What's your opinion on Marlin/savage/stevens .22 and .22 mag rifles? (bolt actions)

I've picked up one of each Marlin and Savage for kid's guns. The marlin is a youth model single shot, and is great for a first gun. Single shot bolt action. Easy to see if it's loaded, and easy for Dad to keep track of what the kid is doing. Accurate enough, but it takes a back seat to the Savage. I've loaned it out to several beginning shooters in the last couple of years and it's performed reliably each time.

I bought my daughter a full sized Savage, with the accutrigger, when she got older. It is very accurate, probably enough to do some serious competitions with if she was so inclined. The only negative with the Savage is the magazine catch/release mechanism is a bit "cheap" to me, and a little poorly executed. It can also be a bit finicky with ammo, seems to not always like the blunt nose hollow point ammo. It will occasionally hang one up on the entrance to the chamber. It will do this less often if the bolt is worked quickly, not hard, but quickly.

I have a fixed 4x Leupold scope on her Savage, and with that, I can shoot a decent one hole group at 25 yards with decent (not match) ammo.

OK, talk about irony, I just got interrupted in making this post to go dispatch a field mouse that got into the house. I terminated the said mouse with a Super Colibre in the youth Marlin. It was the easiest rimfire to get to since I'm packing up the house to move.

Got him with one shot from the Marlin at 10 feet.

We have a Marlin stainless synthetic .22. No better or worse than any of the others we also have. Its nice and light, threaded for a suppressor - which is no good to you anyway - and seems to do the job adequately.

Its just got a run-of-the-mill scope on it but it groups ok so what more do you need.

I wouldn't bother with 22MAG really not worth the extra cost of ammo.I have two Marlin's great rifles.

I went into the local gunshop and had a look at some .22's today. The marlin was ok and would be my pick. The savage was not real flash. It just felt cheap if you know what I mean. I've decided not to buy one now. I'm going to put my money towards rebuilding my late father-in-laws old anschutz .222 for the boys.

Bakes: Rebuilding an Anschutz is always worthwhile. I agree the Savage feels cheap thanks especially to the magazine release.

Bakes, how difficult is it to ship a rifle from the USA to you? What would it cost? It cost $42 just to ship a barrel to Oz so I would guess about $60 for a rifle. What is involved with customs and Au laws? I have a .22 you can have, new in the box Ruger 10/22 from about 1985 that I was given but have no use for at this time. It has $69.95 on the box. If it is a simple thing, I will send it to you for the postage.

RonE - unfortunately citizens of the Federation of Australia arent allowed semi auto firearms at all. Their government doesnt trust its citizens any more so semis are out .

Which is a shame cos the 10-22 would be my pick of the semi auto rifles.

Primary producers can own semi-auto firearms for pest control,in some states.

Thanks for the kind offer Ron, but as Muzza said we can't be trusted with semi auto's here in Australia. . I'm actually pretty excited to start fixing up the .222. The barrel is buggered and I already have some spare parts for it so its just a matter of new barrel and I'm away (hopefully). The stock has seen better days but that can wait a bit. I'm working evening shift next week so I'll get a chance to duck into the gunsmith and have a chat to him.

I was lucky about 6 yeras ago when I picked up a nice Brno Model 2 for about $350. Looks solid and shoots very well. It will retain its value.

The Anschutz 222 should be awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by Bakes:
Thanks for the kind offer Ron, but as Muzza said we can't be trusted with semi auto's here in Australia. . I'm actually pretty excited to start fixing up the .222. The barrel is buggered and I already have some spare parts for it so its just a matter of new barrel and I'm away (hopefully). The stock has seen better days but that can wait a bit. I'm working evening shift next week so I'll get a chance to duck into the gunsmith and have a chat to him.

Dang! what a shame. How about semi-auto shotguns, can you have them?

Seems like Australian gun laws are about as friendly as those in California.

Looks like I will have to shoot the 10/22 with a money gun and make it into an "ultimate 10/22". It seems pretty easy to turn a $69.95 rifle into a $700 rifle by applying only $800 and ending up with something that looks like a cross between a space gun and a pimp's .22.

Nope they're out as well.