Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best quality rifle for under $600

That's a load of horse puckey. The guys reporting broken extractors {and there are lots of them} are not shooting steel cased ammo. Many of the broken extractors have been in rifles chambered .243, .270 and 25-06. Where the hell do you suppose those guys are finding steel cased ammo ?

Just a thought. You started with new, then went to used, How about a M98 that has already had all the work done to it?

They are available all the time under your 600, usually well under. This auction on Gunbroker, Auction # 261752353, is for a nice 1909 Argentine with nice stock, all work done and a Barska scope in .308. Current price is 271.00.

This is ALOT more rifle than comes from a bargain/entry level gun from any box dealer, and increases it's value over time. Just a thought.

I still have my first M98 conversion with a Wilson .308 barrel, Bell and Carlson stock, Timney trigger, redfield rings, drilled and tapped, parkerized, that shoot easily under 3/4 inch five shot groups, all for less than your $600. You can't get much better than that for that kind of money.

Saw a latest version .30-06 M70 sporter barrel, synthetic stock, blue metal for sale in gun store for $595 IIRC. No sights bases, etc. An all weather version comes with stainless metal, and costs more, no doubt. That price is probably discounted, but the gun likely could be found for that price elsewhere.

I said most of the instances, not all. How many rounds have you fired out a a Marlin "X" gun? I have over 3000 rounds thru my guns and I have friends with another 750+ rounds thru their "X" guns. They also have had no issue with extractors.

Considering the large number of "X" guns sold and the few complaints there have been in the overall product line, I think you are way off base with your commendation of the "X" gun.

Yup. If you're careful, shopping, you might find a good sporterized Mauser for low$.

There have been FAR MORE complaints of broken extractors with the Marlins than from ANY OTHER brand of bolt action rifle on the market. Since they are still relatively new to the market and there are FAR FEWER of them out there in shooters hands than rifles from Savage, Howa/Weatherby, Ruger etc., the implications are crystal clear. There are even instructions posted on Marlinforums for modifying Savage extractors to fit the Marlin X's as the best "fix" for the problem.

Heresay "Evidence" from ONE online forum? That is some FUNNY schit.

Especially given the fact that forum's web traffic is DRIVEN by overblowing complaints' about Marlins. There are LOTS of Marlin X7 owners on this froum and WHERE are the complaints about those extractors?

The one common thread behind The defunct SHOOTERS Marlin Forums, the Marlin Company forums and the current Marlin owners forums is they ALL were populated by self anointed experts who think they know more about building the rifles then Marlin themselves.

Guys like you and Logcutter slither over to forums like this and then repeat the same schit without any proof- just more rumor mongering.

Unsafe rifle alterations,loading data and overblown QC issues is about ALL one could ever expect from the Marlin Owner's forums. Fair and intelligent discourse about them is not one of them.

Look at this thread. Except for you wailing about it like the national debt, I see nobody else else even mentioning it.

If you haven't seen the lack of quality in the Marlin line since Remington took over production you either haven't looked or you don't know Jack schitt. From my gunsmithing days I know just about any part on any rifle can and will occasionally fail but there have been way too many complaints about the Marlins to ignore. Now have a coke and a smile and go [bleep] yourself to death you worthless, rotten, inbred son of a whore.

More conjecture without any hard proof, just spreading false rumors.

Like I said, WHERE are all the complaints about the X7 extractors HERE?

Plenty of owners post on this entire site. Probably even more than on the Marlinwhiners forums.

I wouldn't buy a Marlin X7 for the simple reason it always looked to me to be a pure ripoff of the Savage. Always had a fairly high opinion of Marlin until they did that. If you can't innovate and are reduced to cloning another mfr's rifle, even if you can do it for less, than get out of the business.

Jmho.

Just as I thought, you haven't even looked at any of the Remlins and wouldn't be able to identify the fall in quality if you did.

Actually, I HAVE looked at plenty of new Marlins since the Cerberus buyout. Even shot a few.. Most of the "new QC issues" brought up on Marlinwhiners forums were sporatic QC issues with Marlins going back 20 to 30 years..

The tin foil hat wearing "experts" over on the MarlinWhiners began bitching the MINUTE the takeover was announced- because that's what the guys at Marlinwhiners.com DO. They bitch.

Same song, different verse. All based mostly on heresay and conjecture.

It does not sound to me like you've ever owned an X7 rifle yourself, yet you claim to know all about the extractors on them. Funny schit.

If you have to buy new, savage or weatherby/howa but I would encourage you to just sit back and watch our classifieds section. Tons of deals/steals to be had there.

Three words: Cabelas Black Friday - Leupold VXI for $159 leaving you enough to buy any of the several rifles mentioned for a little under $500.

Looked at half a dozen new lever action Remlins at my local sporting good store here in Montana last week.

Poor fit and finish stopped me from even asking to have the locks removed to check the actions.

I sure like my old ones.

+1

I have had 6 tikka's all shot good to great and cost under $600.

The vanguards and Howa's I have shot were accurate but are at least a pound heavier than my Tikka's.

Here this solves the problem nicely:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=261651219

Noticed that myself. Had one with a forearm that moved, and most of them seemed to have gaps between stock and metal.

Or 1 of these would do the job.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=262117924

or 1 of these.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=261773608

To the guys who high-jacked this thread to be rude to each other over your opinions on Marlins, Please stop.

I liked the Savage model 11 when I went to look at Sportsman's. I liked the trigger pull on the accutrigger. I liked the accustock. But I have read a bad review about the stock causing accuracy issues and the hinged floor plate opening on a shot. I know one review on one rifle doesn't make it true for all. Anyone have experience with the accustock or hinged floor plate doing this?

Baylian