Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer, why not the Marlin X7?

I had one in 25/06, it shot fine but couldn't clear a shell.

I looked at both the Marlin and the Ruger a while back in a LGS, and to me, the Marlin looked and felt better. I'm not a fan of detachable magazines on hunting rifles and the mag on that particular Ruger rattled noticeably.

If I was really in the market, I might still give the nod to the Ruger, due to its reputation for accuracy. I also have to wonder what kind of effort Remington is making on the budget line considering the problems they're having on the "good" stuff.

LGS has a wall full of marlin bolt guns in deer calibers... not sure why, but thats what they choose. Haven't heard much bad about em either really.

Was my experience as well. Maybe it's unique to the 25-06...

I had the 25-06 also - shot well under an inch with factory ammo, but the rails were machined so sharp you could cut your finger loading it - and, it was an effort to get the rounds in straight.

Still, the stock was comfortable, easy to hold with a just-right palm swell and much better looking than any of the new crop of "bargain" rifles.

I have two of them, 7mm08 and .243. I put both in Boyds stocks and glass bedded them. They shoot. Kind of a mystery gun. Hot out of the gate, and now not much going on. Great value in my book. One thing I find interesting is the new low end rifles are shooting very good. In some cases scary good. Lot of value out there. Shoot straight....goodshot!

Sure can't complain about the XS-7 in 308 that I have, bought it when Cabela's had them on sale for $279 few years back. Shoots with 150's well and 168's of various brands in handloads excellent. I did adj the trigger down a little and picked up a set of 30mm Weaver rings for it,the 1 pc rail works fine for me. I had a 6x Burris with a dot reticle on it at first but it now wears the 30 mm rings holding a Mk4 10x40 LRT with the 308 M3 dial on it. For 275 bucks it really does shoot well. Magnum man

Maybe the Marlins aren't promoted because they cut into H&R sales.

I'd say the 700 sales are the ones being protected.

Remmy Killed the cheaper, better shooting 788 for the same reason.

BMT

I'm like Pappy. I ended up getting the X7 in 7-08 instead of the RAR. The finish on the X7s that I've seen is much better than the 783s. The 783's trigger is the X7's trigger I believe...just renamed.

John,

Nice read, thanks. Note that I still love my 271 in 270win. My grandpa got it in '52.

Everyone, this is one article I enjoyed and found valuable as I was deciding to get a 7-08 chambered rifle: Mike's RAR vs. X7 comparison

BTW my X7 has been great and it's quite a shooter.

Mine in 243 was one of the most accurate out of the box rifles I have owned. It is now a 243/308 switch barrel using a savage barrel I picked up cheap. Great gun for the money.

No love for the T/C Venture either. What's up with that? For what it cost me, mine amazes me every time I take it out...

I talked to the editor of AR a couple weeks ago, and mentioned people were puzzled why the Marlin wasn't included. He said it was because the Marlin (and other lower-priced rifles) had been covered when they appeared, so he wanted me to cover only the most recent lower-priced rifles.

The fact that you can buy a 300.00 rifle that averages under an inch is amazing. You can spend 10 times that and get the same result.

It used to be that when you were on a budget you had to look at used stuff, risking getting someone else's problem, or else be content with something in the .30/30 class. Now you can be all set with a good rifle and decent scope for about $500, and with the RAR, get a perfect understudy rifle for a few hundred more.

I have to think that these guns are also cutting into sales of the interchangeable barrel guns like the Encore a bit, since you can get a complete rifle for the price of a barrel.

That's interesting.

My bud's son could get 100% of them to jam in the store running the bolt hard. They were shopping for a low-cost rifle and came close to buying one.

I didn't understand/believe it so when we went to the LGS he had the clerk pull one for us. He ran the bolt hard/fast and the bolt wouldn't go forward. By fast I mean "the buck of a lifetime is running away".