Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Comparing the Ruger American Against the Marlin XL7

Comparing the Ruger American Against the Marlin XL7

http://ammoguide.com/?article=pricescorner/130301

I bot a Marlin XS7Y in .243 for the grandson's deer rifle last summer. Just bot some REM 100gr C-Ls and took it to the range. Very Good trigger, fed just fine and shot 3 into ~1.25" from the start. F&S did a review of budget deer rifles and the Marlin was the pick of the litter there too.

NB

Interesting write up.

It sounds like a dab of JB Weld in the forend of the Ruger would have fixed most of his dislikes. That only leaves the poor feeding magazine to figure out.

Well, as I worked with the Ruger, I felt the fore end part of the stock was unacceptable and especially if I had to fix what Ruger should have done from the beginning. I think there were some features that were unique but the fore end at times when in field positions did change the group size and created extreme flyers as apposed to when I shot it from the bench. Ruger could fix this in my opinion. I tried to be very fair in evaluating both rifles and went to greater lengths to get the Ruger to shoot consistently but to no avail.

Beartooth,
Thank you for the evaluation of these two rifles. I have been very interested in the American since last year, but was holding out for a 7mm-08 version. Well darn it, they came out with one this year so I guess I need to pull the trigger on one. Your review pointed out some negatives I haven't heard before. I am not worried about the magazine issue as I suspect you just got a bum magazine, but the stock flex is disconcerting. You mentioned that you don't want to fix something Ruger should, so my question to you is what would you do to fix it? I am willing to work on one if the "fix" is relatively simple.

Thanks for the information.

I think the Marlin is an excellent gun for the price (still can be found for less than $325 around here). A comparable Savage will cost you almost $100 more. Why Remington felt the need to "re-invent the wheel" with their new Remington 783 is beyond me.

Short of having a 3-position safety (or even better, a 3-position TANG safety), the Marlin is a good package. Accuracy, traditional looks, good trigger. The Savage Axis/Rem 783/Ruger American all have those ridiculous looking stocks. Remington should have phased out the 770, avoided wasting R&D money on the 783, and simply spent a little money marketing the XS7/XL7 more heavily. They have really done a dis-service to this gun by not marketing it better....

Thanks glad you enjoyed the read.

Comparisons such as these always crack me up. He compared one rifle to another rifle and then made a broad generalization.

All his test showed was that one particular rifle outperformed another.


P

I like the XS/XL7 series of rifles and think that Marlin got it right by building an improved clone of the Savage 110 series.

I currently have 8 of the Marlins, 6 XS7s and 2 XL7s.

22-250 XS7 with a rechambered Stevens 200 1-9" ROT 223 barrel and a Boyds Prairie Hunter lamiated stock
243 XS7S (NIB)
257 Roberts XS7 with an A&B barrel
260 XS7 with an A&B barrel
308 XS7 with the barrel cut back to 20"
308 XS7S (NIB)

25-06 XL7
7x57 XL7 with an A&B barrel

A friend recently bought a Ruger American at Wal-Mart for $370 and brought it by to show me. I haven't seen the Ruger in action, but like the easy barrel swap feature of the Marlin rifles.

Ruger need to dump that POS ASAP.

The Marlin X rifles are solid and have been since their inception.

Too bad Freedom Group doesn't unshackle Marlin to compete with Savage with regard to chambering options and diversity.

Ruger Americans are also assembled with a barrel nut so have the potential for easy barrel switching. Sent an email inquiry to PacNor to ask if they have any plans to offer off-the-shelf barrels for the American. The answer I received was that they are considering doing so.

I found the 7mm-08 American I was looking for on Friday and it followed me home. I Picked up some Burris Signature zee rings to mount a Bushnell elite 4200 3-9x40 on it. I hope to shoot it soon. I would like to do something about the hollow sounding stock, any ideas?

Spray in foam maybe?

Maybe so, but the Marlin X guns use almost the same barrel shank specs as the standard Savage 110 series rifles, so Savage 110 series and Stevens 200 barrels can easily be recycled for use on a Marlin action. I don't know if Ruger has been equally helpful.

While some folks use the Savage 110 specs barrels on the Marlin X guns without any machine work, but I always trim the Savage 110 specs barrels back 0.05" and recut the chamber to insure tight/minimum headspace when I install them on Marlin XL-7 or XS-7 actions. I do this because of the slight difference in the recess of the bolt face between the Savage 110 series and Marlin X guns.

I was thinking spray foam also for the stock filler.

What should I expect to pay for a Marlin xs7 in .243? Do they make it in stainless?

$325 or so

Marlin has dropped the stainless X guns. They must be working with the always incompetent Remington marketeers to make a bonehead move like that.

I have 2 SS and 5 CM X guns, like them all.

Let us know how it shoots!

Spray foam doesnt work nearly as good as walmart sacks stuffed in super tight

Never thought about Walmart sacks, but have used packing peanuts. Over fill the stock and let the butt pad compress what ever you put in. It works just as good as the spray foam, is cheaper, easier and a lot less messy. You can always take it out later too.

I have not owned one of the Marlins, but tried one of the Ruger Americans. Only kept it about 2 weeks. That was all I needed to figure out it wasn't much. I really fell the magazines are a very weak link and replacements are over priced.