Marlin Model 25?

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Doc7

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hello,

I have to swing by the shop to pick up a new shotgun and I called, they have a Marlin Model 25 for 99 bucks on the used rack.

I canceled a pre ordered 22 bolt action (t1X Tikka) to afford the shotgun, so I am back in the market for a detachable magazine bolt action 22 for small game (squirrel and treed coons over dogs). I have a 4X Nikon to put on it that I will remove from my Marlin 60 so the 60 can be put back into iron sighted service.

What should I look for on this old 25 before making an offer? Any known issues?

I won the 100 bucks for it in a coin flip wager after hanging up the phone with the shop, so it’s a “free” rifle :)
 
They're very good rifles. Plain but reliable and very accurate with ammo it likes. 100 bucks is a great deal these days grab it. I got mine in the 80s at a grand opening sale for 49.00. It shot PMC Zappers under a nickle at 50yds. Gives squirrels permanent headaches.
 
Make certain it has a good magazine. Another will be 10%+ what you paid for the rifle.
Look at the scope-ring grooves for buggering.
Check out the extractor and ejector for chipping or bubba-ing.
Does the safety have positive stops?

GREAT knock around rifles and stew-pot fillers.



Todd.
 
$100 for a nice shooting vintage 22 is a Smokin' deal, and with the way that it works out being a free rifle in the end you can't go wrong if everything checks out and it's in nice shape with a good-looking bore. I actually prefer the llde vintage 22's chambered for 22 short, 22Long & 22LR like my Buckhorn 66, Stevens 87A and Hi Standard / JC Higgins model 31 . I find the old vintage 22's to be built much better and are better Shooters than most any of the off the rack cheap production 22's you see today
 
The bore and all asssemblies looked great! I purchased it and will pick up on the same background check with my shotgun next week. Ordering a set of rings (my one piece mount From my 60 won’t work, duh) and looking forward to checking it out! Will update next week. Now it and the v3 will vie for my testing attention next week :)
 
Well the 25 is a .22 mag, the 25N is .22 lr so make sure which it is. Love mine, very accurate for a sporter hunting rifle and the same design as the XT22 in current production.

Issues; the irons it comes with are standard fare, which is to say poor. The bolt lift makes for clearance issues with low mounted scopes, and the receiver is dovetailed rather than drilled and tapped. Diversified Innovative Products makes a rail that adapts it, but you’ll almost certainly lose cheek weld with any optic.
 
Thank you. I plan on using my Marlin 60 for my iron sighted 22 (Appleseed rifle, which I have used for a rifleman patch despite the tube fed shortcomings) with tech sights. This 25 will host a Nikon prostaff Rimfire 4x32 I’ve had for ten years now and be a small game rifle - virtually need a scope in order to shoot coons at night in my experience (the peep sights were not usable for this for this)
 
Skylerbone said:
Well the 25 is a .22 mag, the 25N is .22 lr so make sure which it is. Love mine, very accurate for a sporter hunting rifle and the same design as the XT22 in current production.

Issues; the irons it comes with are standard fare, which is to say poor. The bolt lift makes for clearance issues with low mounted scopes, and the receiver is dovetailed rather than drilled and tapped. Diversified Innovative Products makes a rail that adapts it, but you’ll almost certainly lose cheek weld with any optic.
Click to expand...

Also- it is actually a Glenfield 25. I will post photos when I pick it up.
 
I would pass. I broke an extractor on the marlin 25. Rifle isn’t the problem. I got a 2nd factory magazine and after racking the bolt a couple times with the new mag it jammed up. I called marlin they didn’t care and won’t fix it. Then I saw them at the NRA convention. They told me to talk to Remington. Then Remington said go talk to Marlin. I wasn’t impressed. I would just get a new bolt rifle for a little bit more that is in production. Mossberg??? I don’t know. I just know if you have problems the cost of a smith and parts you might have well bought a CZ.
If is free you can’t go wrong.
I will say it runs 22shorts very well and quiet with the long barrel.
 
I figure I would work on anything wrong utilizing this forum and some others out there with great Marlin experts.

Don’t know why you mentioned Mossberg but I will say two things in response - 1) you can’t find a bad review of a Mossberg barrel anywhere on the Net (re MVP, Patriot lines) making it the most undervalued rifle out there as far as I am concerned and 2) I had a shotgun issue, they sent me a shipping label and my shotgun was returned the same week with a brand new carrying case and issue resolved. I won’t be convinced Mossberg is a problem to buy, in fact I recommend them every chance I get.
 
I have a 25n and the only thing I really have to say is the trigger is pretty horrid....it is serviceable, but just not the greatest. There is a trigger fix thread over on rimfire central so you might want to check that out.

Over all it is a very accurate rifle if you can get that trigger to your liking.
 
Doc7 said:
Can I single load into the chamber if I have any magazine problems at first?
Click to expand...
Sure can. The receiver shrouds it a bit but I'm sure legions
of kids have used them single-shot after losing or queering their only magazine.
Helps significantly to point the muzzle as straight as possible down to let the round fall in cleanly.

Todd.
 
As it turned out, I have had quite a bit of trouble with feeding, having to push up on the magazine to do so.

Today I had some downtime, so I pulled the action from the stock and adjusted the mag catch so as to get better reliability feeding. It can now feed CCI 40 gn RN SV pretty reliably (for whatever reason, one round in particular hung up even after multiple tries). It did NOT like feeding CCI 36 grn MiniMag HPs! The adjustment gave the magazine a solid lockup, and took quite a bit of fiddling to allow both magazine installation and feeding without poor results in one or the other action. The 36g HPs just would not load though. No matter as you will see below.

At 50 yards it put the CCI SVs into 0.72” groups. My beloved Marlin 60, which was removed from scope service and returned to “Appleseed” service with this acquisition, does those at 0.70” so I am happy with this accuracy.

The 36 grain Minimags however were at around 1.50”. I will certainly need to keep testing to find my Raccoon round. The same model 60 grouped that 36grn round at 0.90” but it put the 40 grain Minimags at 1.40” so that is proof positive that a 22 can be very round sensitive, as most know on this website, and just because I had bad luck with the first HP HV round I tried has no bearing on what I might get out of future rounds tested. I will seek to acquire 4-5 possible Coon rounds and test them out at the next opportunity. We prefer HP supersonic rounds for that job around here.
 
You know I’m reminded of a Savage I own with this story. Bought it used, a Model 7, complete with magazine. I could not manage to string together more than 3 rounds at a time even pushing up from below. I tried internet fixes and finally bought a new magazine only to realize I had the wrong one the whole time.
 
I bought a Model 15... the single shot version of the Model 25... as my first firearm back in 1986, it's still going strong. You talked about putting an aftermarket sight on it, I finally put a Williams peep receiver sight on mine, it's fantastic. It does have to set forward, past the receiver cut for the bolt, but it is still very workable.

yP5p0cVl.jpg

My 15 originally came with a bent extractor, but always worked 100% anyway. Last time I had it torn down I bent it back... other than that I've not had any problems. I know the 25 can have issues with the magazine and feeding, I'm certain you can iron them out pretty quickly (as it seems you have.) For $100... that's about what that would have cost 30 years ago! Good deal!
 
Two new magazines from grab-a-gun and this gun cycles like a total dream! It ate 36 grain Hp minimags like they were going out of style (could not feed those at all with the original mag).

Now ready to do a trigger job, address firing pin light strikes, and possibly get some more accuracy testing in. Right now stocking up on CCI Standards for my trainer model 60, I can hunt with those in a pinch, so not spending a lot of money and time on testing other rounds right now till I see how the 22LR market responds to mid-terms.
 
Love those old Marlins......I had a model 60 and currently own a model 9 (camp9carbine).
The 22 mag is great round. The model I'd love to find is the Marlin 922 (the 22mag version of the Camp carbine).
post some photos of the 25 when you pick it up
 
A breaking extractor is what terminated my 25N. Kept replacing, Kept breaking. Tracked down the cause, junked the gun. Too bad.
 
Skylerbone writes:

Well the 25 is a .22 mag, the 25N is .22 lr so make sure which it is.
Click to expand...

Are the 25N rifles marked as such? My rifle, made in 1985, is marked "Model 25", and that it's chambered in .22Short, Long, and Long Rifle.
 
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