Marlin shotgun

[Shouthern Hunter]

Does anybody know something about this gun?It is a Marlin Goose Gun 12ga. 3in. bolt action. It has a very long barrel.

[goosegunner]

If you like looong barrels and single shot this is one best shotguns you can get. It is rugged and reliable and fairly rust resistant. I use mine in a salt-water environment, and have never had more rust than can be removed with a oily rag in the evening. Some people don't like the slow boltaction, the long barrel and the extremely thight choke since the slow action prevents quick follow-up shots, the long barrel have lost some (all?) of it's advantages with smoke-less powder and the thight choke makes hiting your target harder at closer ranges. But if you ignore the limitations and focus on the advantages you have a cheap and allmost unbreakable gun that brings down waterfowl at amazing distances with relatively light loads. If you will be using it for hunting be sure to pattern your shots, as the long thight choked barrel is designed to work with old-style shotshells (paper wad, light load). Mine works extremely well with almost anything exept "light-magnum" and "magnum" loads. The only bad thing to say about the construction itself is that the extractor is crap. It works as a dream with shotshells in good condition, but wet paper-shotshells or shotshells with rusty "brass" somethimes get stuck in the chamber, so to remove such problems I always have a small screwdriver to get the hull out of the chamber if it gets stuck. So a Marin Goosegun must be considered a gun for entusiasts or people who just like the design as there are plenty of other guns that are both cheaper and better out there, but I will never sell or stop using my goosegun.

[Shouthern Hunter]

I am thinking about getting it too make long shots with. Can you shoot buckshot out of it. It is my boss's gun. He has a FFL, so he has 100 guns or more of his own guns not the Co. guns his own. He wants to get rid of that one. He said he would give it to me for cheap, so I am think he is going to say
$100 is that good? Can the gun shoot every type of 3in 12ga. shell, it's just that the pattern is bad on some sheels? What are they worth. The gun looks like it's only been shot ten times. He said that he don't like hunting, he just likes shooting things. He has about 20 M16s, thats how much he likes to blow things up. He also has a 50 cal. pistol. He just has guns to shoot things, he has about 10 guns that people would use to hunt with.

[goosegunner]

I would say $100 is a verry good price, I paid equivalent $600 for mine new but everything is more expencive in Norway so I don't know about prices of guns in the US. I have fired almost every kind of 3" shells in mine, including buckshot and slugs (NOT the brennecke-type, these are hard and solid and not smart to send throught a extra full choke). You can find 3" shells that pattern nice for it, but it generally shoots better with 'lighter' loads and smaller shot sizes, my favourite loads for it was Eley 'grand prix' (paper hull and wad) 32gram #6 for light load and Federal 'Turkey-mag' 57gram copper plated #4 or#6. The light load would bring down goose and cormorants out to 35-40 meers and the heavy load was great for swimming ducks out to 40meter and anything in the air out to 45-50 meters. But that was when lead shot was legal. Now I use the same light load, but with bismuth shot, and have still to find a good heavy load as using steel or hevi-shot would wear exessively on the choke and finding a 3" bismuth shell seems impossible (in Norway).

[halvey]

Ok, I hope I'm thinking of the right gun here. I have a Model 59 which is a single shot bolt .410 and from what I can tell, it's basically the same gun.

Is it the single shot or the one with the magazine? I've seen these go anywhere from $129 in nice condition to $279 in butchered condition. Is it an older gun? Choke should be a very tight full, which, if used for waterfowl in the US, steel shot is probably not a good idea :uhoh: so one of the other non-toxic would need to get used.

[Shouthern Hunter]

It is the one with a magazine, we look in his dealers book and i think it is a model 55. it's 12ga. 3in mag

[ArmedBear]

NOTE!!!

Hevi-Shot requires steel-capable barrel/choke (just barrel in this case, I think).

I don't know about other non-toxics. I think they're harder than lead, though.

I would research this before buying the gun even for $5, unless you want a wall-hanger! Of course, if the barrel is rated for steel, you're good to go.

WRT buckshot, I'd ask to pattern it -- after checking whether it's safe to shoot your buckshot load in a very tight full choke. Big lead balls would deform significantly, I think, in a tight full choke, so they might fly all over the place.

[goosegunner]

The Model 55 is fixed choke, and hard shot is not recomended as extencive use will destroy the barrel/choke. It is a strong action on it so the (minor?) preassure increacement from incompressible shot in a thight choke will not get little pices of gun in your brain, but it will shorthen the life of the gun to just a few shots and that will be no fun. But if I remember correctly the user manual states: suitable for 2 3/4" and 3" shot shells, rifled slugs and buckshot. But no steel shot. I have shot a few tousand lead trap/clay shots, several hundred hunting loads (see previous post), ca. 50 buck-shot of different sizes and ca. 100 slugs trough my model 55 , but also a few hundred steel trap/clay loads (but they was loaded to lower preassure and velocity to be usable in old full-choked guns), and the only part of the gun that still looks like new is the inside of the barrel/choke. You are completely right about hevi-shot, but you got nice alternatives; bismuth has all the qualities of lead exept the price. To get good performance with buck-shot from a extra full choke I think is fairly impossible, but for some reason rifled slugs (foster-type, NOT brennecke) gave reasonably good results (fist size groups at 40meter).

[Shouthern Hunter]

He said the gun has never been shot before. It says 3in. mag. one the side of the barrel, so I think you can only shoot 3in. mag. He said he will give it to me for what he paid for it, which is about $180 he said.

[goosegunner]

If you think it looks like it's a fun gun and you have the money, buy it. It works fine with "normal" amunition. If you are in doubt if the amunition you buy are safe in the gun, bring the gun to a competent gun store: they will know what ammo. is safe and what you shall not use. But general rule 3" (or 75mm) means any shotshell whith 3" lenght or shorter (eks 70mm, 67,5mm, 65mm or "mini-shells").

[Shouthern Hunter]

Thanks for the info. But I don't think I am going to get it now because some gave me about a $1000 12ga. for free, because it got flooded in the hurricane. It isn't in too bad of shape. I just have to take it apart and clean it.