Decided to take a chance on a new Marlin XT-22TR.

[Orion8472]

I was looking to get a NICE older Marlin 39a, but at this point, they are "too rich for my blood". The last one I bid on went ~$150 MORE than my "high bid" was.

So, because my MAIN thing was buying a tube fed 22short/long/long rifle, and because I was also looking for a bolt gun, I purchased the XT-22TR and will have to hope it comes in with few if ANY defects. I will scope it and have fun, . . . mostly with 22lr, but with the shorts and longs as well. Something I wasn't able to shoot out of my 10/22.

Sure, . . . it will be no where NEAR as nostalgic or well made as the older 39a rifles, . . . but I suspect it will still be fun to shoot.

 

[gpb]

Congratulations on the new rifle. I've been thinking about getting one of the Marlin tube feed bolt actions. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Cee Zee]

The XT's are made in the Mayfield, KY plant and there are almost no reports of problems with rifles made there. My XT-22TR has been excellent. It has a very smooth action and the trigger is very nice. It's better than the trigger on my Savage MkIIBTV. It's not a lot better but IMO it is better. Some have complained the trigger is a little flimsy but I haven't had any problems with mine. I love it.

 

[Orion8472]

I will give a report as soon as it comes in. May take a couple of weeks before I can even get out to the range with it.

I'm hoping that what they say about the KY rifles is true. Thanks!

I understand that this rifle has the micro groove bore? I am going to assume that they aren't "free floated", so what kind of accuracy is it capable of? For comparison, I can get close to an inch at 100 yards with my customed Ruger 10/22. [I understand that each rifle will "like" certain brands, weights, and speeds over others, so finding the right one is a given.]

 

[Cee Zee]

I've shot under an inch at 100 yards with a Marlin 60. You just never know how lucky you'll be when you buy any rifle. But I'd say you won't be disappointed with the accuracy. I only have one Marlin out of half a dozen or so that I own that isn't as accurate as I think it should be. Most of the micro-groove barrels do quite well.

No they aren't free floated. Some people will say the tubes change the harmonics with ever shot fired but I've never noticed any big change in accuracy in any of my tube fed Marlins. I don't know how modified your Ruger is but you know that a bolt action rifle is likely to be more accurate than a semi-auto, right? Some Rugers have really been heavily modified and they get great accuracy but it generally takes a lot of modification to get up to the level of a good bolt action.

 

[Orion8472]

It has a completely free floating 16.5" bull barrel, Volquartzen trigger. Not as modified as some of them out there, but pretty good.

Yeah, I know that a bolt gun is potentially more accurate than a semi-auto. I hope it will be the case with this Marlin. I will be sure to post a review of it after it is sufficiently "broken in" and I've had time to work with the scope.

 

[Cee Zee]

That sounds like a good shooting Ruger to me. You might be in the same accuracy range with the Marlin. You may do a little better. Individual rifles are hard to predict though. And sometimes it takes putting a few rounds through the bore to get to the accuracy level you'll see for the life of the rifle.

 

[Orion8472]

I would be happy with that. It's gonna be scoped. No question about that. I will take it to the Bass Pro tube to see how well it will do. I'll post those results here!

 

[Cee Zee]

I found some CCI CB shorts at Wally World this evening. I bought the limit which was 3 boxes. The prices are the same as they have been for quite a while. No gouging there. I like the CCI HP shorts and the Target shorts better but not by a lot. It's something to shoot at any rate. I'm sure it was just a matter of showing up at the right time but maybe things will start to break soon. That's the first .22 ammo of any kind I've seen in a month.

 

[Orion8472]

I'll have to find some. I've never shot shorts before and I bet it would sound hillarious at the range.

Good find!

 

[wgaynor]

I've got the xt-22ro. I've never had a rimfire this accurate before. I kept the scope it came with (it's cheap, but functional). I am getting 1/2 groups consistently at 50 -75 yards. They open up a little bit more at 100, but not much (under an inch).

Far better than I was expecting. My first rifle was a Ruger 10/22 (recieved it for Christmas in 1987) and it shoots 1.5 inches at 100 yards.

 

[Orion8472]

I'm really looking forward to getting mine in and taken to the range. I'm a pretty good shot with scoped rifles, so I should be able to post a good report.

For a new rifle, is there any issue with needing the rifle "broken in" before it starts shooting well, or should it shoot well right out of the box?

BTW, what scope bases can I get for this? Links? Thank you.

 

[Cee Zee]

I would definitely take the rifle apart to make sure nothing was in the action or anything before I started shooting it. You don't want a loose piece of metal to ruin something on the first shot.

Most of the break in stuff you read about is pure bunk. All that shoot twice, clean once, shoot 3 times clean twice stuff if great for square dancing but rifles are a lot more simple. If it has burrs on moving parts you can either smooth them out with a piece of sandpaper or a Dremel or you can just let the action work the burr down. It usually doesn't take long. If you have a burr like maybe on the inside of the crown it can affect accuracy. Again usually shooting the rifle a few times will take care of it. You should look for anything big and potentially disastrous but Marlins generally come in pretty good condition. I did find some wood shavings inside the action of my 60SS when it was new. It was obviously where they had installed the swivel on the front stock. It took about 10 seconds to clear it out. A compressor with a good blower on it and a Dremel will fix 99% of all rifle break in problems. Just keep an eye on things and you should be fine. You certainly don't want to shoot a rifle with a blocked bore for example but I've never seen a rifle come like that.

Most likely you will be up and running and shooting great groups in a few minutes at most. Of all the new rifles I've ever owned maybe one has had an accuracy issue that made it need to be broken in a little. It wasn't actually new when I bought it. Someone had shot it about 10 times or so. They probably decided it wasn't accurate and sold it to me for a good price. I know I saved a couple hundred buying that rifle used. It shoots fabulous now.

 

[Orion8472]

Thanks Cee Zee. I'll be diligent on checking for anything out of the ordinary before anything goes down the barrel.

As for the scope mounts, Bass Pro said that it takes the #12 Weaver. Is that what to use, or is there another [maybe better] option?

 

[Cee Zee]

I wouldn't know about the scope mounts. If they say that's what it takes then they are almost certainly right. Lots of mounts will fit that particular size, I'm sure. I haven't mounted a scope on my XT because I wanted to use it as a short range hunting rifle / small varmint rifle. I keep it loaded with shorts. I'm about to go shoot mine today because I found a few boxes of CCI shorts at Wally World not long ago. I don't mind shooting ammo that I bought recently. I don't like shooting up my stash I guess. It's just too hard to find and I want to be sure and have some on hand in case I actually need it.

 

[UniversalFrost]

great choice on the XT lineup!

Just picked up a new xt-22l to go with my xt-17vl..

i love the new trigger they have and other than having to drift the rear sight into proper position the xt-22 is good to go!

 

[ThomasT]

Orion you do not need to float your barrel. Most 22 rifles have a large amount of barrel wall compared to the bore size and the barrels are very stable.

Your Marlin has a single action screw. If you sand out the barrel channel to float the barrel then the action can rock in the stock because the screw pulls the action down and relies on the barrel as well as the action being supported by the stock. I know from experience trying to float a marlin barrel is a waste of time. The other waste of time was having to replace the material I stupidly removed. When you get your gun you will understand better what I am saying. I think you will find your new Marlin is an excellent shooter right out of the box.

I have a 981T and the only change I made to mine was to put a thin washer in the stock under the action stud. I did this because when the action screw was tightened hard it would pull the barrel/action down very hard and seemed to bend the action. So I made a thin spacer so the action screw could be tightened but not over tightened to the point of putting excess pressure on the gun. Again having the rifle in your hand will help you understand what I am talking about.

 

[Orion8472]

Thanks for the input, Ratshooter.

Okay, I ordered a set from Weaver. I will post pics here when it comes in. Putting this thread on hold for a week or so.

 

[alman]

I have an XT22VR & I LOVE it . Its as accurate as I am on any given day .

 

[Cee Zee]

I did something very similar on my Savage MkIIBTV ratshooter. It made the action screw be able to take quite a bit more torque before it started to crush the laminated stock. The wood was too thin behind the plate the action screws go through so I reinforced it and spread the load out over a bigger area of the wood. It helped keep the torque on the action screws where it needed to be. Before they would work loose because they didn't ave enough pressure to hold them well. I actually used a flat piece of metal with a flange on it so there was a strong channel for the bolt too. Essentially what I did was to pillar bed the rifle with a metal tube on the side of a washer. I'd say that would work on a Marlin too. It should provide a lot more strength without doing any damage. But that's another thing I like about the Marlin synthetic stocks. They hold a lot of torque compared to something like the Savage synthetic stocks or their laminated stocks either one. Marlin laminated stocks don't seem to be as strong as the synthetic stocks to be honest. But I haven't had any actual problems with mine. Still I prefer the synthetic because it should be good to go for a very long time.

BTW I did manage to shoot a few rounds from the XT yesterday. I was shooting CB shorts on a windy day. I learned that they can be moved around even in a short distance by the wind. But the rifle shoots them accurately as long as the wind isn't gusting strongly.

 

[joustin]

I bought an XT-22 last week and was able to try it out Saturday. Its mag fed but I was able to shoot all of the shorts if I single fed them. I didn't have time to run groups but I was able to hit just anything I wanted, the makeshift targets were not very good for anything.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Orion8472]

Well, . . . got it in. Took a chance, and it wasn't "perfect". Front sight was canted to the right. I'm running it with a scope anyway, so I guess it's okay. I actually took the iron sights off. Is there a screw to put in that front sight hole?

I DID load up the magazine and it fed and ejected all 17 rounds, so I guess that's good.

 

[wgaynor]

If the front sight is canted, I'd take it back and have them fix it/replace it.

As for mine, it came with a scope mounted. As for break in... nope. I just ran a patch through the bore. Oiled the action, worked the action, and took her shooting.

 

[heeler]

Well here we go again...
I looked at an XT-22 this past November and the front sight was way off center and even the sales guy noticed.
Frankly I would want the people calling themselves Marlin to make it right.
If not, Savage makes an alternate bolt action package.

 

[wgaynor]

I wonder if this is a consistent problem with a batch that was produced. Has there been any recalls? Has Marlin been contacted?

Now that I've heard it mentioned twice in one day, I'll double check mine.