Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Getting my Marlin XS7 set up

There's a whole lot of dead VC that had no idea a model 70 was a sniper rifle until Carlos Hathcock gave them a formal introduction.........

A guy who's more than satisfied with hand-reaming a factory barrel would likely not comprehend the benefits of having a steel trigger guard and what accuracy and feeding benefits are brought to the table with them.

Congrats, you're only the second person to ever make my ignore list and the first to do it in such record time. Even JO and Lee add some level of entertainment at times, but its apparent that your posts and responding to them do less than nothing for this site.

Have fun Lori.

Carlos used the M 70, because that was what was available. I don't see any 70s in Irag with Unertls target scopes on them.



While Carlos was a high scoring sniper, he was not the top dog. The guy who was used a 700 variant.

"During Vietnam, as most know, Carlos Hathcock had 93 confirmed and Chuck Mawhinney had 103 confirmed. They were both excellent marksmen and they saved many lives. Two Army snipers had a higher body count."

This was a state of the art sniper rifle in 1809, but I doubt too many SAS guys are carrying them in the Middle East.

The M-70 was a nice 1930s action that has been eclipsed.

Yeah, there's no demand whatsoever for those eclipsed Pre-64 Model 70 actions.......

Notice the resemblance?

Sheesh!! Sorry. I didn't want to be in the middle of anybody's poopin' match. Just a simple question of what is wrong with that pic and do you make a t.g. to replace the plastic t.g.
Sorry.

Although Marlin failed in the bolt action CF rifle efforts in the past, they are now owned by the same folks who own Remington and if anybody can sell a bolt action rifle, it appears that Remington can. Putting this rifle in the Marlin line, rather than in the Remington line, makes good marketing sense, since it won't be poaching on anything else in the Marlin line. Probably the same reason that Savage restarted the Stevens line, to have a lower cost line that doesn't compete head to head with the higher cost line. Think in terms of Chevy and Cadillac or Ford and Lincoln.

I think that Marlin will sell a bunch more XL/XS-7s when they get them into the high volume retailers like Dick's and Wal-Mart. Add a quick twist 223 and 22-250 to the XS-7s and watch them fly out the doors for just under $300 retail. After all, when you buy an XL/XS-7 you're getting what amounts to a Savage 110 series clone, Accu-Trigger, but no Accu-Stock, for the price of a Stevens 200 and you're getting better stock geometry too. The only major obstacles that I can see in the path of the Marlin XL/XS-7's future success is Remington's well known ability to screw up a good product with some of the World's worst marketing and the economy.

1 thing that I've noticed with the Marlin XL/XS-7 buyers on 24HCF is that they are often so pleased with the 1st rifle, than they frequently go back for a 2nd and 3rd. Plus, they are giving a lot of free "word of mouth" advertising to their real and virtual friends.

Jeff

I don't know what kind of dribble 42 came up with this time, simply because he's on ignore right now, but the crux of it was, if you want to rechamber a rifle correctly, one should be using a lathe to accurately cut and indicate it into the bore.

I misread your initial post, thinking you were asking if I would make a plastic trigger guard on one of my CNC's. I suppose if the demand became high enough, I might entertain a steel replacement for them, but the chances are somewhat unlikely.

Marlin's early attempt with the MR7 could have taken off pretty good, had they developed a decent stock. It had all the desirable features found in other rifles, but the stock was horrid. It also happen to be very accurate on the average.

This new endeavor might very well prove to be a bigger hit for the budget line of turnbolts.

Thanks. Have to agree on that last sentence. I sorta thought those early MR7s were too expensive. Up there with Remington, Winchester, Ruger. When I'm spending that $$$ I can't afford to be a Guinea Pig. But if I'm spending half that much (XL7) I can "waste" a few bucks, and so far it ain't been wasted.
I'm not impressed with their thin plastic triggerguard, however. They seem to be no stouter than the pot-metal cheapos that Remington passes out. May have to get one milled from aluminum stock.

An interesting test would be to see if the "plastic" Marlin TG puts the rifle out of action any quicker than a metal one that bent in and blocked the trigger? I'd rather have no TG than a bent one that locked up the rifles trigger. Then again, my book rack is filled with 100s of stories about trigger guards failing in the field (LOL!)

As for people wanting M 70s, people also want 57 T-Birds.
I have a 30-06 M-70 classic (old trigger) that is a nice rifle, heavy and shoots no better than my much chaper XL. It also has no where near the fit and finish of my 1953 Husky 30-06 commercial Mauser which is all steel, handles gas far better and shoots just as well.

Anyone who would choose to build a custom rifle on any M 70 over a 50s vintage FN/Husky is out of touch with what a real Mauser action is.

Hey, I'm not dissing plastics. Am amazed at what some of today's plastic can do. I do think Marlin/Remmington could have made it about twice as thick with little weight or cost. My Steyr's plastic guard is strong enough to use as a hammer, ugly though.
Marlin can do better.
Guess I'm not understanding paragraphs 2&3. May be some other rant?

338 Sorry it was for the great waputi (guess spelling is obsolete in the land of Moroni) who thinks a Model 70 is God's gift to shooters.

If he only knew how much better you Steyr was.... I had a 6.5x68 Steyr...what a death ray that was!

(The word he's grasping for is Wapiti)

My Steyr is in 270. Death ray? Yes. Moreso than the XL7 even! Hard to believe, huh?

A Rem 700 guard will fit with slight modification to the stock. Front screw is a wood screw into the stock, so easy to fill and move. The width is already correct.

The picture will enlarge if you open or view it.

Bruce

Thanks, bcp. Was hoping someone had a decent fix that was easy. Is that part available separately or do I need to be looking for a parts gun?

Rem 700 ADL guards are readily available, in plastic, aluminum, and steel.

http://www.pacifictoolandgauge.com/products/parts/remington.htm#bottom

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/cid=0/k=adl+guard/t=P/ksubmit=y/Products/All/search=adl_guard

http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/#700%20adl%20guard____-_1-2-4_8-16-32

Bruce

Tarheel101
I just got one of these "bluelight" specials in 708 myself and couldn't be happier even though I wasn't able to get to the range before the miserable cold weather hit.. I have been reading other peoples experiences with the sub MOA that they are getting so I'm not to worried there..

BCP, great info, I'll have to order one from Brownells when my plastic one breaks.

We're taking out the new XS 7mm08 tomorrow (14 below zero this AM) and see how it does. My buddy ended up getting it for $269.00 delivered as there was sale on here and our sales tax is a tad lower than the rest of the "free world".

You lucky buggers get those rifles for $100 less than we do up in Canada...

I'll trade you two for one RCMP marked Colt New Service 455 in 98% condition.

But, our shoot better than theirs!



Ted

Dude....WTF is your issue with trigger guards? The man makes them, and very well I will add, and makes his living off of them. And you come on here and bash him for it.

Get a life...or at least a Winchester.