I've been looking at one of these for bear hunting and have been reading about a lot of QC problems since Remington took over production.
Marlin quality control was on a slippery downhill slope before Remington bought the company. When Marlin was sold to Remington the company was making half the number of rifles it made in the 1970s: Marlin had financial problems for years before the company was sold.
Yep, Marlin still has some QC problems today.