My first Marlin 60

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pickeringchris

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Pickering Ontario
Pretty ###y if you ask me. Lol.
I polished all internals and gave bolt a mirror finish. Trigger is actually very nice but it will be upgraded along with bottom metal. I will also add a pictinny rail. I have only shot it with the iron sights so can't testify as to the accuracy just yet but it has been extremely reliable with cci blazers. Not a single fail in the first 100 rounds.
Boyd's stock was a drop in.
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Well, it Looks awesome! but I'd be a little concerned about the floated barrel on that evo stock. I've done quite a bit of testing on these tube fed marlin's in search of accuracy over the years, and my conclusion thus far is they actually prefer barrel support and shoot their best when both the barrel AND magazine have some pressure on them from the stock to dampen the harmonics. I recently tried the floated barrel for the first time and my accuracy wasn't amazing and it showed slight signs of vertical stringing, im guessing due to the weight changing as the mag went from full to empty. Hold 15 rounds and imagine that weight coming off the end of the barrel as you empty the magazine.

After bedding the barrel with 5# upward pressure, and once that had set bedding the mag with very slight upward pressure (shimmed the barrel/bedding with two strips of masking tape while the epoxy set, then removed.) my accuracy improved dramatically. And this was all done after pillar bedding so i know the action torque was consistent.

Not to mention it's a lightweight aluminum receiver with a press-fit pinned Steel barrel, and a heavy one at that, PLUS a mag tube full of ammo hanging off of there. The skimpy receiver with it's tiny action screws (specifically the teensy weensy rear one that would be taking all the counter-weight) doesn't need that kind of stress, especially if it's not FULLY pillar/epoxy bedded. It's a much bigger concern than say, a 10/22 with a short barrel and no mag tube.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, just thought i'd pass on what i've experienced so you can take it in to consideration and keep your eyes out for issues. It could be totally fine. Guns are weird like that, the same rules don't always apply, but they usually do.
 
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Your not raining on my parade. I appreciate the insight. It's just a fun gun. If it can shoot 1" groups at 50 ill be happy.
Btw, I can slide a dollar bill under the mag with factory stock. It is apparently free floated. I'll be sure to report back when I range est the gun. Cheers
 
pickeringchris said:
Your not raining on my parade. I appreciate the insight. It's just a fun gun. If it can shoot 1" groups at 50 ill be happy.
Btw, I can slide a dollar bill under the mag with factory stock. It is apparently free floated. I'll be sure to report back when I range est the gun. Cheers
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Yeah my new 60 dlx came floated too (built in mayfield?). But all the older marlins I've had (a dozen or so) that were built in the old factory(s) had upward pressure on the barrel and many which had pressure on the mag too (90's - 2000's manufacture), which got me to thinking about why that might have been. The cool trendy thing these days is floated barrels, that's what people want, but I think the gun makers in north/new haven did things differently back then For a reason.
 
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I don't know where mine was made. It has a MM serial number.
I know it's hard to wrap our head around this but not everything old is better. Yes, there are cost cutting measures with things like polymers rather than metal etc but with CNC machinery tolerances the mating parts have never been better. Take the receiver barrel junction. There is about 3/4" of mating surface there. If tolerances are proper and the parts fit well, there is no way the barrel should droop. "Should"
 
I'm not saying everything old is better, if anything I'm saying the factory that made tube mag rimfires for over 100 years likely knew things about them which Remington, who has been making them for 2 years, does not yet understand.

Also I should clarify, I realize floating a standard barrel typically improves accuracy, and poi consistency. Just not when done to a gun with a tube mag, long heavy barrel and light aluminum receiver... In my experience.
 
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Went with the thumbhole laminate on my 60 (Evo on the 10/22 which just about as dubious with 16" HB) and Burris BP 3-9x.

Please post your experience with and source for trigger & bottom metal (or bottom plastic as the case may be).

My M60 is also free floated, if accuracy deteriorates at some point may try bedding / pressure point, thanks for mentioning it.

Been very happy with the M60 and may have pushed the T-Bolt, which was the go to grouse gun, out of the nest.
 
Good friendly conversation going here.... You would think that if Remington purshased that division, they would have received 100 years of intellectual property including engineering data, R&D, what failed, what was reliable etc. no?
 
lineofsight said:
Went with the thumbhole laminate on my 60 (Evo on the 10/22 which just about as dubious with 16" HB) and Burris BP 3-9x.

Please post your experience with and source for trigger & bottom metal (or bottom plastic as the case may be).

My M60 is also free floated, if accuracy deteriorates at some point may try bedding / pressure point, thanks for mentioning it.

Been very happy with the M60 and may have pushed the T-Bolt, which was the go to grouse gun, out of the nest.
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I haven't picked out a scope for it yet. Was thinking 3-9. Then I thought about my 204. It has a 4-16 and my 17hmr has a 4.5-14. Both I wish I had more mag for target shooting. For hunting my scopes have sufficient mag but I never seem to see anything hunting. Lol.
 
Marlin certainly didn't send along any advice on their leverguns, why would rimfires be different? Im pretty sure what they bought was the name and the tooling/engineering. I bet it's cheaper to mass produce floated barrels than it is to fit the entire barrel inlay properly like marlin used too.
 
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nonrandomhero said:
I hat to hijack, but I just got a 60 DLX as well. The bolt holds open after almost every shot, any ideas?
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Yup, mine did too though not as much. Check the spring that lifts the "hold open" lever and cartridge lifter. I'd bet it's too long and is galling the inside of the action plate. I had to take mine out and file a few thou off so the lifters would work properly.

Remington has not even come close to marlins quality control.
 
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nonrandomhero said:
Aaa and I took too much off. Time to order a new spring.
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Was it sticking on the action plate?

Marlins... Remington's quality control is gone out the window. I swear, I will keep and cherish mine because I put so much work into it, but it never used to be that way, and I would not recommend marlins to new shooters anymore... It's sad because with a little attention during final assembly and they are one of the finest most accurate and reliable firearms there is. If you just slap the parts together you get a jam-o-matic.
 
mikeystew said:
Was it sticking on the action plate?

Marlins... Remington's quality control is gone out the window. I swear, I will keep and cherish mine because I put so much work into it, but it never used to be that way, and I would not recommend marlins to new shooters anymore... It's sad because with a little attention during final assembly and they are one of the finest most accurate and reliable firearms there is. If you just slap the parts together you get a jam-o-matic.
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Did you put a lot of work into it to make it function properly? I have no idea what mine was like out of the box because the first thing I did was take it all apart and polished/debured internals... Also, when I did my research on Rimfire central and the marlin forum I found that MM serial numbers were the ones you would want. Apparently they are made in a different factory/more reliable. Cheers
 
mikeystew said:
Was it sticking on the action plate?
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Yes it seems that it was, but I took off too much and not it isn't catching th bolt hold upen plate.

pickeringchris said:
Also, when I did my research on Rimfire central and the marlin forum I found that MM serial numbers were the ones you would want. Apparently they are made in a different factory/more reliable. Cheers
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Min is in fact an MM and still had an issue. I'm not really disappointed that I needed to do some work. The gun is nice enough and it's not rocket science, it's filing down some rough edges and springs. It's still better than spending $300-$500 on aftermarket parts to get an equal gun.
 
pickeringchris said:
Did you put a lot of work into it to make it function properly? I have no idea what mine was like out of the box because the first thing I did was take it all apart and polished/debured internals... Also, when I did my research on Rimfire central and the marlin forum I found that MM serial numbers were the ones you would want. Apparently they are made in a different factory/more reliable. Cheers
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Not a lot no. I was having the same issue as nrh with the hold open sticking and it was jamming a few times each mag. Quick fix, but there were other things that annoyed me like the extremely sharp (and imho, unfinished) bolt and flaky anodizing inside the receiver. Not a deal breaker for me, but having collected and tinkered with so many pre-remington marlins, I was disappointed because even my '98 model 60 from north haven came BNIB with the bolt smoothed and deburred by hand, and the internals had been hand fitted with care to ensure proper function. It worked flawlessly like any other I'd owned and that's what I had come to expect from marlin. A high quality yet affordable item. Now to me they just seem cheap.

Of the 3 new DLX models with MM serial numbers I inspected at WSS, the one I bought was the only one without an obvious defect. The others had canted sights on both.

Don't get me wrong, the way it is now, pillar bedded and running smoothly I absolutely LOVE this gun. And the bottom line is buyer beware. If you like marlins just inspect one VERY thoroughly before committing to a purchase, and be aware you will likely need to do some of the hand finishing yourself.
 
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