Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Malin XS7 accuracy issues

The rifle is a 308 that I bought new a few years ago . The load is what I originally worked up , scope is also proven . two shots together and then flier . if you shoot enough you get two separate groups . I remember removing the action from the stock after hunting in the rain last fall and haven't shot it till now . I noticed its not free floated but has two small pressure points at the end of the synthetic stock . I suspect it is a binding issue with the stock and how I am tightening the action screws . Any experiences or suggestions ?

I have the same rifle and have gotten great accuracy with it. The first thing I did was to remove the pressure points and free float the barrel. I bedded the front lug using Accuglass. I replaced the trigger guard with a metal guard that you can get from Savage that is actually made for one of their rimfire models (this was done because the original crushed when I tightened down the rear action screw). Simple stuff but it may be what you need to get rid of the shifting groups.

Good Luck,
Tarheel

I have several Marlin X guns, all of which are pretty good shooters. I would free-float the barrel and, if that doesn't cure the problem, consider skim bedding the action in conjunction with the installation of pillars. If you are over-tightening the action screws, pillars will solve the problem.

There are instructions for reworking the trigger guards from the more recent, pre-Remington, tubular magazine RF bolt guns for the X guns on the Marlin owners site. You can get the trigger guards in blue or silver directly from Marlin or from GPC for around $20. The Marlin trigger guards are steel, blued CM from the 883/983 or stainless 883SS/983SS, while the Savage factory trigger guards for the Mark II and 93 are alloy.

Think I found the problem , removed the action from the stock and looked it over good , seeing no problem but when i tightened the action screws this time i snugged the screw in the trigger guard first , then the forearm screw last . Went to range and tried 2 different loads that i knew shot well and at 100 they were both back under an inch , just like before .must have been binding the action some how . thanks for replies .