Tried out my Marlin 17Mach2

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stubblejumper

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Since gopher season has arrived,and my new Cooper 17Mach2 hasn't,I decided to try a cheap 17Mach2 to use until the Cooper arrives.The rifle is a stainless laminate heavy barrel that normally sold in the $300 to $400 range,but recently WSS was blowing them out for $199.Looking at the gun,the design and workmanship is lower end,with plenty of stamped parts,and rough machining finishes.I dug an old set of rings out of my spare parts,mounted a spare Elite 3200 3-9x40 that wasn't being used,and headed for the range.
I couldn't help but notice the very heavy trigger,but the first groups weren't bad at all.After shooting a few groups at 50 yards that went from 1/2" to 3/4",I moved out to 100 yards,the results being groups from 1-1/2" to 2".Given the 18kph winds,the results at 100 yards weren't that bad either.With a decent trigger,and calmer conditions,the gun would certainly be capable of much better groups at 100 yards.As it is,if a person pays attention to the wind,this gun could certainly be an effective gopher getter.
Overall,given the low price,I am quite pleased with my purchase,the gun offers a lot of value for the money.As it is,I have three people lined up to take the gun off of my hands for what I paid for it,when my Cooper arrives.Until then,I hope to use up some of my 17Mach2 ammunition supply on some gophers,and I don't really feel that handicapped doing so.
 
Good to hear. I just picked up a Marlin 717 auto from DelSelins for $150, should be here early this coming week. Did you notice any issues with parallax at the range with the 3200? Are you using the Eley ammo from Clay? Your thoughts on the ammo?
 
No major issues with parallax,although,I could not use 9x at 25 yards,it wasn't necessary at that range.I was using the Eley ammunition,as well as Hornady and Remington,and all performed similarly.I myself would not use a semi auto 17Mach2 unless I wore safety glasses after hearing about the case ruptures that sometimes occur with that combination of action and cartridge.
 
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Hi Stubblejumper
Sounds similar to my experience.
I tried out both of my stainless marlin hm2's on Thursday at the FM range.
Comments:
* the brand new one fouled the barrel within about 50 shots and the bolt was getting quite hard to close. Accuracy was pretty good till then: about 5/8-3/4" groups at 50 yds. Next time, the bore snake comes to the range.
* the older gun was a bit more accurate overall, and didn't foul the barrel the entire time (shot about 125 rounds in total between the 2 guns). I had the odd flyer that spoiled a few nice groups (under 1 inch), so I think the gun has potential.
* hornady ammo was a little more accurate than eley, but not by much (in both guns)
* almost no drop from 50 to 100 yds, very nice to find out. I was about 1/2" high at 50 yds, and about dead on at 100yds.
* both guns came from the factory with a floated barrel. Also, the dovetailed connector to the bottom of the barrel fit was quite loose, and the dovetail thing also fits quite loosely in it's hole in the stock.
Therefore,
a. I have epoxied (used goop, actually) the dovetail thing into it's slot in the bottom of the barrel.
b. I also added a few business card strips below the front of the barrel as a pressure point.
c. Finally, I glued in 2 business card strips into the front of the hole the dovetail thing goes so it can't move around.

Regarding the trigger, the new gun definitely has a better trigger than the old one, so there is some variation in the trigger. I think there is a fix online.
 
Being that I am only keeping the gun for a couple of months,then selling it,I likely won't be doing any mods on the gun.If I do decide to mod it at all,it will be a simple trigger mod to reduce the pull to an acceptable value.
 
Well, I took the Marlin 717 Mach2 out this week and sighted it in. Quite accurate, quite reliable. Shot both Eley and Hornady 17g ammo. It seemed to prefer the Hornady- the Eley would FTE properly about once per magazine full (7 rounder). With the Hornady, I only had one FTE in about 50 rounds.

This morning, I headed out to a local farm and proceeded to whack about 40 prairie dogs in a little over an hour. I had two FTE with the Hornady ammo. Spectacular performance on the little buggers, very pleased with the Marlin. The best $150 I've ever spent on a rimfire.

Now I need to scope this bad boy. I stuck on an old Nikko Sterling 4 x 32 but this rifle is screaming for better glass. I'm thinking a 2-7x33 VXI, sent off to Korth's for a fine reticle with a small dot and 60 yd parallax...

:cool:
 
Prairie dogs...

My mistake, I guess its been too long since I earned my degree in Zoology...ha:

Back to the range this afternoon with the 717. Seems to be breaking in nicely. Accuracy is improving and the trigger seems to be smoothing out a bit. I was using Hornady and Eley ammo today. Both types of ammo were grouping a magazine full (7 shots) into about 3/4" at 50 m. Hitting the 100 yd gong became tedious and boring. Took a few cracks at the 200 yd gong and hit it about 8/10 shots average.

Still couldn't get the Eley ammo to feed 100% reliably but was noticeably better than the first day out. The Hornady ammo was flawless.

Makes me wonder what this little $150 gem would do with a decent quality riflescope.
 
2-7x glass won't be enough. Pick up some glass that would at least do 10x. Mine is 3-10x and sometimes I wish I had higher magnification. I often use the 17 mach2 for shots around 100 yards on gophers and anything closer just seems too easy. It really makes it hard for me to justify taking out my 22mag lever. I have the same gun, a marlin 717.
 
2-7x glass won't be enough. Pick up some glass that would at least do 10x. Mine is 3-10x and sometimes I wish I had higher magnification.
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I have a 3-9x40 on the Marlin,and a 3-9x33 Leupold rimfire is going on the Cooper.9x is enough for me for shots to 150 yards or so.
 
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bassman said:
This morning, I headed out to a local farm and proceeded to whack about 40 prairie dogs in a little over an hour.


:cool:
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Are you sure you were not shooting ground squirrels?


"Saskatchewan's 20 to 25 black-tailed prairie dog colonies, the only prairie dog communities in Canada, account for less than one per cent of the range-wide population of dogs in North America. (Four other species of prairie dog, also found only in North America, are much less common than the black-tail.) About half of Saskatchewan's colonies are located within the boundaries of Grasslands National Park and all sit within in a relatively tiny area of the Frenchman River Valley and its adjacent uplands."
 
Zoology

bassman said:
Thanks for the zoology lesson. See post 9, should clear that up for you. d:h::onCrack:
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Actually, I classify these furry little things as Targets. Simplifies everything for everyone involved.

Further sub-classifications are (1) little s.o.b., (2) big s.o.b. (3) close and (4) way the h**l out there. This makes for positive identification of the Target when your partner says "Get that big s.o.b. way the h**l out there next to the fence post." R:d: ;)
 
buffdog said:
Actually, I classify these furry little things as Targets. Simplifies everything for everyone involved.

Further sub-classifications are (1) little s.o.b., (2) big s.o.b. (3) close and (4) way the h**l out there. This makes for positive identification of the Target when your partner says "Get that big s.o.b. way the h**l out there next to the fence post." R:d: ;)
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LOL, I like the way you think. :cool:
 
scott_r said:
Missed that, sorry. I always thought we had prairie dogs here till a friend pointed it out that they were actually rishardson ground squirrels. Didnt mean to offend you.

Cheers!!
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Sorry dude, I was having a bad day when I responded. I went out and whacked another 35 or so tonight. No failures of any kind tonight- the 717 is breaking in very nicely. :cool:
 
A friend and I went back to the farm yesterday morning and we took out somewhere between 150-200 more gophers in about 2 hrs. We didn't even have to move for the last hour or so. My buddy was using his Annie .22 with yellowjackets and when comparing the damage, he couldn't believe how destructive the .17 was.

Went myself again this morning before work, whacked about 50 more in the same spot as yesterday.

After dozens and dozens of post-mortem exams this week, I am thoroughly convinced that the .17 machII is the $hit on gophers. This little round enters cleanly and blows a HUGE hole out the back side. Out of the hundreds of kills with the little .17, only a handful (less than 10 !!) have made it back to the hole and even most of these were found just inside the hole. It doesn't have the 'flip' factor of my HMR but the 'bang for the buck' factor is unbeatable.

If anyone out there is sitting on the fence about whether or not to get into the MachII, go for it- you won't have any regrets.
 
My favorite is hitting them out to 110m-when they just fall over dead like you hit them with a baseball bat.......or seeing them all stand up when you shoot one and he just falls over....like they're thinking-hey,what just happened to fred?:dancingbanana:
 
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