M14 Forum

Jet

Get the Marlin that suites your needs the best. Great rifles.

Shooter7

Not to hi-jack the thread, but is there a way to tell what year your Marlin was made? Thanks.

elk creek

I found an old 444, well not a pre safety, it's a safey model but it still is a good quality mid 90's. It needed some rehab a bad gouge on the barrel about 2" from the muzzle, really bad....horrible.....ugly see through rings that were "custom" from a previous owner( think "speed holes" in homer Simpsons car) and an 3.5 in extension on the stock in " tactical black polymer" I'm not even kidding. Oh yea, William fire sights a good thing, but installed correctly, not backwards. The wood was good and the finish was good other than the ding. So, strip off all the crap, iron sights only. Take off the extension add recoil pad. Cut barrel and recrown to 16.5 in. It shoots a bit over MOA @100......min of softball. Cool little gun

akjaeger

The Marlin is a poor substitute for a Winchester....kinda like comparing a SKS to a M14.
I've had 4 or 5 Marlins and about a dozen Winchesters. Most of the Winchesters are still here, all the Marlins are long gone.
I have a prewar deluxe Model 71 that the original owner converted to 450-348Ackley Improved. It's a work of art, slickest levergun I've had the chance to shoot. It will feed upside down!
The original owner killed a polar bear and a brown bear with it in the 1950's, I've shot another 7 brown bears with it while guiding in Alaska.

n8cents

Marlin

SOCOM42

Best to go with an early marlin (pre-safe).

Post 64 winchesters are junk primarily from the mid 70's to mid 80's.

I have 7 win's in for repair to 1 marlin.

This is my opinion based on decades or repairing both.