OK. So back in November, I won a rifle in a gun raffle. I was actually drawn to receive a Weatherby Vanguard in my choice of caliber, but seeing as I already had a Vanguard, I choose to take the monetary value of the rifle in the form of a gift certificate.

Now I have always been a fan of Marlin rifles and own a couple of their .22's and a 336 .30-30, which is one of my favorites. When I learned they came out with a new bolt-action center-fire rifle last year, I started doing my research.

Now Marlin wasn't very creative when they developed these rifles. The XL-7 (long-action) is only available in .25-06, .270 and .30-06 and the XS-7 (short-action) can be had in just .243, 7mm-08 and .308. Both the XL-7 and the XS-7 "borrow" heavily from other rifle maker's designs. The bolt body is all Weatherby. Bolt handle and safety is classic Remington 700. The trigger sure looks like Savage's Accu-trigger, but is designed a bit different (and feels even better) and they even use Savages (barrel nut) design to attach the barrel to the receiver. The action fits into the synthetic stock using aluminum pillars and the 22" barrel has a recessed target crown.

As much as I looked, I couldn't find a bad review from anyone (Outdoor life named it their best buy of the year) and considering their street price ($299.99 with scope mount), I had to have one. So I contacted the gun shop and ordered one of the XS-7 rifles in .308 Winchester.

It took a while for them to locate one and even longer for the weather here to cooperate enough to get some range time. I mounted a simple Bushnell Banner or Trophy (I can't remember which. I lost the box years ago!) in a set of Leupold rings and finally made it down to Dad's for it's first range session. The little rifle did not disappoint.

It was a perfect day to shoot. 68 degrees. Wind from the west-southwest at under 5mph and clear skies. Only problem was it was getting kinda late in the day and the "range" at dad's faces west, so the sun was being a bit annoying.

I had a grand total of 19 rounds to take with me. Some old re-loads I threw together 12 years ago for the Springfield M1-A I had . They consisted of 168 grain Sierra BTHP match bullets at a moderate 2600 fps from that rifle's 22" barrel.

I didn't bring all my range junk with me. I just mounted my old set of Harris bi-pods to the stock and laid prone on the ground. Single-loading the rifle, the very first 3-shot group from 100 yards was fairly close to point of aim (bore-sited), and managed to put 2 bullets into the same hole, with the 3rd opening the group to right at an inch! The subsequent groups to get the rig zeroed all followed the same pattern... 2 into the same hole (or at least close) with the third opening things up a bit. No group was over 1.25 inches. I did NOT allow the barrel to cool between shots and the only cooling it got between groups was the time it took me to walk up there, study the group and walk back down.

After getting it zeroed for 2" high at 100 yds, I changed out the target paper for one final 3-shot group. As per the norm, 2-bullets through the same hole with the 3rd opening up the group to just 5/8ths of an inch!

With the 4 shots I had left over, I moved back to the 300 yard line, loaded the blind magazine and let the rifle stretch it's legs a bit. Unfortunately, my target paper wasn't quite large enough (12" square). Aiming at the center bull, only 2 of the rounds hit the very bottom of the paper. The other 2 hit directly under the paper on the rail-road ties we use as a backstop/target board (DAMN GRAVITY!). The group measured only 2-13/16ths inches, but try as I might, I could not get the holes in the ties to show up on the camera!

I feel this is spectacular performance for a new $300.00 rifle wearing a $60.00 scope with a fresh, sporter-weight barrel off a set of bi-pods!


I'm gonna put another 50 rounds through it before I start really concentrating on working up a good, accurate hunting load, though I'm thinking 150grn Hornady SST's will consist of a good portion of it's diet. I may also try free-floating the barrel (factory puts a pressure point toward the end of the stock) and see if that helps with the 3rd shot "problem". I could lighten up the trigger as it's fully adjustable, but it feels pretty good right where it is, I'm guessing 3 1/2 - 4 pounds, crisp with no creep or over travel. Perfect for a hunting rifle.

If anyone is looking for a good, accurate, no nonsense hunting rifle that won't break the bank, look no further than these new Marlins!

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Very first group. 3 shots @ 100 yards.
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Best 3 shot group of the day:
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Pretty good. FYI, Remington owns Marlin(or did in 2007), and when measuring groups, you measure center-to-center; not outside-to-outside.

 

Yep. Remington bought Marlin in 07. Remington, along with what seems like half the shooting sports manufacturers in the U.S. is owned by Cerberus Capital Management.

Actually, I measure groups from leading edge to leading edge. It's a bit easier that trying to guess the center of a hole.