Marlin 60 - worst rifle ever made?

MY first rifle I bought was a Marlin /Genfield model 60 back in 1973 .I got it with a scope at K mart for the price of $49.00.I used to shoot a 500 rnd brick of what ever cheap ammo that was on sale every saturday in the sand pit behind my house and never had trouble till my brother bent the magazine tube.I did pick up another one 2 years ago from a cousin that her husband died . It's sitting in the safe with a few other
.22's that rarely get shot The one I do love to shoot is my Charles Daly by Zastava .22 lr.Bolt action with a 3x9 Bushnell scope on it.Its a tack driver The funny thing is that it shoots to the same POA with cheap Remington ammo or CCI cb longs that sounds like a pellet rifle and works great on tree rats..
 
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The stock was not very pretty and hard to deal with--but with $60 in it I did this.
Blessings
 

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Marlin quality control virtually ceased to exist after Cerberus bought them. They closed the plant and moved operations into the Remington plant and I have not heard anything good from buyers since then. Poorly fitted, won't feed, won't fire nothing but problems.

Sadly Marlin once made some of the best rifles you could buy for the money. I still have an old Model 39 that is a wonderful rifle and have owned quite a few of their other rifles both centerfire and rimfire. Good accurate rifles and priced reasonably.

The model 60 the OP looked at is a sound design or they would not have lasted and sold so many over the years. There are a few things that wear out on well used examples that I learned to look for when they came into the store for sell or trade but overall they hold up well. Current production must be way out of spec and poorly assembled as well to account for the problems I've seen and heard about from others.
 
I bought a Marlin 60 for my nephew brand new in 2005 or so and it shot every .22 that was stuffed in it. He didn't like it and traded it off which was his decision but I rather liked that little gun. One of the guns I am caretaking for is an early Model 60 with a scope on it that I would like to take out come this fall.
 
les strat said:
MarlinM60_zpscb6f9c20.jpg
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I've this one's twin in my safe!

Out
West
 
I bought a Marlin 60 many moons ago. I had it for decades, shot thousands of rounds through it, then sold it for about what I paid for it.

Don't miss it though. But it was ok.
 
Purchased my 60SB in 2009 "NEW" and it has been totally reliable, but of course proper maintenance helps out a whole bunch.:D
 
I have a Glenfield Model 60 and its been a super reliable and very accurate semi auto .22. This thread caught my attention because its so different than my own experience and that of others I know. (All the rifles were older models.) - - - That said, it often seems that 'they don't make them like they used to' is so often true today.

It almost seems that we have to carefully research before making a purchase. For example - maybe about 6 -8 months ago I bought a new Glock 17 9mm pistol. One of the reasons I bought this model is that it has a long history of reliability and the kinks have been ironed out . . so I thought. Well, it seems that Glock made some kind of parts design change, and many of the new guns eject hot brass right into the shooters face after a certain number of rounds. Last I checked, Glock and outside gunsmiths were still trying to figure out the reason and the cure.

I bought my first 10/22 a couple months ago. I never got one since I have the Model 60 and numerous .22 rifles, so had no 'need'. But the 10/22 Take down version got my attention and I found one locally at a good price. Hopefully I won't find out in the future that it has some kinda unexpected 'glitch'.
 
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Sorry to hear that. I have owned a couple of the Glenfield Marlin model 60s, still have one and gave the other to a friend many years ago. One was made in 78 and the other in 80. I kept the one made in 80 and in fact took it out and shot 100 rounds through it Monday. Never had any problems at all with either one. I keep it clean and it shoots every time.
 
Joewisc said:
Have a Ruger 10-22, thought I'd check out the Marlin 60, which boasts it's the "most popular .22 rifle ever made." No wonder they're so cheap. The don't work very well. Tried three of 'em and every one jammed after the first loading. The first one I tried never even fired after repeating loadings. The second one fired successfully after 10 bullets were loaded into the tube and then jammed on the next loading. The third one jammed after five bullets were loaded. The cartridges got stuck in the chamber every time after sliding the bolt back and could not be extracted without a tool. The embarrassed salesman was at a loss for an explanation. Will never look at another Marlin again. I don't understand how they sold so many of these .22 turkeys.
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I own a Marlin 60, and it hates beer cans! It goes bang every time I pull the trigger. Shoots straight and is a dream to carry in the woods. Sorry you don't like yours. Want to sell it cheap?
 
joeintexas said:
Sorry to hear that. I have owned a couple of the Glenfield Marlin model 60s, still have one and gave the other to a friend many years ago. One was made in 78 and the other in 80. I kept the one made in 80 and in fact took it out and shot 100 rounds through it Monday. Never had any problems at all with either one. I keep it clean and it shoots every time.
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From another Joe in Texas, Joe, I still have my Marlin 60, and
I love shooting it. It really likes aluminium cans too. I can walk them all over the pasture. I like it as much as my 10-22. They both are awesome to shoot. Heck, any .22 is awesome to shoot, even the worst ones. I have 7 1911 .22s, 3 of which I assembled from Sarco parts. Can't wear them out.
 
Love my Marlin 60. Fires straight and sure!


Sunsetview45 "I'm a girl [emoji151]" Smith & Wesson 9mm Shield, Sako Finnwolf VL63 243cal, Marlin 60 1982 model
 
I would have to Agree 100 percent.
I got burned as a kid when i bought one.
That model 60 would have made a good club.
Junk !!!


Chuck
 
I've had my Glenfield 60 since 1973. Great gun. It's probably had 10,000 rounds through it and the only thing I had to replace was a broken charging handle. It still is incredibly accurate and reliable. I bought a second one about 10 years ago, and while it's a reliable shooter it's has
never been as accurate.
 
while I don't have one now, have had a few in the past, no issues with the ones that I have had, but I have a old Remington 552 speed master that found a forever home a long time ago.

but the 552 is not a cheap big box store gun.

I do not know if they put a JM trademark on the mode 60,but I would not buy any new rem-lin
 
Back in the 1960s and 70s Marlin Model 60s were known as Jam-O-Matics....never met anyone whose worked. Later on Marlin seems to have solved the feeding problems as I heard few complaints...

I bought a stainless Papoose a few years before Marlin was bought by Freedom Group...has been 100% reliable and like it much more for backpacking than the Ruger TD.

No experience with the new ones made in NY....

Bob
 
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