I recently purchased a Marlin 880 Squirrel Rifle 22LR with target barrel as I wanted to practice my off-hand shooting.

The barrel looks Parkerized with some minor touch-ups with paint, but it has a nice custom stock and the previous owner says the trigger has been worked.

I'm pleased with the purchase thus far considering the $295 price tag and that it has been claimed not to have been shot much...for my purposes it sounds like it'll fit the bill.

What's been your experiences with the Marlin 880?

Is it ok to practice dry-firing?

Does it have a good reputation...

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Late-Bloomer:
...Is it ok to practice dry-firing? ...

Hey L-B, When I dry fire mine, I place a "spent case" in the chamber for the Firing Pin to hit. Otherwise, the end of it might hit the mouth of the Chamber and create a Burr, or damage the Firing Pin. And I rotate it a bit after a Dry Fire so it has a fresh piece of Rim to impact.

Here is a thread where a buddy and I were Testing our Marlins.

I've had a few of this style Marlin over the years and the current M880SS is the most accurate one I've had.

Since yours has had the "Trigger Worked", then you probably do not need to do a thing. But,iIt is easy to replace the Trigger Spring with one from a Ballpoint pen and slicking-up the Sear Surface is easy "if" you do not change the angle. Better to give it just a few Square wipes across a Hard Arkansas Stone, reassemble and try it, then repeat if needed.

Best of luck to you.

HC-

Thanks for the comments on the dry fire I appreciate it!!!

These are 5-shot groups made at 25yds with my M880SS. Obviously there are a lot of rifles that are more accurate, but it does right well for Squirrels with the right ammo.

0.21" Eley Club
0.30" 4 @ 0.08" Eley Standard
0.38" 4 @ 0.06" Fed Premium Match
0.43" Eley Tenex
0.48" 4 @ 0.18" Fed Premium Ultra Match
0.50" CCI Small Game Bullet
0.50" Fed Gold Medal
0.50" Rem Target
0.53" 4 @ 0.30" CCI Short HP
0.55" 4 @ 0.25" Win Super X
0.60" CCI Standard Velocity
0.60" CCI Stinger
0.60" 4 @ 0.45" Rem Thunderbolt
0.60" Win Wildcat
0.65" Fed Power Flight
0.70" CCI Green Tag
0.70" Win T-22
0.75" Win Subsonic
0.80" 3 @ 0.45" CCI Mini Mag
0.83" 4 @ 0.40" Rem Golden Bullet
0.85" 4 @ 0.45" Fed Champion
1.00" CCI Mini Group
1.05" 4 @ 0.65" Rem Subsonic
1.10" Win Mark IV
1.20" Fed Lightning
1.45" CCI CB Long

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
These are 5-shot groups made at 25yds with my M880SS. Obviously there are a lot of rifles that are more accurate, but it does right well for Squirrels with the right ammo.

0.21" Eley Club
0.30" 4 @ 0.08" Eley Standard
0.38" 4 @ 0.06" Fed Premium Match
0.43" Eley Tenex
0.48" 4 @ 0.18" Fed Premium Ultra Match
0.50" CCI Small Game Bullet
0.50" Fed Gold Medal
0.50" Rem Target
0.53" 4 @ 0.30" CCI Short HP
0.55" 4 @ 0.25" Win Super X
0.60" CCI Standard Velocity
0.60" CCI Stinger
0.60" 4 @ 0.45" Rem Thunderbolt
0.60" Win Wildcat
0.65" Fed Power Flight
0.70" CCI Green Tag
0.70" Win T-22
0.75" Win Subsonic
0.80" 3 @ 0.45" CCI Mini Mag
0.83" 4 @ 0.40" Rem Golden Bullet
0.85" 4 @ 0.45" Fed Champion
1.00" CCI Mini Group
1.05" 4 @ 0.65" Rem Subsonic
1.10" Win Mark IV
1.20" Fed Lightning
1.45" CCI CB Long

HC-

Thanks for sharing this info...

I got several bricks of Win Super X and hope they perform as well in my gun!

I had the same rifle but it was a 12 year old version. The trigger sucked so I took the trigger spring out and snipped off about 3 or 4 coils, pulled it back to length, then put it back in. This reduced the trigger pull my 50% which was a marked improvement. I sold it in favor of a higher quality brand. With all of the aftermarket goodies available for these rifles today you can really tweak em out.

I don't recommend this for everyone but it worked for me. I used a fine stone and a dial caliper. I would take a couple of strokes on the trigger sear notch then measure, (you can't over do the measuring part), I'd measure both sides of the sear to make sure I was removing material even then assemble and test. It probably took me the better part of an afternoon until I got the creep out. Then I took a couple of coils off the spring. I did this one coil at a time until I had it where I wanted it. Then I ran the stone over every part the contacted another or rubbed anything just to slick them up. Between this, a good scope with adjustable objective to tame the parallax, free floating the barrel, and finding ammo it liked it turned into almost as good a shooter as my CZ American. They have a lot of potential. just be patient, do a little at a time, be very careful and you will like the results. DW

On this particular rifle, if you take the Spring out of a Ball Point Pen and use it, you can save the original Factory Spring to put back in it "IF" you decide to Trade or Sell it. Then cut the Pen Spring, twist the Tag in slightly and you have made a significant improvement.

Also agree with going real slow on the Stoning.
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And as luck would have it, the exact same Pen Spring Trick works on the Bolt Action Weatherby MARK XXII.