Okay, I admit that it has been a few years since Marlin was making Ballards (115, give or take), but this may still be of interest to the group.  According to Thursday's Hartford Courant, in a story written by Janice Podsada, 

Two of the nation's oldest gun manufacturers agreed to join forces Wednesday as Remington Arms Co., Inc., announced that it would acquire Marlin Firearms Co., a North Haven-based firm that was established in 1870. 

"Marlin is really one of the great old names in the gun business", said Herbert House of Cody Wyo." ... "I'm happy that Marlin was bought out by a gun company rather than a venture capitalist.  A marriage with Remington is a good thing." Houze said.

I suppose it is a good thing, but I'm still a bit saddened to see Marlin lose its independence.

Doug

 
"I suppose it is a good thing, but I'm still a bit saddened to see Marlin lose its independence."

I concur! I had said in recent years that it would be nice if every shooter would/could go out and buy a new Marlin just to support them. I'm not so sure that any affiliation with remington is a good thing nowdays. Just last evening I heard of a recently-made Rem 700 which had the barrel Loctited in. That does not inspire confidence in mymind. 
 

Marlin still makes the rifle that has been in continuous production longer than any other firearm in the world.

Longer that any other firearm in the world!

Marlin lever 22RF, began with the model 1891 sideloader and still going strong with the 39 and new 1897, continuous production since 1891!
Regards, Joe

Quote:



TD Banknorth Finances Smith & Wesson’s Buyout of Thompson/Center Arms Monday, December 18, 2006 

Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Thompson/Center Arms, a designer, manufacturer and marketer of premium hunting firearms, for $102 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the beginning of January 2007.


Has this changed?

And a bit more about the mega corp that now owns Marlin.


Notable acquisitions
Pharmaceuticals - In December 2004, the company announced the acquisition of Bayer's plasma products business and renamed it Talecris Biotherapeutics. 

Paper products - The company acquired MeadWestvaco's paper business for $2.3B in 2005 and renamed it NewPage Corporation. Cerberus also purchased, from Georgia Pacific Corporation, its Distribution Division/Building Products and all of its associated real estate. It renamed this new company BlueLinx Holdings, based in Atlanta. 

Government Services (Military, Energy, and Food & Drug) - owns IAP Worldwide Services, which bought Johnson Controls' World Services division in February 2005, and Netco Government Services. 

Real Estate - Through investment affiliate Blackacre Capital, the company has been making direct equity, mezzanine, first mortgage, distressed and special situation investments in all asset types. It also controls Miami Beach.-based LNR Property, a large real estate development and investment firm through subsidiary Riley Property. Cerberus also controls Kyo-ya, a Japan based group of entities that owns several Starwood managed assets in California, Hawaii and Florida. 

Retail - Cerberus purchased 655 of the 2,500 Albertson's, Inc., grocery stores, forming Albertsons LLC of Boise, Idaho, in June of 2006. They also own Mervyn's department stores, which was acquired from Target Corp. In June 2007, Cerberus acquired Torex Retail Plc., a retail solutions provider in troubled waters, for approximately 400 million US dollars.[4] 

Transportation - Acquired bankrupt ANC Rental, owner of the National and Alamo car rental chains, for $230 million in October 2003 and purchased DaimlerChrysler's 45% share of debis AerFinance, an aircraft leasing business, in May 2005. Complete acquisition of debis AirFinance (later renamed AerCap) was concluded in July 2005. Also acquired North American Bus Industries, Optima Bus Corporation, and Blue Bird Corp. in the bus manufacturing sector. Also owns ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada. 

Construction - Announced on July 23, 2007, Cerberus agreed to acquire United Rentals, Inc., North America's largest equipment rental service. The transaction was valued at $6.6 billion, including the assumption of approximately $2.6 billion in debt obligations. 

Automotive - Peguform, GDX, and Chrysler. 

Financial Services - General Motors sold a 51% stake in its GMAC finance unit to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management. GM expects to receive $14 billion over the next three years from the sale of General Motors Acceptance Corp. In December 2006, Cerberus acquired the Austrian bank BAWAG P.S.K. for a reported EUR3.2 billion. In April 2007, Cerberus announced it intention to acquire Option One Mortgage Corp from H&R Block for about $1 billion. That acquisition is still pending. In August of 2007, Cerberus announced that it was closing one of their mortgage companies, Aegis Mortgage. 

Firearms - Acquired Bushmaster Firearms, Inc., from Windham, Maine native **** Dyke for an undisclosed sum in April 2006, and purchased Remington Arms in April 2007. Under Cerberus direction, Bushmaster Firearms acquired Cobb Manufacturing, a well-respected manufacturer of large-caliber tactical rifles in August 2007. Cerberus also announced the acquisition of DPMS Panther Arms in December 2007.[5] 

Entertainment - To acquire 6 television stations owned and operated by CBS Corporation, pending FCC approval. The station group is called Four Points Media Group. As of September 1, 2007, the 6 stations are no longer listed on the CBS Television Station website.[6] By the end of September 2007, all of the stations have launched new websites. Although CBS still holds the stations' licenses for the time being, Cerberus/Four Points took over control of the stations through time brokerage agreements. 
Other holdings of the investment group include Formica, Inc., and the Aozora Bank in Japan; U.S. tech firm SSA Global Technologies, and cable operator Galaxy Cable. In July 2007, the company announced that in had reached an agreement to acquire United Rentals.
________

So Vall, are you going to have to change your screen name to "Remington-MarlinGuy" now? 

Seriously, it will be interesting to see what, if any, effect this will have on product lines, marketing, etc.  Since Remington has been willing to rerelease their rollers, maybe we will see a semi-production Marlin Ballard once again, or some equally unlikely event.  I do know that Maj. Bill Brophy stated to me unequivocably a couple of years before his passing that Marlin would never make any more octagon barreled lever guns after the special run of 1971 and soon after.  It was about the mid-'90s when the cowboys showed a large enough market to prove him wrong.  Since the overall company that "umbrellas" both of these companies does not seem to have any dark strategies of taking over gun companies to kill them off, this may even be a good thing.  Time will tell.   

Froggie

Quote:

They've been loctited in for about 25 years now, out of curiosity why is that a problem?