Graduating college in '68, our rifle team coach gave me a Marlin Mountie that he and our team gunsmith had worked over especially for me. A great gift and one that I treasured for it's accuracy, compact size and the memories it brought back of the team.
Later as a Dad, I gave it to my first son when he was 9, a Christmas gift, maybe the best one ever he still says, and he's 49 now. Since then I've owned a half dozen .22's over the years but never went back to a Marlin...an oversight that I recently corrected...hence the Century Limited in the pic below. Built in 1970, it's in very good condition, lacking only the brass stock medallion to be complete.
My 20/15 eyes of the 60's are long gone, and now at 75 I usually need a scope to do good work. After picking up the new to me Marlin, I mounted a Leupold Alaskan 2.5x scope using Weaver mounts. The combination is working out quite well for me and really allows assessing the rifle's accuracy potential.
While the bulk ammunition I've tried to date has done well (Fed Auto-Match & Range bulk; CCI 36 gr HP, and some Herter's from Cabelas); all of which have shown groups hovering around an inch or a bit more at 32 yds; the gun really perks with Aguila Rifle Match and CCI Mini-Mag solids. These last will consistently group into ~ 1/2" on my 32 yd standard range.
Just to clarify: I shoot off our deck porch rail with the normal shoulder position for the stock, & brace my left hand against the 2x6 top rail to steady the gun. I've long used this method rather than sand bags as it gives me the same zero that I use for offhand, and field positions while hunting/plinking.
At 6 lbs, 3 oz's, including the scope, the gun fits me to a tee and is a delight to tote at 'carry arms' almost as comfortable as a peep or iron sighted model. I'm looking forward to the fall squirrel season to give it a real try out; but to date, it's taken a respectable number of our unending supply of grackles that infest the barn and the sheltering walnuts along the pasture fencing.
Later as a Dad, I gave it to my first son when he was 9, a Christmas gift, maybe the best one ever he still says, and he's 49 now. Since then I've owned a half dozen .22's over the years but never went back to a Marlin...an oversight that I recently corrected...hence the Century Limited in the pic below. Built in 1970, it's in very good condition, lacking only the brass stock medallion to be complete.
My 20/15 eyes of the 60's are long gone, and now at 75 I usually need a scope to do good work. After picking up the new to me Marlin, I mounted a Leupold Alaskan 2.5x scope using Weaver mounts. The combination is working out quite well for me and really allows assessing the rifle's accuracy potential.
While the bulk ammunition I've tried to date has done well (Fed Auto-Match & Range bulk; CCI 36 gr HP, and some Herter's from Cabelas); all of which have shown groups hovering around an inch or a bit more at 32 yds; the gun really perks with Aguila Rifle Match and CCI Mini-Mag solids. These last will consistently group into ~ 1/2" on my 32 yd standard range.
Just to clarify: I shoot off our deck porch rail with the normal shoulder position for the stock, & brace my left hand against the 2x6 top rail to steady the gun. I've long used this method rather than sand bags as it gives me the same zero that I use for offhand, and field positions while hunting/plinking.
At 6 lbs, 3 oz's, including the scope, the gun fits me to a tee and is a delight to tote at 'carry arms' almost as comfortable as a peep or iron sighted model. I'm looking forward to the fall squirrel season to give it a real try out; but to date, it's taken a respectable number of our unending supply of grackles that infest the barn and the sheltering walnuts along the pasture fencing.
Best regards, and Happy Kentucky Derby Day
...from the Bluegrass, good shooting to you. Rod
...from the Bluegrass, good shooting to you. Rod
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