I found an ad on my local gun club website offering a Marlin Model 60 rifle. Ten-round tube fed magazine, offered at $195.
I bought it, and I'm glad!
I know the gun retails for $170, but it also included a Simmons 3-9x Variable scope (over $130), mounted and sighted in. And a like-new soft case to carry it in. The owner threw in a half-brick (500) rounds of Remington Thunderbolt HS ammunition. Total value over $350, so it looked like a bargain.
When I actually saw the gun, it looked like new out-of-the box. Bore was shiny, finish was perfect, the stock showed no signs of dings or dents, scrapes or scratches. (It actually had some figure, which was a pleasant surprise to me!) As far as I could tell, I was the first one to actually fire it.
I met the seller at the range and shot five rounds of my own (Thunderbolt) ammunition at a tennis ball which happened to be propped up on the berm 50 feet away. The scope was set at about 4.5x, so I took an offhand stance and nailed the ball first two shots. It disappeared. So I spent the next three rounds on shards of clay pigeons I could see. Broke them all. Off-hand. It wasn't necessary; I had already decided that I had to have this pleasant little rifle. It shoots better than I do; it was a bargain I couldn't afford to pass up!
Yes, I've read reviews which gave the M60 (unforgivable gun-pun) thumbs down on the trigger. This one broke true and crisp. No, it didn't compare with the STI pistols I use for USPSA competition, but it was crisp and non-creepy, and the trigger-pull weight was lighter than I had expected. Apparently, SOMEONE had shot it enough to 'break in' the trigger, at least a little bit.
It has been 40 years since I shot a Model 60, and I had forgotten how much damn fun it was to shoot a scoped semi 22.
This one goes into the gun safe, and I'm hoping that The Hobo Brasser and I can go for a Sage Rat hunt this spring. We had to cancel the one last year, due to Honey-Dew issues.
I've got a new bush-bunny gun, 1500+ rounds of high-speed ammunition, and a blood-thirst for varmints like I haven't felt for decades.
It isn't easy being Geek .. but it's a helluva lot of fun!
3 comments:
The EPA and Dept. Interior is placing anything that lives in the sage brush on the endangered species list, and here you go wanting hasten their extinction.
The last time I killed anything in sage was the antelope I took in Wyoming in 1981. I think the sage rats have had plenty of time to recover their numbers.
I know the feeling! I bought a Marlin Golden 39A Mountie last year, with the original box, hang tags etc. Included were 9 or 10 assorted boxes of 22lr from the 60's. He had shot it only once when his father gave it to him in the early 60's for his Bar Mitzvah. I told him to do the research & I would pay whatever he wanted. I got it for $300.00 and he threw in a nice Winchester model 62.
Post a Comment