FiveInADime
Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2012
- Messages
- 192
I got the camera out this morning to give anyone that cares a good look at the Marlin XS7S. I bought this gun so I could swap out the barrel and stock to make a new range toy in .260 Rem. but before I spoil it's factory form I'm going to play around with it for a while. There are some shortcuts taken on this rifle, but overall it is a very attractive package and it costs less than any stainless, centerfire, bolt-action rifle that I know of.
The action is, as most know, much like a Savage model 10. A floating bolt head is pinned to the bolt with traditional dual locking-lugs. It has a small rotating extractor and a plunger type ejector. The top of the receiver and the rear tang, however, are styled like a Winchester model 70. Marlin borrowed almost every design element from other bolt-guns, but arranged them in a way that really makes sense. The only bone-head thing they did was not include a 3-position safety. The action can be opened while the safety is on (good) but there is no way to lock the bolt.
The recessed crown looks very good and is a nice feature for a gun that may see a lot of rough treatment. The Stainless finish is also very attractive. The only flaws in the finish were light scratches on the barrel from careless assembly and a dinged rough look on the metal-injection-molded bolt shroud. It looks as if the barrel-nut wrench was dragged down the barrel and the bolt shroud was not polished very smooth.
The trigger is very nice on this particular rifle. It was set to the lowest pull weight by the time I got my hands on it. I have most all of my rifles set to 3lbs. of pull, and this one is significantly lighter with only a tiny bit of creep. This is my first "Accu-Trigger" like setup and the safety-blade is a little annoying but doesn't take away from the quality of the pull.
A feature that I really enjoy is the ease of disassembling the bolt. You just stick an appropriate size nail through a slot under the bolt shroud, lift the bolt and twist it clockwise until the shroud/firing pin assembly thread off, and voila... it's easy as pie! I like taking the firing pin out to see exactly how easy reloaded rounds chamber.
The pillar bedding might be just a bit of a gimmick, but it is nice that there's a metal to metal to metal contact at least for the front action screw. The plastic trigger guard won't help keep the rear action screw stay torqued but it probably isn't as squishy as wood. The stock is clearly a cheap plastic affair, but it's as good as any cheap plastic I suppose. The checkering is pretty sharp and it gives a good gripping surface.
I wasn't looking for a rugged hunting rifle when I bought this gun, I was just looking for a cheap stainless steel action. This rifle is a tremendous bargain, however, and if for some reason you don't want to spend your $350-$400 on a nice used rifle, the money would be well spent on a Marlin XS7S. I have handled all of the cheap rifles available and I think this is the best value and also the best looking rifle in it's class. With the heavy-barrel variants out I can see Remlin really getting a head-of-steam. I think sooner or later this rifle will force the competition to step-up the features on budget rifles.
I will check back in once I get a thorough range test done. I don't have expectations of 0.25-0.50 MOA with any old ammo, but hopefully it will shoot to the level of it's billing.
