Here's a good idea...

[mac66]

Buddy of mine showed me his cut down Marlin model 60 which is cool in itself. Then he showed me how he turned the magazine tube to the side so you could slide cartridges down the barrel into the loading port.



The original loading port is on the bottom of the tube which means you have to load one at a time. Cool thing is you tip up the barrel and they slide right in.



Thought that was pretty cool so I turned the tube on one of my long barreled 60s. Pull the tube retaining pin, turn the tube, file a small notch in the tube for the pin and then replace. Easy peasy. Works with either the old or new style tube/sight setup. Turned on right, not turned on left.

 

[7mmsavage]

That's pretty neat. Even if you weren't sliding in a couple at a time, it seems like it would make loading a little easier. Id like to see some more pics of that cut down model 60 too!

 

[bannockburn]

mac66

Hey that's pretty cool and a really neat idea! One of the reasons I never liked tube fed .22s was because of how slow it was to load the rounds one at a time. Thanks for posting.

 

[mac66]

Here are some more pics of the cut down 60. He cut and threaded the barrel to 16", the flash hider is more to protect the threads and for looks. That one is not mine.





The guy who did this has access to a machine shop at work. He cut down a 60 barrel for me but I made it into a short 795 by changing out the guts. The 60 and 795 receivers are the same. That's a 795 on top, my cut down in the middle and the other cut down 60 on the bottom. Notice that the AR flash hider is also cut down.



Here is the cut down 795 next to my Tech Sighted 795, I was in the process of refinishing a converted wood stock that had damage to the forestock.



Nice to have friends who can do stuff like that. The nice thing about the Mod 60 is that they are the most popular commercial rifle ever made. They have been made continuously for 50+ years. The only rifle that there is more of is the AK47. There is something like 17-20 million in production so they and not scarce. They are not particularly collectable and are still pretty cheap used. I don't particularly like tube fed semis but I bought two of them in the last month for well under $100 each. Consequently they are easy and fun to hack up without worrying about ruining them or losing too much money.

 

[Deus Machina]

And now I want to grab another 60, again.
The tube mod and cutting down to the bare minimum would make this an extremely handy little thing.

 

[Old Shooter]

Just curious, how many rounds does that cut down model 60 hold now?

 

[Outlaw Man]

Very cool!

 

[Bigdog57]

Very cool project. Reminds me of the old M99M1 and M989M2 carbines. I have the M99M1 and it's a lot lighter and handier than my M60SB. The short carbine holds nine rounds, compared to 15 for the rifle. Wish Marlin would reintroduce the little M1 and M2 versions.

 

[mac66]

"Just curious, how many rounds does that cut down model 60 hold now?"

That cut down one holds ten.

The long barreled mod 60 tends to be long and heavy compared to a 10/22 or Marlin 795. I had that cut down for several weeks when the owner gave it to me to try out and write up. It is really, really handy. Marlin did make a short version of their 60 called the model 75c which holds 9. I passed on one about a year ago a guy was selling for less than $100 bucks. Kind of kicking myself now.

BTW, the owner of that 60 has it mounted on the roll cage in his built up Jeep. I'm trying to convince him to paint it in bed liner to match the interior of the jeep.

 

[kBob]

Good to see someone re thought of turning the magazine tube. I have wondered why more folks did not do it or manufacturers did not do it since I first saw it about 45 years ago. That looks well done and I like the cut down Model 60 even without the threading and flash suppressor.

Marlin must not ever waste anything..... the Levermatic M56 and M57 rifles also use a model 60 receiver that has had the ejection port cut wider and over the top though it even has that little nub in the back left corner the Model 60 has.

That is nice work and it sure seems to make a handy gun.

Didn't one of the COlt .22 semi auto rifles have the loading port on the side for loading like this? Stage Coach?

Wonder how many rusted up old Model 60s could be "saved" by shortrning?


-kBob

 

[Certaindeaf]

That is just excellent. Maybe you could/should post it here also, "cool things I have invented/made" or somesuch.. it's on top of the page currently.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=218188&page=42

 

[mac66]

Didn't even know about the invented/made thread. I have put it up there.