. The 1895 Trapper is a fantastic rifle and Id have no reservations in buying another Ruger-made Marlin in the future.