I found a JM Marlin - the 336 SDT Limited 16”. I made a trade for it yesterday, and seriously love the gun. I am considering going to shoot it tomorrow - we shall see.



But today, as i started to check it out more closely, i realized it seems as though the sights are misaligned. Picking up the gun and aiming down the sights, i see the fromt sight off to rhe left of what is a natural aim. So I’m thinking its the front sight but really cant tell. I added a Skinner rear sight i had lying around, and can tell the three don’t line up but the front and skinner kind of do, more so than the buckhorn. So im not sure which.

I want to add an XS Scout rail, which comes with new rear and front sights, while this may fix a sight issue, if its the barrel with bad drilling or something, its a bigger issue.

But whats the best way to determine if the hole for the front sight actually is canted or what the issue is?

Obviously, since its a JM, theres no warranty option, and Ruger’s already said they’ll only look at their own manufactured guns. But what would any other shop look at to identify or remedy the situation?

Kinda hard to tell from your pic, since you can't see the sight alignment. However, those look like Williams sight, not factory Marlin. It could be that whoever installed them just didn't get them properly aligned. I'd shoot it first before you get too worried about it, and see how it prints.

Both of those sights on there can be drifted in their dovetails if necessary, although if it's truly canted that may not solve the issue. If you're planning on putting on an XS rail anyway, I'd probably wait to make any major changes and address it at that time.

Beautiful gun, BTW...I love that 16" barrel!

Good possibility, if you think it may be, it probably is. This was very common especially towards the end of Marlin production.

Try to determine if the mag tube/lug are true as well, dead 6 o'clock. Hopefully they're not and it's just a barrel timing/clocking issue. A fairly easy issue to fix for a gunsmith.

If the lug is right but the sight wrong, obviously harder to remedy.

I have friends who sent guns back to Marlin years ago for this, but never did know which problem caused it.

I hope you come up with a solution, because that's a nice package in a rare configuration. Unfortunately, you may have become another victim of the myth of "JM Marlins" being greatly superior in quality. I've certainly had my share of issues with them.

Ah well, thank yall!

Itll be fine. I’ll definitely get it figured out, regardless of the issue.

Ill shoot it this week after work some time and then see about adding the scout rail with new sights, too.