I have two Marlin 60/Glenfield 22 rifles, on from my childhood and the other inherited. Both are from the era when they were equipped with longer barrels and 17-round tubular magazines, which is sometime around the late 70s or early 80s, though neither has LRBHO. I have one mounted with a 3-9 Nikon Rimfire scope and the other wears its original factory sights. I also have a set of Tech Sights for the original version. The front sight of this one is secured by a single screw and can easily be replaced with the Tech Sights front sight post. The other has a different method to secure the front sight, though I don't remember what it is right now.
My question concerns recent shooting of these rifles. The one with factory sights hasn't shot terribly well in the past and requires HV 22 ammo to be reliable. This is why I removed the Tech Sights and restored the slightly less precise factory sights. The other has shot quite well in the past, but recently it has been spraying bullets in all directions, relative to what I thought it would do. It's not terrible, but not what I expected based on the last time I shot it. I've been shooting my Henry H001 a fair bit lately and it will outshoot both of them assuming I do my part. This might be due to the factory triggers in the Marlins. The Henry trigger is noticeably better in terms of pull weight (lighter) and smoothness. My recently purchased Ruger 10/22 will also outshoot the Marlins as long as it's fed standard velocity ammo. With HV ammo, it's about the same as the 60s.
The Nikon scope is quite nice, and I feel it's sort of a waste to leave it on the Marlin when my other rifles shoot more accurately. My current plan is to remove the scope and sight in the factory sights on the now-scoped Marlin. Then, I'll re-install the Tech Sights on the other version. With that done, I'd like to move the scope to the 10/22 and leave the Henry alone. It just works too well as it came from the factory. What would any of you do in terms of configuring the Marlins while not overshooting their perhaps limited potential? FWIW I also have Tech Sights on the Ruger. For anyone that's ever put them on one, you know the front sight post isn't coming off easily.
Ultimately, my best solution may be to dial the Marlins in and semi-retire them. They aren't made any more. If Ruger starts making them again, they may or may not be compatible with my old ones. Parts are hard to find or pretty expensive. Their actions are somewhat less rugged than that of a 10/22, at least from my limited research on the topic.
My question concerns recent shooting of these rifles. The one with factory sights hasn't shot terribly well in the past and requires HV 22 ammo to be reliable. This is why I removed the Tech Sights and restored the slightly less precise factory sights. The other has shot quite well in the past, but recently it has been spraying bullets in all directions, relative to what I thought it would do. It's not terrible, but not what I expected based on the last time I shot it. I've been shooting my Henry H001 a fair bit lately and it will outshoot both of them assuming I do my part. This might be due to the factory triggers in the Marlins. The Henry trigger is noticeably better in terms of pull weight (lighter) and smoothness. My recently purchased Ruger 10/22 will also outshoot the Marlins as long as it's fed standard velocity ammo. With HV ammo, it's about the same as the 60s.
The Nikon scope is quite nice, and I feel it's sort of a waste to leave it on the Marlin when my other rifles shoot more accurately. My current plan is to remove the scope and sight in the factory sights on the now-scoped Marlin. Then, I'll re-install the Tech Sights on the other version. With that done, I'd like to move the scope to the 10/22 and leave the Henry alone. It just works too well as it came from the factory. What would any of you do in terms of configuring the Marlins while not overshooting their perhaps limited potential? FWIW I also have Tech Sights on the Ruger. For anyone that's ever put them on one, you know the front sight post isn't coming off easily.
Ultimately, my best solution may be to dial the Marlins in and semi-retire them. They aren't made any more. If Ruger starts making them again, they may or may not be compatible with my old ones. Parts are hard to find or pretty expensive. Their actions are somewhat less rugged than that of a 10/22, at least from my limited research on the topic.