stevew
20-08-2005, 10:03 PM
This weekend I got rid of a Thompson Classic, traded in against a Marlin 7000.
Blame Baz, his praise of the Marlin – coupled with Master Shriller’s (Ben) confirmation of that praise, led me to what looked like a backward step. Certainly, in terms of cost, it was backward – Thompson £380, Marlin £244.
The dealer rang to say the rifle had arrived and had been screwcut; some confusion seems to exist about whether they come cut from the factory – mine didn’t. An hour after the call, I was in the shop, lifting the rifle out of its box.
First impressions were mixed.
It’s got an 18” heavy barrel and a black synthetic stock. The barrel looks the business; a bloody thick tube with a very small hole at the end. The stock looks crap. I mean, it looks as if it would devalue a Ratcatcher if you slapped it on as a home mod. I used to have a 10/22 with a Hogue black synthetic stock. THAT looked good; this looks crap.
Everything on the rifle seems to shrink alongside That Tube; the receiver looks undersized, the bolt is a bit of pencil stuck in the side, the mag well doesn’t look big enough to take even a .22 magazine and the scope rail appears FAR too narrow. (The rifle comes with a set of Weaver 1” tip-off rings; I’m no expert, but they look flimsy – screws instead of Allen bolts, metal the thickness of fag-packet silver foil). The mag release lever is a bit of bent metal, as is the bolt hold-open lever. The magazine is nickel plated and – to me – looks tacky on an all-black rifle. Even the weight is tiny – 5.25lbs.
So; so far one positive and several apparent negatives. Time to take it home and try it.
I bought some HV ammo to settle things in, CCI minimags. Marlin themselves appear confused on the ammo front; the book of words says it’ll function fine with subs, especially Eley and Winchester, Marlin’s website says it uses HV. Ho hum, I’ve got both. I also bought a new mod to go on it, a MkII SAK. It’s a mean-looking mod – about 5” long, about 2” dia. Fits in well with the look of the kit.
OK, home and read the instructions – yeah, I know that’s not a Man Thing, and I’m not going to tell you about the disaster that led me to start reading instructions. Very straight-forward, including two interesting points about cleaning. According to Marlin the barrel NEVER NEEDS CLEANING under normal use, though they don’t define “normal”; they recommend the action is cleaned every 500 to 1000 rounds.
Now this is a crunch point; the Thompson was unbelievably fussy about cleanliness. Even after about 1000 rounds the bloody thing still needed cleaning after little more than 100-150 rounds. A semi-match chamber meant that extraction became a problem even before 100 rounds. Total PITA. To me, used to CZ/BRNO’s, cleaning happens when the rifle is handed down to the next generation of shooters.
Any way, home and time to shoot. A 2.5-10x44 scope on top – the rifle’s light weight means you could put Jodrell Bank on top and still have an easily-cartable set-up. I’ve got a zeroing range in one of my fields; anything from CO2 pistol to rimfire; a shooting bench in a shed and the ability to set targets up to 100 yards. I put a target up at 55 yards and started.
The trigger needs work; it’s not as bad as the Thompson, not as good (yet) as the CZ. How is it air rifle manufacturers can give us triggers with (almost) too much adjustment possibility but powder burners get none? However, that is the only downer; despite the misgivings I had about the controls when I took it out of the box, everything works, and works well. I started with subs ‘cos The Book says it’ll use them; seven shots to zero and it’s printing an inch, but it’s not cycling cleanly. Too little oomph to cycle, the occasional stovepipe. Ah well, it is straight out of the box – switch to HV.
The Minimags were landing 2” higher but there were no cycling problems……
After 200 HV and about 150 subs things are settling down, it’ll now cycle subs 90% of the time.
Second impressions; Baz and Ben were right (Baz & Ben – the Marlin men…..) this is an as yet undiscovered rifle. Everything functions as it should, all you need (apart from trigger adjustment!) is there in a very tidy, light package, and That Tube!!!! Just for fun I moved out to 100 yards and attached a bipod. I’m not a good shooter – lousy technique ingrained over 45 years means trigger control and follow-through are things that happen to other people. With care and effort on my part I could put a mag-full inside 2” at 100 yds, and this is before the whole thing wears in and beds down.
As a PS, that MkII SAK mod works well with subs – but it doesn’t appreciate HV blasting through…….
I had a PH FAC mod in the drawer and put that on. It’s only a mm or two thicker than the barrel and really looks good – looks at first sight like an extension of the barrel and gives the whole thing the look of a full-length rifle.
To sum up, I’m chuffed to nuts. The Thompson was, to me, a deep disappointment. This Marlin looks very likely to be the Semi I was hoping to find – very accurate, light. Reliable? Time will tell but the gut feeling is positive.
Blame Baz, his praise of the Marlin – coupled with Master Shriller’s (Ben) confirmation of that praise, led me to what looked like a backward step. Certainly, in terms of cost, it was backward – Thompson £380, Marlin £244.
The dealer rang to say the rifle had arrived and had been screwcut; some confusion seems to exist about whether they come cut from the factory – mine didn’t. An hour after the call, I was in the shop, lifting the rifle out of its box.
First impressions were mixed.
It’s got an 18” heavy barrel and a black synthetic stock. The barrel looks the business; a bloody thick tube with a very small hole at the end. The stock looks crap. I mean, it looks as if it would devalue a Ratcatcher if you slapped it on as a home mod. I used to have a 10/22 with a Hogue black synthetic stock. THAT looked good; this looks crap.
Everything on the rifle seems to shrink alongside That Tube; the receiver looks undersized, the bolt is a bit of pencil stuck in the side, the mag well doesn’t look big enough to take even a .22 magazine and the scope rail appears FAR too narrow. (The rifle comes with a set of Weaver 1” tip-off rings; I’m no expert, but they look flimsy – screws instead of Allen bolts, metal the thickness of fag-packet silver foil). The mag release lever is a bit of bent metal, as is the bolt hold-open lever. The magazine is nickel plated and – to me – looks tacky on an all-black rifle. Even the weight is tiny – 5.25lbs.
So; so far one positive and several apparent negatives. Time to take it home and try it.
I bought some HV ammo to settle things in, CCI minimags. Marlin themselves appear confused on the ammo front; the book of words says it’ll function fine with subs, especially Eley and Winchester, Marlin’s website says it uses HV. Ho hum, I’ve got both. I also bought a new mod to go on it, a MkII SAK. It’s a mean-looking mod – about 5” long, about 2” dia. Fits in well with the look of the kit.
OK, home and read the instructions – yeah, I know that’s not a Man Thing, and I’m not going to tell you about the disaster that led me to start reading instructions. Very straight-forward, including two interesting points about cleaning. According to Marlin the barrel NEVER NEEDS CLEANING under normal use, though they don’t define “normal”; they recommend the action is cleaned every 500 to 1000 rounds.
Now this is a crunch point; the Thompson was unbelievably fussy about cleanliness. Even after about 1000 rounds the bloody thing still needed cleaning after little more than 100-150 rounds. A semi-match chamber meant that extraction became a problem even before 100 rounds. Total PITA. To me, used to CZ/BRNO’s, cleaning happens when the rifle is handed down to the next generation of shooters.
Any way, home and time to shoot. A 2.5-10x44 scope on top – the rifle’s light weight means you could put Jodrell Bank on top and still have an easily-cartable set-up. I’ve got a zeroing range in one of my fields; anything from CO2 pistol to rimfire; a shooting bench in a shed and the ability to set targets up to 100 yards. I put a target up at 55 yards and started.
The trigger needs work; it’s not as bad as the Thompson, not as good (yet) as the CZ. How is it air rifle manufacturers can give us triggers with (almost) too much adjustment possibility but powder burners get none? However, that is the only downer; despite the misgivings I had about the controls when I took it out of the box, everything works, and works well. I started with subs ‘cos The Book says it’ll use them; seven shots to zero and it’s printing an inch, but it’s not cycling cleanly. Too little oomph to cycle, the occasional stovepipe. Ah well, it is straight out of the box – switch to HV.
The Minimags were landing 2” higher but there were no cycling problems……
After 200 HV and about 150 subs things are settling down, it’ll now cycle subs 90% of the time.
Second impressions; Baz and Ben were right (Baz & Ben – the Marlin men…..) this is an as yet undiscovered rifle. Everything functions as it should, all you need (apart from trigger adjustment!) is there in a very tidy, light package, and That Tube!!!! Just for fun I moved out to 100 yards and attached a bipod. I’m not a good shooter – lousy technique ingrained over 45 years means trigger control and follow-through are things that happen to other people. With care and effort on my part I could put a mag-full inside 2” at 100 yds, and this is before the whole thing wears in and beds down.
As a PS, that MkII SAK mod works well with subs – but it doesn’t appreciate HV blasting through…….
I had a PH FAC mod in the drawer and put that on. It’s only a mm or two thicker than the barrel and really looks good – looks at first sight like an extension of the barrel and gives the whole thing the look of a full-length rifle.
To sum up, I’m chuffed to nuts. The Thompson was, to me, a deep disappointment. This Marlin looks very likely to be the Semi I was hoping to find – very accurate, light. Reliable? Time will tell but the gut feeling is positive.