Marlin 60

[Gizards'n'Gravy]

Yestderday my father and I went to Academy to purchase a new .22lr rifle. My father was raised on a Marlin 60 and was determined to get one, or a bolt action Savage if they were in stock. There were in fact, no Savage bolt actions but they had one in-stock Marlin 60. We asked to examine the rifle and the clerk pulled the gun out of the box and right away we noticed a flaw.

The rear sight was tilted very far down and to the right . It was so cockeyed that you couldn't even see the front sight post unless you turned the rifle on it's side. No amount of wiggling and budging could fix this.

Fit and finish were fine and the gun seemed to have no other problems. I advised my dad to hold up and maybe wait till they had a different one in stock that didn't have any problems. I was afraid there maybe more problems. But my dad always scopes his .22s so he bought one of those BSA Sweet .22 3-9x40 scopes, popped off the rear sight and mounted it. I have heard of QC issues with new Marlin lever-actions but I now wonder if these problems are extending to there other rifles. I wonder if this is just a rare instance or if there are more and more QC issues like this one ( or worse) occuring with Marlin rifles? Anyway, I'll find out at the range tomorrow how it performs. It just bothers me that this is the 2nd Marlin rifle I have seen with a problem out-of-the-box in the last few weeks.

 

[243winxb]

The older ones i have shot were very accurate. But if you remove the action from the stock, point of impact will change, sometimes a lot. Turning the action screw can do this also. You will know what new production is like soon. Let us know how it goes.

 

[jad0110]

Don't rule out a used 60 either. I picked up 2 Model 60s (one a Glenfield), one was made in '80 and the other in '82, so these had the longer barrel and 18 round tubular magazine. One of them had a fixed 4x Tasco scope (nothing fancy). Both were in solid mechanical shape, and about 85% to 90% finish wise. And both have proven to be extremely accurate.

I paid $140 for the pair of them, 3 or 4 years ago. Kept one for myself, and gave the other to my dad for father's day.

 

[Gizards'n'Gravy]

Ya know, I was in a pawn shop in this little town about 2 weeks ago and I found 2 used model 60s. One a Glenfield and the other a Marlin. They were bother priced at $100 with about 85% finish. They seemed fine as far as I could tell, a good cleaning can go along way on an old gun. I've been told in the past not to buy a used auto-loading .22 because people shoot the crap out of them and wear em' out, and beacause I could buy the same gun brand new for $35 more. Im going to found out tomorrow if it was a bad idea to buy new. We have owned many 60s in the past and they really are my favorite plinker and squirrel gun but these were older rifles. They have always been very accurate and utterly dependable, I'm hoping nothing has changed.

 

[Michael R.]

I have a marlin model 60 and it is made in the 50's. It's a great gun and it was reblued a few years ago. Looks great and shoots great too!

 

[alman]

I picked up my latest 60 about a month ago . A Glenfield model 60 , 1976 vintage complete with squirrel stock & an old school 3-9x40 simmons scope . Took it out to the desert the next day and shot it . Jammed up quite a bit . Failure to feed , failure to eject & some pretty mangled cartridges. Brought it home , took it apart , cleaned the action , bolt , breech & barrel . Blew out with compressed air & repeated the whole process again . Adjusted the ejection spring & lightly oiled all appropriate areas . Brought it out to the desert the next day sighted the scope in and ran 300 rounds through it without an issue . Accurate as hell & fun to shoot at a bargain for $105.00 . Love those older marlin 60s!

 

[clone]

A lot of the new Marlins, after the factory was moved, are riddled with problems. The older ones, before the move, work fine. I would not buy a new one with so many perfectly good used ones out there. Especially seeing as new ones cost $160+. I just bought a used one (mint condition) not long ago for $100.

I love the older ones though, own three of them.

 

[Onmilo]

The iron sights on the Model 60 rifles have always been a bit cheesy.
I replaced my sights with a Williams peep rear and ramp front.
A lot of people are using the excellent Tech Sights on these guns with good results.

Both of these aren't cheap fixes but a rifle is only as good as the barrel and the sights, the barrels are very good,,,

 

[Blackhawk30]

I have a Model 99 made in the 60's.Its so old that it doesn't have a serial number.It has a walnut stock and a scope rail tho.I'm not sure when they started calling it a Marlin 60.Maybe after they did away with Glenfield?

 

[Risky buisness]

I really like the Marlin 60 concept, longer bbl and longer stock,( never did really like the tube magazine,) looked at a new 795, wasn't inpressed so I converted one older 60 to use magazines like the 795s 10 rounder, added TecSites front and rear and really like the rifle much more now