Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Lousy Accuracy

My cousin has a Marlin model 25MN in .22 magnum. The thing just wont shoot good. We tried 2 different scopes, checked and double checked the mounts. My own M25 shoots fine. This is the first Marlin I've ever seen that doesn't give good or excellant accuracy.<P>What do you recomend. I thought about free floating the barrel, but he's not keen in the Idea.<BR>7mm

don't know much about the topic, but I'm wundering how bad it shoot, and if difrent ammo makes much of a diffrence

My recommendation; go buy a bunch of different types of ammo and try them all. Lord knows, they make a lot of them. Two of our .22 Mags like the cheap 40 gr. Winchester hollowpoints and the other one likes the spendy Federal premium 30 gr. hollow points. None of them, so far, has liked solids. I'm sure we tried at least half a dozen types in each of these guns before settling on their individual favorites, (again, so far).<P>All three of our .22 Mags are Rugers. Two rifles and a Single Six.<P>2D

3 to 3&1/2 inches at 60 yards. We were using CCI Maxi-Mag solids. Didn't try any other ammo. I don't think changing ammo would help a group that size. At 6$ for 50, that could be an expensive goose chase. We could try pressure bedding, but I've always got better results with free floating. Other than those options, I think I'd trade that sucker on a new one.<BR>7mm

I am just wondering how old is the rifle, did he buy it second hand or has he had it since new? <BR>If he has always owned it, did it never shoot well or did it just start shooting bad?<BR>One idea would be to look at the crown of the rifle, to see if there was any damage to the exit point of the bullet. <BR>I had a Savage Combo gun where the .410 barrel was fine but the rifleing at the crown didn't get cut properly and the bullet was able to tip as it exited the barrel.<BR>So maybe take a look there for damage, either from new or from improper cleaning that damaged that critical area.

7mm,<BR>As bill said, you may check the life of this firestick: did it ever shoot well if second hand.<BR>If new, I suggest you call Marlin and explain the problem: they may react positively.<BR>Another thing to do is, as 2D said, to try different ammo. I used to own a .22 mag which gave the same results as this marlin, with the same ammo. Going for the winchester varmint load tightened the groups very significantly. Nothing impressive, but enough to catch rats and crows at a good 120 paces. <BR>olivier

I'm not sure on the age of the gun. I think he bought it new a couple years ago. As for before accuracy, I can't answer, as my experience with this gun is limited to one days shooting. <P>As far as I know, he intends to keep the gun and use something else. Maybe after hunting season is over I'll have time to play with it. <P>Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind should I get the chance to work on it some more. <BR>7mm

7mmbuster - My hunting buddy and I own identical Marlin 783 22WMR rifles. Mine is several years older than his but otherwise they're the same rifle. Min shoots Win JHP ammo to about an inch at 75-100yds. Won't shoot anything else I've tried to less than 2inches. His shoots the Federal Premium 30gr Sierra JHP and the latest Remington loads about the same as mine does the Win JHP's. His won't shoot Win ammo worth a darn. Every rifle is different so a change of ammo may work. Regards,

7mm,<P>I'm afraid the $6 a box "goosechase" is your best tool to find ammo the Marlin will like. I have a Rem 541 T HB. I have bedded the action and floated the barrel. At 100 yds, this rifle will put 5 under an inch--with Federal Ultra Match ammo ONLY. Other stuff it will shoot anywhere from 1.5 to 4."<P>To get it to shoot cheap ammo better (the Fed UM's are $15 a box), I installed a barrel tuner. With the Federal Ultra Match, I got a 5/8" 5-shot group at 100 yds, so the thing works. I haven't really got to sort it out fully yet. I am confident the barrel tuner will allow me to shoot cheaper ammo well. The next ammo for me to try is some Winchester 40 grainers--I hear good things abou that stuff.<P>Blaine

I did a little research of my own on this thread. Used my own M25 Marlin and Dads M783 Marlin. 5 different types from 3 brands shot into 5 shot groups at 50 yrds. Winchester Supreme H-P shot best in my M25. Just less than 1/2 inch. All others were about 1 to 1.5 inches. The CCI solids were 2nd at 1 inch. None really shined in the 783, but all were around 1 inch or a little more.<P>Get a friend with a .22 mag to work with you on this. 4 boxes of shells at 8 bucks and change a pop gets expensive. I'll be using the Winchester Supreme from now on. I still have some left over to try in my cousins gun later. I'll let you know what happens when I do. Thanks to all for your help.<BR>7mm