Marlin Model 60

[george223]

Every once in awhile, a thread will pop up asking what is your favorite .22 rifle. I've seen numerous responses mention that their favorite is the Marlin Model 60. I bought my Marlin back in the late 80's from B&B in North Hollywood for $69. It was a jam-o-matic since day one. I could not get through 1 magazine full of ammo without jamming at least once. And being an under the barrel tube magazine (as opposed to the in the stock tube), it was difficult to clear the jams. I gave up on it and put it in the back of the safe. I gave it to my father a few years later and he came up with the same conclusion. When my father passed away a few years ago, I took it back and decided to give it a 2nd chance, over 20 years later. Whenever I went to the range, I would bring it along and spend a little time with it trying to figure out what was going on.

On my last trip to the range, I finally figured it out. Whenever it jammed, the culprit was a round that would not fit into the chamber all the way. The round would slide in almost all the way but not quite. The chamber was too tight. I tried a few different brands. It didn't matter. Random rounds would cause a jam. This wasn't happening in my other 22's so I figured that the chamber was out of spec. I looked into getting a .22 chamber reamer but it wasn't cost effective so I bought another barrel off of Ebay for $30. Before installing it I did a fit check with a bunch of .22 bullets. Some slid in nicely and some did not so I ended up not installing the new barrel since it had the same problem.

I have an old Reck .22 revolver which was always a piece of junk since new. I was about to trash it when I came up with the idea of using the cylinder to check the size of .22 ammo. Some rounds would slide in easily and others would not. So I used the cylinder to resize the fat .22 rounds. I resized about 400 rounds of ammo and took them to the range.

So yesterday I took my Marlin to Burro Canyon a fired 200 rounds through it and did not have 1 jam. The only glitch I had was 3 duds which turned out to be a PIA to clear. I'd push a cleaning rod down the barrel and as the dud pushed out of the chamber, it would get hung up on the next round in the que. I had to squeeze my thumb in to the ejection port and push that round down while pushing the dud out. My chamber is probably out of spec and a reamer would fix it. I'm just happy I finally figured out the problem.

If any of you had a similar problem with your Marlin model 60 and you haven't figured it out, it's probably a tight chamber. Both the barrels that I have, had the same problem.

[Danodog]

[george223]

I never really gave it a thought up until a couple of years ago when I read on CG about how many people really liked the Marlin Model 60. I just thought it was a cheap junk gun. So yesterday, while watching motocross, I decided to compare the chamber size of my Marlin to my Winchester model 63 and found that the chamber in my Marlin was only slightly tighter and is probably not a factor. I have about 6 different brands of ammo that I used to check the fit and most ammo would slide in to the Marlin's chamber with slight resistance at the end. This same ammo slid into the model 63's chamber with no resistance. I did find that on some of my ammo, the lead is starting to oxidize causing the bullet to swell. These bullets would not chamber in either rifle. Once I ran these bullets through my .22 revolver cylinder, they chambered just fine.

So my final conclusion is that my Marlin is probably OK. I just had bad luck with ammo. Though, I never experienced any significant number of jams using the same ammo in my other .22 firearms. Now, whenever I take my Marlin out, I'll do a fit check with the ammo using the .22 revolver cylinder. Anything that fit in that cylinder also fit in to the Marlin's chamber.

[TAS]

[george223]

Another thing I want to mention. When I was having jams and expected a round in the chamber and nothing happened when I pulled the trigger, I would pull the bolt back and nothing would pop out of the ejection port. This made me think that the bolt missed the last round to be chambered so I would let the bolt go not realizing that the last round was actually partially in the chamber and I just stripped off another round and then I would have 2 rounds jammed in the ejection port. This is why this rifle is difficult to clear when you have a jam. You can't isolate the jammed round from the next by just dropping the magazine. With my other .22 firearms, if I had a round slightly oversized that did not completely chamber, I could drop the magazine, pull the bolt back and let it go. More often than not, that round would get pushed in to the chamber.

When I had my 3 duds the other day, when I pulled the bolt back the dud did not eject. I could not just drop the bolt to try and get the extractor to grab it. The next round was in position to be stripped off. The only way I could remove the dud from the chamber was by pushing a cleaning rod down the barrel.

[newbie1234]

Had two, one is black with walnut gunstock, one is silver with B&W cocobolo gunstock. Both been shot with thousands all kinds of "on-sale" .22 ammo and never had problems.
Pros: Very low price rifle.
Cons: Some ppl don't like tubular rifle.

[mshill]

Bought mine in 2016. Very accurate, very reliable with decent ammo. I only feed it CCI now, just because I find it is better ammo than most bulk garbage these days.

[bohoki]

i got one of them stainless ones with the shorter tube it holds like 12 vs 15 works fine i like how it holds the bolt back on the last shot (well partially) i hope one day ruger will make them for old time sake a cost cut one out of their polymer

my only complaint with them is the front trigger housing screw should have been a flat panhead and not countersunk cause if you over tighten it, it can split the trigger group hole

[boattail]

[M1NM]

I bought my Marlin 99C as a birthday present for me when I turned 18 (1968). Mechanically the same as the 60 but walnut stock. I'd be hard pressed to figure out the round count. The gun was 49.99 at White Front and 22LR was a penny apiece. On sale sometime it was 29-39 cents a box.

[BigD6765]

I've had a few 60's over the years...my first Marlin was actually a Model 75. Shorter version of the 60. My dad bought it for me 2 months after I was born in 1967. Still have that baby! It has never given me issue. Growing up, I'd soak it in oil now and then and run a patch through it. Never took it apart until about 10 years ago. Some serious crud came out! But, it never failed me. Many a squirrel found it's demise from the business end of that little rifle.

[DB>]

I've seen more than a couple guns with "tight" or rough chambers, and often rough feed ramps, and it's a fairly easy "fix". I use a dremel with a small fiber polishing "bit", and use some automotive polishing compound (you could probably also use toothpaste!). The goal is to lightly polish any imperfections in the chamber/ramp areas, while carefully testing as you go to make sure you're not taking too much off (pretty hard with very fine polishing medium). If you can find a few rounds that are "tight" and don't plunk in fully, use those to judge when you've polished enough (they drop in easy). Of course you'll need to clean the areas of any compound that gets around. You can also use a small wood dowel with paper towel or thin cloth by hand (with some patience). A small hand held Dremel or similar isn't that much $$, and can be handy to have around, so....

The "fail modes" you're describing could BOTH be caused by an overly rough/tight chamber - if the round has trouble going IN, it's also going to be harder for the extractor to pull OUT, especially after firing, when the case tend to expand very slightly. Thus the failures to extract.

I had a guy at the range recommend "slip 2000" EWL, which is designed to leave a bit of "dry" lubricant on surfaces - I've been happy with the results, as I don't like having "wet" oil everywhere (apply wet, rub into surfaces, perhaps cycle parts together a few times, wipe "dry").

The above hints will "fix" many issues, and IMO are something that any gun owner should be aware of and capable of doing... There's a certain satisfaction in getting a gun fine tuned and dialed in so it runs perfectly!

Another thing I want to mention. When I was having jams and expected a round in the chamber and nothing happened when I pulled the trigger, I would pull the bolt back and nothing would pop out of the ejection port. This made me think that the bolt missed the last round to be chambered so I would let the bolt go not realizing that the last round was actually partially in the chamber and I just stripped off another round and then I would have 2 rounds jammed in the ejection port. This is why this rifle is difficult to clear when you have a jam. You can't isolate the jammed round from the next by just dropping the magazine. With my other .22 firearms, if I had a round slightly oversized that did not completely chamber, I could drop the magazine, pull the bolt back and let it go. More often than not, that round would get pushed in to the chamber.

When I had my 3 duds the other day, when I pulled the bolt back the dud did not eject. I could not just drop the bolt to try and get the extractor to grab it. The next round was in position to be stripped off. The only way I could remove the dud from the chamber was by pushing a cleaning rod down the barrel.

[george223]

^^^ Thanks for advice. I'll do that if I still have a problem. Since I 1st posted, I did another fit check. I pulled out all my .22 ammo and pulled out about 15 rounds per brand and pushed them into the chamber. This time, all of my ammo slid in just fine with little force. Now I think I'm losing my mind. That wasn't true before my last range visit. Quite a few rounds required quite a bit of force to push them in the chamber. I guess the chamber just needed to be broken in and I hadn't put enough rounds through it yet. But before I came up with the idea of resizing the ammo with a .22 revolver cylinder, it was too frustrating to keep shooting it. So I think that I'm ok now.

[yuccales]

I found that of all the ammo I've tried, CCI IMG_2704.jpg IMG_2705.jpg Mini Mag is my 60's favorite.

[AR22]

Yes I only use CCI ammo..There may be better target grade ammo, but that is expensive..I always say if the CCI does not shoot good and function..There is something amiss with the Firearm.

Love the model 60s..First I have heard of a tight chamber in one causing a problem..It may just need a good cleaning in there..