Marlin 883 22 mag. Terrible trigger - 12 lbs. Cut trigger return spring down and polished sear. Now a crisp 2 lbs.

Detail strip, cleaned and lubed. She's like a new gun. She's never been cleaned in the 20 years I've owned her. Been on a thousand hog hunts in knee deep mud in and out of boats hundreds of times, never cased and dunked in the river or sprayed off with a hose pipe when too muddy to handle.

Bang the butt on a concrete floor and make sure it doesn't go off. Some of these factory triggers need 12# for a reason.

Thanks - I sure did. With and without the trigger being pulled HARD. I always used it on hogs with dogs so the trigger didn't matter. Now I'm stalk hunting them from the boat so needed to clean it up.

Hard to imagine a better rifle for what you are doing.

Yep - I agree. That's the only reason I bought it and it's been a fine one. Never a moments trouble and shoots great. The crappy trigger actually helped when you get run over by a pig with 2 cur dogs hanging off it.

22 Mags are great as well as the old Marlins

Good post, Thanx.

Nice work Geno ... beautiful!

I got the blue laminate version of that ordered it the day I turned 18 that thing has been thru hell and back

I can't see the difference but mine is labeled 882 SS 22wmr. Good shooter with cci & ww 40 gr fmj and hollow points. Tried ww Dynapoints with the copper plated bullets they leaded the hell out of it. The Hornady factory v maxes are the tits 1_2" groups at 50 yd. It's a solid gun.

Indeed. It's a law thing in three states in the area. You can kill pigs with anything legal for whatever is open. Can legally use it for skwrls. Works fine with solids and head shots on pigs.


You're very welcome poboy.


Thanks scrooster! It's kind of a red-headed stepchild - used and abused tool.


Oh man, I bet that gorgeous.


Basically the same gun as far as I know MB, I think the parts even interchange. I've tried 4 or 5 different loads with her and she shoots all of them well. When I had good eyes, I could hit a silver dollar every time from 50 yards with irons. I have only used fmj or solids for head shooting hogs from touch range out to about 20-30 feet. It's never killed anything else and I haven't fired more than a box of ammo through it at the range. That will change when the weather improves - I put a 3-9 on her and will dial her in while doing some comparisons. I have about 5 different brands/types. I don't think I have any hollow points, just solids/fmj/tmj and soft points.

I always wanted one but never found one.

Nice Rig!!

Thanks L2S. I got into this one kind of oddly. I had been using a ruger 10/22 lr forever for the same thing. My buddy bought it almost new from a fella that needed money. He didn't do the hog thing but he loved to go to camp and ride around in the boat in the swamp with us. I would use it just because he was there. When he moved to CO a couple years later he said "well, you might as well buy that rifle - you used it more than anybody".

but but but but but but…field and stream and a few old campfire coxsuckers said they are useless

LOL - they probably weren't limited to public land and it's sometimes weird laws. It may not be ideal but it's what I have to work with. If you realize the limitations of the round and weapon you can kill with it consistently and cleanly. If not, shoot it a lot.

It's good for head shots on a pig out to 150 yards or so. Same goes for just about anything not on the african continent.

I use mine for blasting uninvited pond sliders (turtles) off of logs in our catfish pond.

Mfers got eyes sharp as turkeys.

When they know they're getting shot at they sure do. It works great for them.

The local slaughterhouse prefers .22 mag FMJ.

Ive got the older 783 blued steel and walnut version. Mine loves the 50 grain federal soft point

Happen to pick my boy up from school one day years ago.Went to check some trail cams ran into some turkeys the rest is history that boy is deadly when he puts his mind to it😉

Dug war wagon out the tater bin for a pic

A lot of them do. I know I wouldn't want to get shot in the head with it.


Fine rifle BR. It seems pretty much all of them shoot well although you may have to find a round it likes.


Stone killer right there - fine bird and fine young man earlybrd.

LOL @ war wagon that's a purdy one right there.


Awful fine looking rig for turtles. That's got to be one of the purdiest ones I've seen yet. Those laminated stocks sure look nice on them.

I love that "take the Picture already!" look on his face.

Great photo.

That is an 882. The 883 has a tube magazine.

I have a 882 22 mag. It's not fancy and yeah the trigger is too heavy unless you work on it. But it's tough as a hammered nail and has served me well for 30 years. Pretty accurate for an inexpensive rimfire rifle too. I carry mine when checking on corn feeders on our hunting grounds. The crack of that little 22 mag is the last thing a lot of hogs have heard before a 40 grain HP hit them behind the ear. Good little close range varmint gun.

Same model here......

I had the ss lam 883 for years, one day noticed something was a miss, the bottom pin/screw on the trigger had broke, total pain to get out, and to drill out enlarged hole in process some, got it repinned and working but it always bothered me. Sent it down the road. They are bringing good money these days.

I do have a real nice 783 though

I'll be damned. I went to take a pic to prove I was right and it sure is an 882. I must be dyslexic - I looked dead at it 4 or 5 times and read 883 every time. Thanks Blackheart - someone else pointed it out more subtly and I was too dense to get the hint. I changed the thread title to reflect that.

Lots of variations on that rifle!

I have an older JM marked 882 SSV. Stainless varmint contour barrel. 3-9x40 Leupold VXII, trigger redone to 3.5 pounds. Custom camo job.

Nice rifle, but I really ought to sell it, or trade it off for lack of shooting. Not shot it in years.

That's nice! rockinbbar. I am tempted to paint my stock and grind out the trigger serrations but I'm probably too lazy to. Plus, I'm still in the "not sure where I'll end up" phase of my life so with my luck I'd paint it jungle and be in NM a year later - lol.

Timely thread as I was just given a beat up 782 that I’m going to do some sort of refurb on. Debating oiling the stock back up and cold bluing the metal or just painting it all

Cool stuff! I have a Marlin 782 that I got when I was 17. It’s hell on groundhogs inside 125-150 yards. My longest kill was 152 yards. Tried to shoot tree squirrels with it. Too destructive for that. Also have a Marlin 17HMR, and a 99 M1 .22LR. I need to break them out and give each a good going over.

Ron

Use fmj/tmj on tree rats. Hollow points and soft points are too destructive.

DIY trigger job with pics can be found here:

https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/marlin-882-925-25-etc-trigger-mod-job.81505/

Be careful polishing trigger/sear contact. There's very little metal there to begin with so if you take much material off, it will be become unusable.

Thanks Geno!

Ron

Dated mine to be a 1974 year of manufacture. My 7 yo decided he want to redo it with me so we got a good start this weekend.

He also said it needed to stay blued and wood for now so the scratched and lightly pitted brown patina metal got buffed with some entry cloth and 3 coats of cold blue applied. Still has some visible flaws but I didn’t plan to make it look new.

All new factory springs and screws on order from numrich.

The thick factory finish was stripped and the stock is currently drying from its second coat of spar varnish allowed to soak in and wiped dry to seal the wood. 2 more seal coats and we will star tru oil hell until the foreman (7yo) says it’s done.

If nothing else it will be a fun project with my boy and I won’t be into it for more then $80 all in. Pretty sure the boy will claim it as his when it’s all complete but so be it.

TAG

I always use my rifles for 20 years before I adjust the trigger.

LOL

Figured I would bump this up now that my 7 yo is finally content with the stock finish we built up on it. Was a fun project and after replacing all the screws, springs and recoil pad I’m into it about $115 so can’t complain. Will see how it shoots here soon.

Good job!

Bet shoots great!

My Krag has the smoothest bolt action of any rifle I've ever owned/shot/tried. My 883 had the opposite. Shot good but action sucked.

I've got a Marlin 25 MN, that is blued and has the replacement laminate stock I bought for it...$99 for the gun, $60 bucks or less for the stock.
Had the gun about 40 yrs. It had rode in my truck on road trips for years. I'll bet I've put down a dozen or more deer over the years, that had been hit by a vehicle, that I came across traveling on 2 lane roads in rural America. Head shots out to about 150 yds max, with the 22 mag aimed at the ear canal, or between the eyes.. CCI 40 gr FMJs....

The gun always worked, and was pretty darn accurate...