Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Marlin XS7 7-08

Opinions of the Marlin XS7 bolt action rifle. picked one up in 7mm-o8. Stock seems a little cheap. Have to done anything to one ,ie bedding actionetc.
Can't shoot it yet as we have fire restrictions on right now. Thank you for any info

I have had two stainless XS7 stainless rifles and both shot great. I regret selling them and would buy another if I could find one.

The only thing that I did was add a metal trigger guard.

For what they cost I think they are great. Have a .308 and .30-06.

I hesitated on a Marlin XL7 in 25-06 for $399 a couple of years ago........

I like them better than any other entry level rifle that I've yet to own. Marlin put together the best aspects of the Savage 110 series and the Remington 700 ADL to make what is basically an attractive Savage 110. I like the stock ergs better than the current crop of entry level rifles like the Ruger American, Savage Axis, and T-C Venture. I think that when Freedom Group bought Marlin they should have kept the X guns and dropped the Remington 783s.

One third of mine have been rebarreled with modified Savage barrels, since the barrel tenon specs are almost the same as the standard Savages.

I have had around 20 of them and the ones that I've shot have been good shooters. lThe 25-06 XL7 that I bought from someone on this site back in 2012 has been more accurate than a $280 rifle has a right to be. It is so accurate that whenever I loan it out, I have a hard time getting it back.

EDIT: Revised a couple of things.

260Remguy, I tried to send you a PM

I have 2 of them, both in 243. I let my father use one and had to buy another! Both are accurate, but I bedded one and it stacks the sierra 85 gr hpbt into tiny little groups. I have a savage 308 and McGowan 6.5 cm barrel I will try on the action but kept it with the 243 for now.

I’ve shot several XS and XL 7’s. Each one was very accurate. I load 117 grain Sierra Gamekings for one in 25-06 and it routinely puts 3 shots in 1/2”-3/4” groups.
I once haggled with a guy at a gun show selling a stainless one in 7-08. I passed on it because we were ~$50 apart. Still regret not getting it because there was nothing close to it at the price point.

I agree the stocks are severely lacking, but the synthetic stocks on most rifles under $1K leave a lot to be desired.

Remington was stupid to discontinue this model in favor of their underwhelming entry level offering. Just one of their many bad decisions.

I don't care for the plastic trigger guards either, but the metal trigger guards for the Marlin 783/883/983 can easily be fitted to the X guns.

In think they are great rifles. I had a 25-06 that routinely shoot .75” 200 yard groups. It was a laser beam on antelope. Eventually sold it after a few years as I just didn’t feel I had a true need for it. Great rifles the price. Only thing I didn’t love was it didn’t have a bolt lock, which most people don’t care about anyway.

I found one in 25-06 at the local GS.
For $249 used but it looked unfired.
Called my ace running buddy who's was looking for a 25-06 and told him to get himself there ASAP.
He bought it and I mounted a scope, grabbed some RL 22 and 115 Nosler Ballistic tips and started load work up.
Rifle consistently shoot 3/4 in 5 round groups.
Wish I would have bought it.

Great cheap rifles. Only thing I didn't care for was the non locking bolt when on safe.

I have one in 7mm-08 also , was the "family rifle" when the kids were growing up. Shoots very well , besides the stock feeling "cheap", the only thing I don't like is mine does not eject with much authority... Joe

Same here, regret selling the ones I owned.

I liked the ergos of the stock, but they do feel pretty flimsy.

I would buy another one if I could find it for a decent price.

I had one in 7/08 and 308, sold them, bought one in 243 and converted it to a fast twist 22/250. The last one is marked REM on the barrel and isn't made as well. The 7/08 was my favorite.

260Remguy has it right, it is the best of the Remington and Savage in a budget package. The stock is stiffer than it has a right to be, and it is easy to epoxy bed. It really should have survived the merge with Remington, but Remington did not handle any of that merger well.

Once I realized that the barrel tenon specs were the same as the standard Savage 110 and Axia barrel specs, the X guns became my favorite to tinker with because rebarreling them was with Savage take-off barrels was so easy. I probably rebarreled a dozen of them in 22-250 with the 1-9" ROT barrels from Stevens 200s in 223, 1 for me and the rest for other people who wanted to try a faster twist 22-250. A tinker has to have something to tinker with and the X guns were a great donor action to do inexpensive rebarrel jobs on.

IIRC, someone on this site post about restocking long action X guns with Winchester 70 stocks and bottom metal. I never did that myself, probably because most the X guns that I've worked on were the short action XS7 style, rather than the long action XL7 style. I think that the only XL7 that I rebarreled was from 270 to 7x57 with an A&B barrel from MidwayUSA. The rebarreled XS7s that I've done were in 204 Ruger, 22-250, 259-3000, 257 Roberts, 6.5 CM, and 260.

The point of trouble using Savage 110 specs barrels is that the Marin's bolt face is slightly more recessed than the Savage 110 series bolt face, so you could get a false headspace reading if the front of the Marlin's bolt came into contact with the barrel face when you were setting headspace. The solution that worked for me was to shorten the Savage barrels by 0.05", 1 full turn of the 20 TPI barrel. The false headspace reading didn't always happen, so I didn't always have to set the barrel back, but it happened often enough such that setting the barrel back by 0.05" every time seemed like the prudent thing to do.

The X guns were made in both North Haven, CT, and Mayfield, KY. I didn't notice any differences between those made in CT and those made in KY, but I was focused on function rather than fit and finish.

I still have 7 of them in their factory specs chambered in 223 (x3), 243 (x2), 7mm-08 (x1), and 308 (x1) that are surplus to my needs, so if you're interested let me know and I'll figure a price. Some are youth guns with shorter stocks, some have been fired, some are NIB, and all are blued CM. 1 of the 223s is the heavy barrel version with a 26" barrel, the others are all 22" sporters. Except for the NIB youth gun in 308, the rest were made in KY and have the "MM" prefix serial numbers.

260Remguy,

You PM box is full. I would be interested in one of the Marlin X7 .223 22" .

IIRC, the 783 is based on the Marlin X series, only with the large dose of ugly the Remington marketing department seemed to think an inexpensive gun required.

As I've often said, the Remington marketing department couldn't sell a bucket of water to a man whose pants were on fire.