Marlin 60 -- buy for $120 new?

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ArmedBear

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I'm not sure if I've ever shot one. If I have, it was 25 years ago.

Good, bad experiences?

How picky is it with ammo? Tube feed work okay?

I'm looking to put a little 4x scope on it, maybe use it for squirrels and practice.
 
That's a good deal. I paid around $180 for mine NIB. The tube feed works fine, but expect FTE with typical .22. You'll need to find high velocity .22 (as Marlin recommends) or a certain brand that it prefers.
 
I have an old Mossberg rear-tube-fed gun, with the tube in the stock. Therefore, you put the tube over the rounds rim-first. It can be a real PITA to load the thing. Shoots accurately once loaded, however.

My Marlin lever .22 feeds from the front, and it's really easy to load. No problem just shoving the spring tube back down over the rounds.

I take it the 60 is like my Marlin, not my Mossberg, when it comes to ease of loading? (That Mossy's been such a PITA I haven't shot it in a long time.)
 
I've had mine for 25 years or so. It is more accurate than I am and certainly more so than my stock 10/22. It also feeds and fires any .22LR ammo I put in it other than Stingers. It does not like to feed or eject those. I guess mine is so old that its from before the recommendation to use high velocity ammo.

I've got a 2.5x Bushnell rimfire scope on mine BTW. That's plenty for 50 yds or so.
 
It is more accurate than I am and certainly more so than my stock 10/22.
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Yeah. If I like this, the 10/22 goes up for sale.:)

I'll be G&GD if I put another grand into it, just because I don't like it as-is. But hey, there's a whole industry built around that... To each his own, I guess.
 
It's easy enough to load. You can either pull the rod completely out and drop them down the end, or pull it out enough to open up the ammo slot near the end of the tube, and drop them in from the bottom of the tube.
 
Yes

I really like mine - especially comparing it to my Remington 597. However, I did to trigger work on it to get it to the point that I was satisfied with the trigger.

My groups with it have been a lot tighter than what I ever got with the 597. Also, it doesn't seem to be very picky about the brand of ammo that you are shooting through it. (The 597 hates Wolf Match Extra - creates shotgun looking groups).

The only negative thing I'd say about the 60 has to do with the tube feed - I just don't care for any rifle with tube feed. Perhaps it has to do with my embrassment one day when I launched the feed rod downrange.

That is a great price for any model 60. I just did a search at www.sportingarms.com who I buy from a lot, and the cheapest one they have is $151. For some of the higher priced guns I've found their prices hard to beat, but for the lower priced guns, some of the local major retailers have sales with better prices.
 
It's a loss-leader, or something, maybe.

I'm buying an old Marlin (Mountie) through the same shop, and I figured I'd share the paperwork and fees, and get this one too, especially for $120!
 
I think that's a good price, but I have found my Remington 597 and Ruger 10/22 to be less finicky about what I feed it. My brother, my nephew, and I all own Marlin Model 60's, and to varying degrees we have had trouble with FTF and FTE with them. In particular, Federal has caused some issues.
 
Good price I'd say. Love mine - I have the stainless version on synthetic stock. Dead nuts accurate for gophers :).

I found it eat Remington build pack from WallyWorld for awhile, but that seems to be fairly dirty then I get jams. Switched to Federal and no problems so far.
 
Word for years on the Model 60 is that the price has gone up significantly so $120 ain't bad. However, another word for years is that you can buy a used one very cheap at gun shops or pawn shops b/c many people that owned these bad boys had trouble with FTF/FTE b/c they didn't know how to break it down and clean/lube it properly; let alone to use high velocity costlier .22 LR ammo.
 
You never, ever , buy a new mod 60. Allways buy used, never spend more than 80 bucks. if you do not know about mod 60's buy one used from a gunshop, that checks out there stuff, with a gunsmith, to make sure it works. or take a friend that knows about them , to a pawnshop, and get one really cheap.
Tube fed, reliable, not picky, more accurate than any rifle under a cz, or the cost of 300 bucks.
 
You never, ever , buy a new mod 60. Allways buy used, never spend more than 80 bucks.
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Not in this state, you don't.:( Transfer fees alone render it moot, since I'm adding this rifle to another purchase so I'm saving the fees. Might as well get a new rifle for the price of an old one, since they now have laminate stocks standard.

If I were somewhere else, that's what I'd do, though.:)
 
Definitely get it!

Got mine for $50 out the door at a show about a year ago. Best little semi 22 out there straight from the box.
 
if you do not know about mod 60's buy one used from a gunshop, that checks out there stuff, with a gunsmith, to make sure it works. or take a friend that knows about them , to a pawnshop, and get one really cheap.
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I've seen this suggestion several times, but I don't know about 60s or have a friend who does. However I am fairly mechanically inclined.

What should I look for to tell whether a particular used Model 60 is a good one? (other than typical checkouts for any rifle like muzzle crown, barrel wear, etc)
 
got mine for $95 at Walmart about 8 years ago.

never had any problems using Federal bulk ammo for years....

bought a bulk box of the Remington stuff this spring and have had my first 3 FTEs ever.

take down for a detail cleaning is easy.

good instructions with photo's are posted here somewhere....try search.

I had to put some thread lock on my elevation adjust screw, as it was vibrating loose and shooting low

it's a handy little .22 I like it a lot.
 
I think they spec the 60 at 15 rounds in the tube with the 19" barrel that's now on it.

Marlin 39 lever gun holds 19 with a 24" barrel (confirmed), and 15 with a 20" barrel AFAIK (can confirm in a couple weeks).
 
I finally had the opportunity to shoot one last Sunday at the range. The gun belonged to a range acquaintence and it was noted by him that it is his most accurate .22. It was scoped with a Tasco variable.

The gun itself seemed to be very solid and well made. The five round group I got seemed (to me) better than a stock Ruger 10/22. The trigger, however, was pretty heavy (by my standards) guessing it to be 4-5 lbs. Certainly less than a stock 10/22 where almost all of mine were 6-6.5 lbs before modifications. I had shot it at the 25 yd range where I was zeroing 3 .22 of my own for a future range trip to teach my 8 yo nephew shooting (Marlin 15YN, CZ452 Scout, modded Ruger 10/22). It shot about as well as the CZ452 Scout (also scoped - Leupold 3-9X33 EFR) with Fed Am Eagle. (Mod 60 ammo was my friend's and I think were Fed hollowpoints.) ~0.75" @ 25 yds.

The only issues I have with the 60 is the heavy trigger (although I haven't researched what folks have done or can buy to fix this) and the tube feed. Having a Win 9422M, I know how a little more work is needed to load the gun, but my biggest concern is if the plunger is ever bent out of shape.

Otherwise a capable gun.
 
The only negative thing I'd say about the 60 has to do with the tube feed - I just don't care for any rifle with tube feed. Perhaps it has to do with my embrassment one day when I launched the feed rod downrange.
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Especially if the rifle is old, worn and not working properly. My brother in law ended up with a 22lr bullet stuck in his hand while loading a Marlin 60 like this that belonged to one of his friends but that was due to the mechanism not working properly.

Normally the Marlin 60 works really well. I do perfer the magazine version of the Marlin 75 though. It just seems safer to me that way to keep your hands further away from the breech. Theres also the Marlin 70 which was a carbine version of the Marlin 60. It had a shorter ammo tube, shorter barrel length and was a nice nifty little rifle.
 
I like my Model 60 quite well. It is picky about ammo, though. It doesn't like Remington, and it absolutely will not run right with Federal bulk ammo (FTEs on all of it). When the rifle was given to me several years ago, it came with a few thousand rounds of Federal Lightning ammo, and that stuff had it running like a Swiss clock. Not one FTF, FTE or any other stoppage. I'm looking to get another one since mine was already pretty used and abused when I got it.

That does bring up a question though, since I haven't bought .22LR in a long time. Under what label is the old Federal Lightning branded now?
 
Federal Lightning is now Champion. Easily the best of all the cheap ammo in my experience.
 
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