Trouble with Marble's sights?

[jnyork]

Got this email this morning from a friend at Whittington Center in New Mexico. Anyone have any experience with this, I sure hope Marbles is not having problems.

, This is a piece of information I think you both may need now rather
than in Oct. when I get Jerry's "new" gun down to him. I ran my lever
rifle matches on Sunday. A good friend from Santa Fe came up and was
talking about his problems with the NEW IMPROVED MARBLE SIGHTS. They
were so badly made that the stem wobbled around like a ballon on a
string. When he tried to tighten it up he discovered that the allen
screw at the base of the stem is supposed to screw into a hole in the
stem. The hole on his was drilled crooked and wouldn't hold. So he
send it back to Brownell's to be replaced. Something is going on with
Marble sight company because Brownell's told him they didn't have any to
replace his with and they weren't able to contact the Marble Company to
find out what was going on. Sunday another shooter was trying to shoot
his .22 with a NEW IMPROVED MARBLE sight and the stem fell off the gun.
When he tried to put it back on and tighten it up he had the same wobbly
stem Rex had talked about. He said he had been trying to buy another
Marble and no one had any for sale. Again the same story of no one
knows what is going on with Marble, but they can't get them to answer
calls or respond to them.

[J Miller]

Has anyone called Marbles directly?

Joe

[Lefty Dude]

I bought a new Winchester Legacy 94 30-30 in 2006. It came with a Marbles tang sight.
I tried to use this sight several times, the Stem was wobbly much so that I could not hold a consistant windage zero.
The piece now wears a Smith ladder sight on the barrel.

BTW;
I returned the sight to marbles. It came back, I installed the sight same problem.

However I do have the older Marbles sights on my Browning 92 & the Rossi 92. They work and function fine.

[jnyork]

Joe, I just tried to call Marbles myself, no joy getting to talk to a human, all you get is the recording.

Lefty, I have heard of other people with the same problem you describe but have not seen it myself, I have 3 of the newer sights and several friends also have them, all these seems to work just fine. PS, Lefty, wanna come to Yuma and shoot some silhouette with us this winter?

[J Miller]

Hmm,

If I had a reason to call them I'd give it try. The last time I contacted them was via email and that worked out great. That was back in early '08.

Joe

[Cimarron Red]

Howdy, jnyork,

Coincidentally, I attended that match at the Whittington Center last Sunday, and I know that one of the shooters was having a problem with his Marbles tang sight. But I did not learn the details. And though I spoke several times with Rex, I did not hear about his problem, either. And a further coincidence is that I just sent a wobbly sight back to Marbles 10 days ago -- one of the earlier models, not the new, improved sight. Hmmm, I wonder if I'll see that sight again!

[colo native]

Ya would be better off just buying beer and save the cans...Narbles is pure junk, get a lee shaver tang and be done with it......

[jnyork]

Ya would be better off just buying beer and save the cans...Narbles is pure junk, get a lee shaver tang and be done with it......

I shoot 5-7,000 rounds a year at metallic silhouette, AAA in all lever action disciplines, I did not get there shooting junk. My Marbles tang sights are dependable, quality items, as are all those I have had occasion to try.

I will keep your snarky elitist comments in mind, but not for long.

[Cimarron Red]

I've had one or two Marbles tang sights that needed a little work here and there, but overall, I feel they're a fine product. They're accurate enough for a lot of target work. I too shoot a great deal of metallic silhouettes, and they are great for that purpose. Even though they are mass produced products and prone to all the inherent problems of that process, they are certainly not junk.

[colo native]

Ya would be better off just buying beer and save the cans...Narbles is pure junk, get a lee shaver tang and be done with it......

I shoot 5-7,000 rounds a year at metallic silhouette, AAA in all lever action disciplines, I did not get there shooting junk. My Marbles tang sights are dependable, quality items, as are all those I have had occasion to try.

I will keep your snarky elitist comments in mind, but not for long.

Thankx for the vote, WOW, AAA waz that in NAM???


Now I shouldna said that, should I???

[Kansas Ed]

I just bought one a couple of months back and it was tight and accurate and exceptional quality. No issues with either one I've owned.

Ed

[jdad]

A couple of shooters, in our league, have had problems with the swapable stem models. I have never had a problem with their sights other than wanting a shorter stem. "Troy" runs the service department and has always been easy to contact.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have three of the Marbles tang sights made within the last 2-3 years. 2-old style, 1- new style. Zero issues with any of them.

[Sixgun]

Ya would be better off just buying beer and save the cans...Narbles is pure junk, get a lee shaver tang and be done with it......

I shoot 5-7,000 rounds a year at metallic silhouette, AAA in all lever action disciplines, I did not get there shooting junk. My Marbles tang sights are dependable, quality items, as are all those I have had occasion to try.

I will keep your snarky elitist comments in mind, but not for long.

Nothing personal, Your lucky. I agree with Co. Native. Not to brag but I have probably 50-60 tang sights that get used. The pre-war/early post war originals are trouble free. I also have maybe a dozen of the newer Marbles that fully half of them went back for replacements. The spring under the stem looses tension. As for the newer Lymans, well, super junk describes them. Every one of the Lymans I have has had to have the stem redrilled with my own set screw installed.

Kinda makes a person wonder--how can a 60-110 year old sight stay in order when with the CNC technology we have today, the newer ones fall apart. I would have to say the same with rifles made here in the US of A----yesterdays vs todays-------------Sixgun

[Hankster]

CNC is computer controlled.... you know what they say about computers.. "Garbage in = Garbage out"....... if the operator isn't any good..... the most accurate machine in the world, is useless....

[El Chivo]

I have about 6 of them now and all work fine. The newest were for 336's and are very solid. No play in them at all, and now they come with a locking cap. I also use them for silhouette and also am AAA in 3 classes thanks to Marble's sights.

Incidentally, one of the older ones has some wobble and that doesn't affect the accuracy - just don't touch it when you're shooting.

Colo Native, where did you get your Narble's sight? Was somebody selling them at a gun show parking lot? Did they also have Rollex watches for $35?

[colo native]

If I stepped on some toes I didn't mean to, I to do a little shooting With C Sharps rifles as well as Hi end Hi Walls in cal from 32-40 to 40-65 off hand and found that low end sights dont do as well as Hi end sights. My eyes are not what they use to be. Granted the pre-war Marbles and Even Lyman sights were first class, but shooting bpcr I find that the new generation sights of Marbles lacking in what I need...
One of my bpcr's made by Browning has a very good tang and front sight, but the later Winchesters 85 hi walls came with Marbles, and even with work they did not maintain their settings and would not return to prior settings, so they were replaced with some what userfriendly sights, the Lee Shaver seemed to work, but at a piont in time it will be replaced. As to the C Sharpes and I have had 2 of them, and still have one, came with their sights and is dead-nuts .
As to the NARBLES, I didn't use spell ck, and I do not waste my time at gun shows, although I used to in the 50 and 60's.
The only off hand shooting I still do is 200 yd rams 40 shots. About all I can handle.
I'm sure if I still lived in Colo, I would use a Narbles on my old 92 25cfw that I used to carry on horseback... at my age tang sights are a must...

[firefuzz]

The new Marble's sight I have on my '86 shows none of the problems mentioned above, neither do two others I've put on friend's guns. I'm planning to put them on my Lightning, '73 and '76 as soon as funds allow.

Rob

[COSteve]

I just received a new Marbles tang sight for a friend's new Rossi levergun I'm slicking up and it appears to be the same as mine. No issues here either.

[Borregos]

I just fitted a Marbles tang sight to my old Marlin 1889, no issues with it yet

[colo native]

I'm glad the NEWER Marbles are doing fine...

[Sixgun]

You boys who had luck/no luck with Marbles sights, well, read below.

A tang sight is an object with just a few parts that do not need to have tolerences plus/minus .0005. Its not a watch. For the price of a Marbles sight, ($125-$160) it had better be dependable for a long time. Personally, I do not install a sight and take the gun out once or twice a year. I use 'em.

I've been using tang sights for 40 years and lots of 'em--- most all originals. When Marbles reintroduced their tang sight, I was elated and bought a half dozen of 'em right away. Within 6 months, the first one got sloppy---eventually within 5 years the others went the same way as the first.

As Marbles made good on them, I bought more, thinking their quality control got better. It didn't.

Two years ago at the Pa. State Silhouette Championship, a near new Marbles sight slopped up on me. A thin piece of copper under the stem tightened it up and saved the weekend.

The reintroduced Lyman? They sell for about $80. They should be about $15.

I'm not saying they are junk as Marbles customer service is excellent. I'm now saying they are worth about $50--new, not the $125-$160 that they cost.

See that Lyman on the 1886 in my avatar? Its 110 years old and I've got dozens more like it. They are all tight and in 40 years, I cannot honestly say that a pre-war/early post war Lyman/Marbles ever let me down.

Marbles may sell their sights to some people, they won't sell anymore to me. -----------Sixgun

[Cimarron Red]

Sixgun,

I hear you; the old sights are far better. But I need to have a windgauge tang sight. That doesn't give me many choices to consider in vintage sights. So, Marble's it will be, until I decide to go with all MVA vernier sights. I have one of these on my .38-55 now, and it's a dream to use.

[fatoldfool]

I think it was in January that I had two new Marbles windage adjustable tangs that wobbled, and a friend had one. I called Marbles, was answered on the second ring by a nice lady who said send it back they would repair it. I did and they did, but I was out of the postage on a brand new sight, so I repaired the other two myself. Judicious use of a dental burr in a dremel "adjusted" the hole in the stem so the set screw held it tight. They are Ok now but I won't buy more of them.