I have had a number of Marlins over the years...the Remington takeover in 2007/8 caused some serious quality isdues, mainly due to moving 60 year old machinery away from the original factory. It looks as if Remington have installed new machinery and sorted the problems.
I recently purchased a 3 year old 1894 model on my club FAC...I checked the rifle over...good fit to woodwork, metalwork good, sights in alignment. action slick, a surprisingly good trigger...better in fact than any standard trigger on my old Marlins. Tested on range, 70 rounds fired with no hitch at all. Bought it.

Just a few days ago I purchased on my FAC a new 336W model in 30-30..not sure what the W stands for...might be Walmart.
This is a basic model with a birch stock and no frills...the birch stock looks a little anaemic but woodwork is an excellent fit. Metalwork is in a matte black finish...no shine...sights good, same as old sights, folding backsight...sights in alignment. Out of the box, action slick, trigger is crisp...good...for a lever action. The safety trigger block thingy, a little stiff.
The microgroove rifling looked pretty deep and better than what I have previously seen...crown good.

Fitted a scope mount and a cheapo Hawke 3-9×40 scope. Zero'd with laser bore sighter.

Loaded up with h and n plated bullets, 165gn ....using reduced loads, 7gns of Green Dot and 8gns of Maxam PSB2..which is similar to Unique...first 4 shots at 50 yards scattered...group size then tightened up...switching to the PSB2 loads..9/10 rounds in just over an inch...perfectly acceptable for a new 30-30.

The microgroove is designed for jacketed bullets, the h and n plated are a good substitute.

From my recent experience I would say that Remington have now got their act together with the Marlin lever action.

amc577