It's amazing how the gun companies are starting to "bundle up".

Some products may change, Marlin may get some much needed capital, but the economic realities of american made firearms is coming to a head.

Browning has been an importer for years, benelli is very popular, not to mention the other imported firearms that this country purchases everyday.

Cost to manufacture in the U.S.A. are growing every year. The profit margins are tight and importing is growing every year.

This country is getting to where the only jobs are low paying service jobs or degreed jobs. There is very little in the middle and hence, no middle class.

Jim

Bubba,

Freedom of speech, pal.

Let 'er rip! I'd like to read your comments.

Jim

This is no longer America as I grew up in it. Rugged Individualism, Independence, and Free Enterprise, Lots of small businesses and mom and pop stores. Everything has been globalized. Like Jim and Bubba are alluding to, this is just one more successful American business biting the dust. A sign of the times. It's hard for old guys like me to get used to. If I want a decent Marlin I better buy it now.

The dreaded "economies of scale" some jackass CEO is always looking for. While the short term may provide less expensive products, this globalization crap is going to make us all pay a heavy price...in many ways...on down the road. Make sure you teach your kids how to shoot straight and live off the land.

Tommy
That 'Jackass' CEO is actually doing what the board hired him to do. His responsibility is to make the company the most profit possible for the stockholders. To quote an oft cited comic: "I have seen the enemy and we is it!" If we would all cowboy up and buy American, boycot Wallyworld and take pride in doing our own jobs to our best ability we can get out of this mess.
Realize that it could have been Rossi, Baretta or even Hyundai buying out Marlin....
SA

ANY kind of business must make a profit.
No profit! No business!
Know profit! Know business!
One of the reasons that produce growers hire migrant workers is because the American laborer has grown too lazy to work that hard for those wages.
We (Americans) want cheaper fuel!
Have you considered the cost of building, outfitting, crewing and operating a drilling rig. And that is with a greater chance of failure than success!
My dad was born in 1920 and was a kid during the "Great Depression". According to him, a loaf of bread from the store cost ten cents, one tenth of a dollar. You could hire labor for fifty cents a day! Today that same loaf of bread costs $1.50/$2.00. Folks won't work for less that minimum wage. My dad paid 20% of his daily wages for bread. Today that's about 5% at minimum wage.
Gasoline was 8 cents a gallon. Today that price is about $3. He worked over an hour to buy a gallon of fuel. Today, about 30 minutes, at minimum wage. Stuff is cheaper!!! And we still want more money!! Where will it all end.

Bubba

Hey SA!

I don't think I want less than I'm bringing in now, but I can purchase more now than dear ol' dad did even when he was raising me! Wages have gone up more than prices!

Bubba

Tmac

It's pretty much all relative.
The wages are out there, ya just gotta go get 'em. The jobs are out there, ya just gotta go get 'em.
My point is, if you're earning $25/hr, live within your means.
I lived in Ft Worth, Texas for a while. It was just before Christmas one year when General Dynamics had a big lay off. (SOP for a big defense contractor) They had one of the guys caught up in the lay-off on the news one night whining, in the background was his $150K home, wife's Caddy in the garage. His jacked up 4WD p/u would't fit in the garage because of his 20' ski boat, trailer with jet ski's and other trailer with dirt bikes.
GD was famous for lay off's, if this guy had been living within his means, he would have had money to burn still. And what the media didn't tell was, as GD was shuffling 1800 lay off's out one gate, they were bringing 2300 in the other gate for a new contract!

LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS!!

Bubba

I own three Marlin's, I have been happy with the quality, it will be intersting to see what happens now.

It's awful easy to bash WalMart, but you all are saying we should buy American. WalMart is American. It's the largest American retailer now, but it wasn't years ago - some other company was. Ironically, WalMart is one of the biggest retailers of Marlin firearms, and Remington, too, for that matter. I agree that acquisition of companies is part of free enterprise. I wish Marlin would have stayed independent, but, unfortunately, consolidation of gun manufacturers is probably needed to keep the American gun industry alive in the global economy.

I think it is good Reminton Bought MArlin. At least it stays american. China now has a trillion dollars in our trade deficiets and it has been buying american bussiness as quick as it can.

The trouble with foriegn trade is not likely to be solved on the individual level. It just isn't going to happen. Congress needs to step and relize that these trade defiects are killing our middle class and be default our economy. We are in a slow death sprial as wages go down and debt goes up. I urge each of you to look up what americans are spending. According to the BBC american average savings are in the negatives. That means people who have saved are spending to cover their bills and those who haven't are going into bankruptcy. I will cut this short and just finish it up with that as a country we are horribly screwed and nobody will try to do anything about it until it is far to late to do anything about it.

I purchased a Marlin 1895SS, in 45/70 of course,before they cheapened this model to the 1895 designation. Don't get me wrong, the model is still a fine rifle and all changes seem to be cosmetic for cheaper manufacture. I am glad, however; that I purchased the model I have to hand down to my boys some day.
It seems once fine manufacturing is gone..it's gone forever!

In regard to Walmart, Bubba, yes, it is American. It was started by one guy from nothing and was built into the largest retailer. That, my friend, is the classic American success story. Some products they sell are made in America and many are not. Some are cheaper at Walmart and some are cheaper elsewhere. Guns, for instance; Marlin and Remington are their biggest lines, but are seldom cheaper at Walmart. But they sell less expensive brands of firearms, too. Give people a choice. If Remington can continue to keep a good product line under the Marlin name, people will continue to buy them. As a previous post said, Marlin may not have survived without a buyout and better that it was Remington that bought them than shutting down the Marlin company for good.