Marlin Model 60 for First Rifle

[Dynasty]

When buying a Marlin Model 60 what else should I buy with it? Ear and eye protection I have, but I was wondering what would be a good ammo to start off with and what kind of cleaning/prep/maintenance needs to be done in order to keep the Marlin Model 60 shooting its best for a long time. What cleaners/oils should be bought with the rifle? A friend of mine recommended buying:

-Marlin Model 60
-CCI Minimags (50 rounds to see how it does)
-Hoppe's #9 oil
-Break-Free CLP
-Hoppes Rifle Cleaning Kit (.22)

 

[bensdad]

My Mod. 60 likes Federal bulk-pack.

When I got it, I took it apart, sprayed the guts with Remoil, sprayed a .22 boresnake with Remoil, pulled the snake through the bore, then shot the heck out of the gun. I clean it now whenever it starts to jam (every several thousand rounds).

Mine never even makes it back in the safe. You're gonna love that gun.

 

[Chawbaccer]

It won't need a whole lot of maintenance. You might want to get a can of Gun Scrubber to hose it down every so often. Mine like the Mini Mags best for accuracy but realy isn't too picky about any bulk ammo.

 

[mtmuley]

bensdad said it. Mine likes Remington Game loads. I've cleaned the action when it had a tendency to jam, (rarely) but never the bore. Takes the head off of a mountain grouse at 50 yards. Great auto .22 Enjoy! mtmuley

 

[SSN Vet]

+1 on the Federal bulk ammo....

shot it for years without any problems...

my last purchase was for the Remington "Thunderbolts" and now I get a stove pipe every other mag. full.

 

[QuakKillz]

mine is old and onlyu likes FAST ammo or else it will jam

other than that, I LOVE mine!

 

[corncob]

It is a great first rifle. It was mine. But I thought Gunscrubber was not good for plastic innards.

I bought mine at a pawnshop and it came full of sand. I have no idea how the previous owner accomplished this. I used CLP because thats what I had on hand. A bottle of it and a boresnake is really all you need. I have only taken it out of the stock that one time. Too much oil is also bad.

Mine also likes Federal bulk pack, but not as much as minimags, which is my go-to 22lr anyway. I haven't had luck with winchester or rem rimfire in any of my guns.

The extra-long sight radius and bad (as opposed to terrible or un-usable) trigger makes the model 60 a great first rifle, in my opinion.

In addition to a couple of Federal bulk packs, I think you should try to lay hold of a box of misprinted business cards. Shooting these offhand at 30 yards with irons is the only way to spend an afternoon.

 

[pinstripe]

Good cheap shooter. I have owned several Marlin 60/ Glenfield 60 rifles and they all liked federal bulk pack better then remington anything. If you start to jam after several rounds (100+), just take the receiver and squirt some gun scrubber into it to rinse out the unfired powder/grime, and get back to shooting. Have fun!

 

[Savage Shooter]

Mine loves remington golden bullets and I use hoppes #9 powder solvent and 3 in one 1 oil from the local hardware store cause its cheap. Great shooter rarely lets me down. if it starts to jam take off the stock and spray it with ether the kind they use for deisel engines spray it real good while working the bolt and after that oil it real good cause it leaves the metal bare. happy shooting

 

[rangerruck]

I agree with all the above, but before you buy bulk packs, I would buy 1 of each of all the 22 ammo you can get your hands on. You will find a few of these,
that will shoot absolutely outstanding. And if it is not a bulk pack type , you may hate yourself... Allthough federal and winchester bulk pacs would be the ones to try first, as they are usually the best.

 

[rangerruck]

oh yeah, avoid remington bulk packs, trust me...

 

[jrfoxx]

Mine has worked fine with all the ammo I've tried in it, including the Remington bulk stuff that LOTS of people have had loads of duds with (I have too, but just not in my model 60...coincidence, or something else...who knows).Accuracy seems the same with all of them too.As for cleaning, I use Hoppe's #9 for the bulk of the cleaning, and maybe squirt some brake cleaner/gunscruber/etc into harder to get at spots.Oil is usually Remoil, but I've been experimenting with Mobil 1 synthetic lately (its the cheapest, and available by the quart ), and it seems to work just as well as anything else I have ever used (the smell is a little odd, and may bother some people, but I dont mind it.not a bad smell, just kind of odd).I wipe the Mobil 1 in with a patch where possible, and use a syringe, or bottle with a long, really skinny tube attached, for the harderto get places.To get copper fouling out, I just use some windex with ammonia on some patches, or just make my own watered down ammonia solution.Seems to work fine.I also recently bought a case of old, surplus USGI Rifle Bore Cleaner (the REALLY stinky stuff) to try out for the heck of it too, as its pretty cheap also, I hear it works GREAT (supposedly kills corrosive salts from surplus ammo also), and also available in bulk.Havent tried it yet though.

 

[chris in va]

I'm suprised to hear people not having issues with their 60. It was my first firearm (about 6 years ago) and the sucker jammed on everything. Brand new out of the box.

I don't know maybe I was supposed to hose it down with brake cleaner first. Never did get it to operate properly.

 

[Jackal]

Just to address all the Gunscrubber comments, all "Gunscrubber" is, is re-labeled auto carb cleaner. You can get carb cleaner at local Big Mart for like $.86 per can. Far cheaper than the $7+ for Gunscrubber.

 

[dwschoon]

My first gun was a model 60, and I think it is a great choice. Mine has reliably fed everything, except for the Remington Golden bullets. I had several jams and duds in the bulk pack I bought. I ended up giving away most of it. I usually just shoot CCI in it now. Over at rimfirecentral.com there are several 60 owners, and some great info under the marlin sub board.

 

[guninthewater]

The best thing you can do is to round up as many different types of .22 LR ammo you can find and test them in your rifle. If anyone proclaims that you should stay away from a particular loading because their rifle didn't like it, kindly disregard that advice. Like most rifles, different Marlin Model 60s will like different loadings. The only way you'll know what works best in your gun is to actually test a variety of loads in your gun. I did this with my Model 60, and the results were very interesting. I bought probably a dozen types of .22 LR, including Mini-Mags, Stingers, Golden Bullets, Thunderbolts, Lightnings, Wildcats, Yellow Jackets, and even some of the expensive target-grade stuff. I learned that my rifle dislikes the hyper-velocity stuff, producing 50-yard groups that opened up to 3-4 inches. Interestingly, standard loads and target loads fared about the same, so I saw no need to pay extra for the premium stuff. In the end, the Golden Bullets worked best, producing 50-yard groups that measured .50-.75 inches. Of course, your mileage may vary, and that's exactly my point. Good luck!

 

[JonB]

My mod 60 is quite accurate. I shot a ton of Remington bulk pack through it and started having some jams. I switched over to the Federal brand bulk packs and haven't had any issues. I found the Remington stuff to be a bit dirtier, which probably led to the jams.

But either way, the Marlin Mod 60 is a great little rifle.