Anyone own a Marlin 22WMR bolt gun? (opinions, please!)

[brickboy240]

Greetings,

After checking around on avaialbility of 17M2 ammo, I htink I might decide on picking up a Marlin bolt gun in 22WMR.

I saw one at Wal Mart that has iron sights and a detatchable box style clip. It has blued metal and a walnut stock. They wanted about 160-170 bucks for it, new.

I have an extra 4x12x40 Bushnell cheapie scope I could throw on it. I am wanting this rifle for varmint (raccoon, skunk, armadillo) control and maybe shooting coyotes or stray dogs at short ranges.

Are these Marlins any good? Accurate? Reliable? Should I pass on these and go to the 17HMR caliber? I would think the 22WMR would be a decent round, but I have heard in the past that the 22mag is not a very accurate round...is this true?

Any opnions would be appreciated. This looks like a nice little rifle for the money and I wanted something that is cheaper to shoot than the 17HMR and easier to find ammo for than the 17M2.

Thanks!

-Brickboy240

 

[secluded]

I have a Marlin 883SS .22 Mag and a Marlin 17VS in 17HMR (as well as a few other Marlins) If you looking for accuracy I'd say go with the 17HMR. My 22 Mag shoots about 1 1/2" to 2" at 100yards, my 17 will shoot half of that consistently. I haven't used either for hunting so I can't comment on that. Of my rimfires the mag is the least accurate. I've tried 5-6 brands of ammo but there doesn't seem to be the "one" for this gun.

 

[Magnuumpwr]

I own (2) 22mag rifles, one is a 882 SS, synthetic and the other is a 25mn blued, walnut. Both rifles have the same scope and with Remington Premier 33 GR. V-Max ammo, shoot quite differently. The SS is definitely more accurate, @ 100yds a 5 shot group is less than 1". Don't know much about the 17 but it does have rather highly priced ammo from what I have seen. By the way, I use my rifles to exterminate stray animals around my place and have yet to have one run off. Head shots, one shot, one kill!!

 

[3 gun]

I have a 25mn that shoots so well I topped it off with a Leupold VariX-II 3x9. The scope was almost twice what I paid for the rifle. With Winchester 40 FMJ or HP it's a sub MOA rifle out to about 125 yards. The rifle doesn't shoot any load I've tried badly. I've shot a few 3 inch groups at 200 yards. That's well out of the range I feel good about using the rifle on any animal. For what I use the rifle for I can't find any reason to pay the extra cost for .17cal ammo or rifle.

 

[WhiteKnight]

I sighted in the 25mn for my [ex]girlfriend's father a year or so ago and loved it.

He said his father takes deer (headshots) during season quite consistently.

 

[Ridge]

I also have a model 25mn and they are good shooting little rifles,I bought mine 4 years ago and haven't had one problem with it, after a lot of heavy use. Some of the best ammo I've found for it is the winchester supreme hollow point loads.

 

[KarbineKrazy]

I bought my bro a new 983 tube fed 22 mag. It has the new trigger in it.

Good gun. paid $150 for it, threw an old 3x9 scope on it and it seems to shoot great! taking it hunting this weekend

 

[flyerI]

I bought a Marlin 25mn recently. It seems to be fairly accurate with the iron sights. I have shot a hundred rounds of CCI Maxi Mag so far. I have put a 4x32 scope on it but have not sighted it in yet. It has the same feel as an old Remington 22 my Dad taught me to shoot with 40 years ago. I have seen the ones at Wally World. It looks like the checkering is maybe stamped in where as mine appears to be carved.