Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 10/22 or Marlin Mod. 60, which one?

Again, +1. Swap the scope on your 39a for a good receiever or tang sight. A real classic squirrel rifle there!

I've had both and have sold a ton of both. The Mod 60 is a great gun when it works. But, boy when they decide not to, game is over. Between the we had far more complaints about the 60's reliability than the 10/22.

I've had much less trouble from 10'22's.

Get the Marlin if you want an iron sighted semi-auto squirrel rifle that you never plan to modify or scope. It has a longer sight radius which for me has made it easier to shoot with irons than the 10/22 carbine.

I prefer a 10/22 myself, but that's because I think it's easier to work on, easier to clean and takedown, clear jams, and customize, and I don't shoot irons when squirrel hunting anyway. But for your requirements OP, I think the Marlin is superior.

I have never owned a M-60 Marlin, but I have always heard good reports about them. I own a Winchester M-69 bolt action that my father taught me to shoot with and as far as a bolt action .22 goes, I could not ask for a better one. I also have a Remington Nylon 66 .22 that I bought years ago. Good rifle as well. I recently bought a stainless steel Ruger 10/22 with synthetic stock, Talley rings, and a Simmons 4x scope. Have not taken it squirrel hunting yet, but at the local range it will easily hold 1 inch groops or less at 50 yards. No malfunctions at all and really feels good to me. I have been told to stay away from plastic lipped aftermarket mags, use only the steel lipped ones. I thought about going with a Nikon Prostaff scope instead of the Simmons, but for a .22, I think the Simmons will be fine. Was not impressed with the Simmons rings, so I went with Talleys. Scope was on sale from Optics Planet, so the rings were just about as much as the scope. I don't think you would go wrong buying either one. Get the one that is the best fit for you and enjoy it.

I've put together about 5-6 10/22's over the years. First thing after buying one was to toss the barrel and stock and replace it with a 16" bull barrel and an aftermarket stock. Work on the trigger and add a quality scope and now you are into the gun around $475-575. However usually you will have a shooter that will go under .50" at 75 yards with bulk ammo and sometimes smaller than that with the real premium stuff. You have invested a few bucks in a .22 rifle but what rifle can you shoot as cheap and which one do you shoot the most. For me it's the .22lr.

The high velocity stuff was usually less accurate but what we used for hunting.

With the 60, buy it and put a scope on it of moderate value and you have $170 plus the cost of the scope if you want one.

I have a 60 and think of it more in nostalgic terms of the .22's in the 60's and 70's. Mine has a scope on it and will shoot under 1.5" at 75 yards with bulk ammo. I like the tubular magazine set up that reduces the need for magazines.

To me, the way I fix mine up, the comparison doesn't hold up. Like apples and oranges. Each has it's applications for what you have in mind in your shooting. For a super accurate target and hunting rifle I like the tricked out 10/22. For the carry-back to former days approach, I like the 60. Neither is better nor worse than the other only different for different purposes.

Just buy a slimmer, nice handling Marlin 60, and use it.

I have had both, and have shot several of each. The Model 60 in general has been the most accurate. The Model 60 to me handles better as well. Any of them can be problematic with feeding. Some great other not so good. The triggers stock suck on both. The advantage to the Ruger is the aftermarket parts. The 10/22 can be turned into what ever you can afford. Out of the box, I would pick the Marlin.

I don't ever post here, but I have a little experience with both guns. Last winter when things went nuts you couldn't find a 10/22 anywhere but the local gun store had a Marlin Model 60 new for $140 so I bought it and figured I bury it somewhere for SHTF. Anyhow I decided to shoot it and put a 3-9 rim-fire scope on it. After sighting in the scope, 1st group at 50 yards was about 1/2" maybe a little more with CCI Mini Mags, I was shocked particularly since this was a 10 SHOT GROUP! AND IT WASN'T A FLUKE!. Maybe I got lucky, but it is a neat little gun, light, slim. The only downside is a horrible trigger that you really can't do anything about. I've got about 10 or so 10/22's. Out of the box I've never had one jam and I've never had one that was particularly accurate and never had one with a good trigger. Good thing about a 10/22 is you can make it in to whatever you want. I've got some with Volquartsen barrels, Beyer Barrels, Volquartsen trigger groups, Jard trigger groups, etc. and several of these are true 1/2" guns at 50 yards all day long. Problem is you take a $250 gun, add a $300 barrel, a $200 trigger group, $100 stock, new extractor, etc. and you've got close to a grand in a 22. Fun? Yep, but just to hunt squirrels probably not. FYI, most of the 10/22's I have with target barrels would jam until I replaced the extractor ($10) and one would misfire and I had to replace the hammer return spring ($6). My factory 10 shot 10/22 magazines have been extremely reliable. They'll get a little "gummed" up (you tell when you load them), then wash them out with brake cleaner, then WD40 and then blow them out with an air compressor. Never done anything to the Marlin. Tube magazines are good and bad. They take longer to reload but you aren't likely to leave it behind. So after this long winded response, if you're just looking to use fiber optic iron sights to shoot squirrels, it's probably easier to get them for the Ruger, but otherwise either would be fine right out of the box.

I have both other than the feel I can't say one out performs the other.

I've bad both, but once I had the bolt on the 10/22 tried it shoots just about anything around .5 inches at 50 yes. Its my go to rimfire.

Huh??

My experience with both guns ort of mirrors the comments of others here.....with a few exceptions.

Stock Model 60's (out of the box) tend to be very accurate especially considering the low cost of the rifles. Not uncommon to get 1/2" groups at 50 yards and almost never more than 1".

Rugers are slightly less likely to give gilt-edge accuracy, but in my experience they are seldom poor either. Most will give 1" groups or slightly better and the best will go 1/2". I am a bit surprised at those who claim "terrible" accuracy from the 10/22's.....I've never experienced this as a shooter or gunsmith in an undamaged rifle.

The real advantage for the Ruger is that it can easily be improved with after-market parts or by a good gunsmith (particularly better triggers and barrels) to be near target accurate. This is not so true of the Model 60 as the trigger cannot be easily made better and the action cannot be easily bedded (unlike the 10/22).

As far as reliability, the Ruger 10/22 is known for being ultra-reliable.....even when neglected. It just seems to never stop unless extremely dirty. It is true that the detachable magazine can be damaged (as is true of any detachable magazine), but stock 10/22 magazines are built very robustly and seldom develop problems unless abused Faulty magazines from the factory are also rare.

The Model 60, on the other hand, is very ammo sensitive and does not react well to being dirty. This is especially true on older guns that have a bit of wear. When fed clean-burning ammo that the gun likes....it does well, but cheap, dirty ammo will soon cause problems. It is my experience that any Model 60 needs to be cleaned at least every 200 rounds and on older guns probably every 50-100 rounds to prevent misfeeds. Cleaning a Model 60 is NOT as simple as on a 10/22, but not all that difficult either.

Someone mentioned that the tube magazine on the Model 60 is superior to the 10/22's detachable magazine. While the lips on a 10/22 magazine can be damaged if mishandled, you have NEVER seen the kind of problems you will have if a tube magazine is dropped and bent.....it doesn't just misfire, it will refuse to feed at all.

Overall, I'd prefer the 10/22 over the Model 60, but the Model 60 can be obtained much cheaper (particularly a used model) and gives great value for the money.

Note the location...



Travis

I thought about a Marlin 60, the USSA special. But a friend has one and showed me a picture of that trigger group monstrosity. No way would I buy a rifle with THAT kind of tinkerproofness.

I've run one of each, a lot. With bulk ammo. Basically never cleaned either one of them very well.

Both are quite reliable, with only an occasional hiccup. Both are accurate enough for squirrels. I'd get both again.

Interesting about the older 60's.
Had a mid 1970's Glenwood by Marlin 60 (Kmart special) that shot everything it was fed. Rarely if ever jammed, until it would get dirty about every 2500 rounds or thereabouts. Then I would clean it, and be good for another 2500.

Edit: It would jam once in a while the first few hundred rounds or so, then smoothed out and ran like a champ.

Sorry that should have been "trued".

I have one full blown custom 10/22, only thing made by Ruger is the magazine. Have three other 10/22's and have had a Model 60 for going on 30 years.

If I could have only one of the above, the Rugers would be gone. Trigger on the 60 isn't wonderful, but it's accurate and has been a wonderful gun that I've fired more than all the guns I own and have owned put together.

have owned and shot several model 60 . if you can find the ammo it likes never change . the 2 piece block that the cartridge passes through to be pushed up for the bolt to feed it is very touchy about rim size, and will give problems if the rim is only a few thousands oversize .that is why my present marlin is a clip feed model . however the triggers are sometimes terrible . iv had my present one apart 4 times to get a 6# trigger down to 2# . it will shoot one hole groups at 45 yds . I think there are after market triggers available.

Well, I did it. It came down to the trigger pull, cause I'm not looking to do a ton of mods. The ruger 10/22 was cleaner/crisper than the 60. So I ended up buying the ruger. The only thing I intend to do is add fiber optic sights, and sling swivel studs to the gun. It may be a while before that all gets done. Stay tuned for further details. Thanks for all the input.


maddog