Sure it did, Winchester and Marlin both screwed the pooch the same year. Cost overruns and the stupidity of new "management" made Winchester start using some "stamped" parts for the 94 and Marlins 336's suffered a drop in quality as well. Not sure if there were severe changes in quality of the 336 but you will find pre 64 Marlins fetch a premium just like the pre 64 94's and Model 70's. While Winchester was the one that suffered seriously bad drops in quality, Marlin suffered as well. Remington ramped up with the 700 an came out with it cheaper than the new junker model 70.