Marlin Model 60 with .22 short?

[sadlsor]

Long-time 39M shooter, and just bought a used mod 60 for quicker follow-up shots for chipmunks. (Yeah, I'm old and occasionally miss.) Haven't shot it yet, but the mild report of a short is preferable to the loud, *CRAA-A-CK!!* decibel level that more gunpowder sends out.

Does anyone shoot .22 short in this machine, and what are your results? TIA for your input.

From the online manual, Marlin tells me:

• WARNING: Your rifle is a self-loading
.22 caliber designed for .22 Long Rifle
High Velocity cartridges only (not Hyper-
Velocity). Shorts, Longs, and Shot cartridges
can be loaded and fired, but
Marlin does not recommend them, as
feeding will not be reliable and damage
or injury may result from their use.

 

[Vicious-Peanut]

They can be fired, but probably wont cycle the action, therefore negating the purchase since you wont have the quick follow-up shot.

 

[sadlsor]

Jeez, Louise!

I don't even know why I bother posting anything to this flippin' forum. I had to wait 2 whole minutes for a response! The internet SUX!

But, thanks, V-P. Seriously, I am indebted. I'll reward you with the story of my still-fresh gunshow story, and send along a couple of visuals.

 

[Vicious-Peanut]

Oh, I missed where you said you just bought it. lol It might cycle the short, if it doesn't it would probably cycle a long without much issue.

 

[mindwip]

my dad had a marlin 60 type rifle. And would shoot all three .22s in it. After a long time it stop feeding any .22 reliably when he took it to the gunsmith he looked at my dad and said "you have been shooting shorts and LR in here ha? Dont do it again"

So yes you can, but after some time it will cost to fix it. I dont know what needed to be fixed or how much it was. But he was shooting a lot at the time so i am sure 100 rds wont make a difference?

 

[SaMx]

there are .22 lr round out there with no powder or very low powder, if you want lower noise.
http://ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/...a-colibri-quiet-ammo&cName=22-long-rifle-ammo
http://ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/...r-colibri-quiet-ammo&cName=22-long-rifle-ammo
another option is to use subsonic ammo, which would be more likely to cycle the action.

 

[Mal H]

I've got to strongly disagree with anyone who says you can shoot .22 Shorts in a Marlin Model 60. That is not from the magazine. I think you might be able to feed them into the chamber one at a time.

Since there's nothing like an actual field test, I took my Model 60 and a box of Remington Shorts down to my range to see what would happen. Well, it was a very short test, so to speak.

The Shorts wouldn't feed at all from the tubular magazine. The first round was held in place by the following round and would not rise into the chamber loading position. One time, a round base got tilted up about a 45 deg angle and was in direct line with the firing pin block. If I hadn't notice that, and released the block under spring tension, it could easily have gone off out of battery. Frankly, it was kind of a scary moment as I was holding back the block and trying to get the round out. Having only the usual two hands, I couldn't get the block to lock in the back position.

Marlin has stamped ".22 Long Rifle Only" on the barrel and I think they know what they're talking about (and so does mindwip's dad's gunsmith).

 

[sadlsor]

Here ya go...

Looks like I will not shoot the shorts in the Mod 60. I sure as hell won't shoot my Aguila no-powder Super Colibris. I'm really liking these one-shot kills with .22 shorts in the 39M. Here's your picture - a nearly perfect pair...


And more here at smugmug...

I put captions on the pix if you're interested. Time for din-din; my shopping trip story will have to wait because the wife won't...

 

[spyder1911]

Why don't you try out the 60g .22lr which will stay below the speed of sound and not produce the crack noise.

 

[sadlsor]

I will certainly try that option. Bear in mind, until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't shot a rimfire in years. (I'm not counting the Aguila primer-driven bullets.) Yep, that's a sad story, but hi-power matches and pistol matches, and not hunting, have all conspired to lure me away from the .22 and its variants.

Main concern is not my accuracy or safety of the neighbors*, but their perceived danger based on volume of sound.






*Because I am always aware of what is behind my target, and I practice all other appropriate safety measures.

 

[sadlsor]

there are .22 lr round out there with no powder or very low powder, if you want lower noise.
http://ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/p...ong-rifle-ammo

I've been shooting these and the Super Colibri for 8 years. Too many times, I had to shoot a rodent numerous times to kill it. Especially squirrels. If it was a one-shot / one-kill affair, it nearly always required a head shot. That's all well and fine, but unfortunately with no powder, the Colibri ammo was very inconsistent. The silence was wonderful for me, but stability and accuracy were variable, not to mention extremely limited effective range, so it was a raw deal for 'munks or tree rats.

The .22 shorts have for 2 weeks been one-shot-lights-out for chipmunks. Shot 7 in 5 days this week. Only 1 squirrel has showed his tail in the last 2 weeks, and one shot dispatched him easily. As I mentioned above, I actually DO miss occasionally, so a quick semi-auto follow-up should increase my daily average to 2 or more per day. At least until I clear away that brush pile in the back yard...

 

[rangerruck]

try regular longs, the tube will not feed any shorts, and will hang up in your elevator. but first i would put some borepaste all intthe reciever, around the bolt, etc., and manually work the action about a billion times. Then you may get lucky and have it cycle the longs. otherwise, it should work with the Aguila 60 grain sniper sss rounds.