What happended to Marlin Lever Actions????

Remington Take Over

Since the takeover of Marlin by Remington Arms Company back in 2007 the supply of these popular lever actions for sport shooters in the UK has declined massively. In the initial takeover Remington discovered dimensioned drawings of Marlin’s iconic rifles did not exist. The plans at North Haven had simply been passed down through the generations. Many of these workers hadn’t made the move to Ilion, so much of that inherent knowledge had been lost. 

To save Marlin from imploding, Remington invested both dollars and manpower in a multifaceted approach to achieve the kind of quality that had slipped during the transition. From a manufacturing standpoint, the company has set up a stand-alone Marlin factory within the Ilion plant, with its own designated managers, workforce, and assemblers, people who are committed and invested in the Marlin brand.

On the product side, Marlin reduced its offerings from 29 catalogue lever-gun models down to 18. The reduction allowed the factory to focus on the rifles they had a greater ability to produce on a consistent basis, which tended to be the highest-volume offerings. At the same time lines were being reduced, R&D engineers started a project to complete three-dimensional drawings of all the parts. Meanwhile, production engineers were evaluating what new modern equipment would be necessary once they knew the exact dimensions that would be coming off the machine.

Current Situation

The company responsible for the importation of Marlin firearms into the UK moved from Edgar Brothers to Sportsmarketing who are a Remington owned company. Over the transition period the idea was that Sportsmarketing would be able to deliver the Marlin range of rifles quicker and more efficiently than going through another importer. 

Over time this has not proved to be the case and Northern Optics has yet to see a Marlin rifle through the Sportsmarketing Company to compare it with the original rifles made by Marlin. On a weekly basis we get customers contacting us asking about buying a Marlin rifle to which we have no definitive answers. Northern optics has had Marlin rifles on order now for 2 years in various calibres and often wonders if we will ever see a Marlin lever action rifle again???

Alternative Solution?

In order to meet our customers demands Northern Optics has been working with our suppliers Viking Arms to supply us with a Marlin lever action alternative. For a few years now Northern Optics has been offering the range of Henry Lever action rifles made in the USA with prices competitive to the Marlin range. Supply of these rifles to our customers is paramount and we have recently supplied customer these in various calibres from 22LR to 45/70. 

Customers often ask us what Henry rifles are like compared with Marlin's? Our honest answer is smoother actions, lovely crisp triggers, and nicely weighted and balanced. For more details on models available and prices please visit our Henry web pages at the links below:

Henry Rimfire Range

Henry Centrefire Range