The Marlin 883 22 mag is home.

Elk creek

I couldn’t leave it lingering in purgatory. It’s home. Here Zee hopefully this will appease the fine collector. I took the 5.5 -16.5 Nikon off it and now it wears the weaver 3x 

NN

ntce!

earlyagain

Very pretty girl!
Didn't know you lived on a golf course.
  

Elk creek

earlyagain said:

Very pretty girl!
Didn't know you lived on a golf course.
  

The way way way out of bounds rough…..

Wambli Ska

Yeah, yeah, beautiful gun, you suck, yada, yada, yada...


ORDER.....THE.........DAMNED....RINGS!!!!  

Please?

Elk creek

Wambli Ska said:

Yeah, yeah, beautiful gun, you suck, yada, yada, yada...


ORDER.....THE.........DAMNED....RINGS!!!!  

Please?

I know I know!

Diver43

Liking that rifle a lot.  Hope it shoots straight for you

sakodude

Looks great with the 3X Weaver scope in Weaver rings!!

Wambli Ska

sakodude said:

Looks great with the 3X Weaver scope in Weaver rings!!

Hush you heathen….

Wambli Ska

Just so we’re clear.  My OCD personality forbids me to accept any rimfire scope that tightens on one side only.  I have NEVER had a set the works well enough to set the scope perfectly centered to the receiver.  

The Leupold and Nikon split rings do that by design.  You tighten them and the scope is dead straight over the receiver.

Zee

Damn. I feel like I owe YOU $3.00!

Elk creek

Zee said:

Damn. I feel like I owe YOU $3.00!

Dang now that is an enforcement. Just a classic gun from growing up. 

rberglof

Good looking rifle!

Elk creek

rberglof said:

Good looking rifle!

Thanks! 

Gene L

Looks great.  Wood is perfect.

bellcat

Sweet!

Elk creek

Gene L said:

Looks great.  Wood is perfect.

The bullseye was like a beacon, and the stock was just perfect. Thanks! 

Bigslug

Nice lumber!  I avoid .22 Mags (the Hornet you can't reload) almost like most of this forum avoids the .270 Winchester, but that one I might actually lift off the rack.  Purty!  1980's vintage you think?

I've got to disagree with Wambli on the ring replacement, or at least order the equivalent steel replacements from Leupold.  Vertically-split rings and I are not friends.  They are Hell-spawn. Kindly keep the operations of clamping to the receiver and locking down the scope separate.

Elk creek

Bigslug said:

Nice lumber!  I avoid .22 Mags (the Hornet you can't reload) almost like most of this forum avoids the .270 Winchester, but that one I might actually lift off the rack.  Purty!  1980's vintage you think?

I've got to disagree with Wambli on the ring replacement, or at least order the equivalent steel replacements from Leupold.  Vertically-split rings and I are not friends.  They are Hell-spawn. Kindly keep the operations of clamping to the receiver and locking down the scope separate.

Well it shot pretty darn well with the CCI Maxi Mags but I had about 10% light primer strikes, and feeding issues. I learned that you have to work the bolt back and forward smartly or it will have a better chance of malfunctioning. The light strikes I’m betting is why the original owner decided to sell it. I tore the bolt down when I got home and discovered a buggered screw that tells me someone was in that bolt trying to figure out the light strikes. There is plenty of spring tension and it’s a clean channel. However the firing pin is held in by a spring clip that alson doubles as the extractor. I inspected the firing pin and noticed it had impressions from the barrel face on the top edge of the pin (a few thousands out forward of the  working part of the pin) so, a few strokes with a stone and hopefully problem solved. 

earlyagain

The only part I've replaced on my 783 was the mag spring tube. Solved feeding issues I had. Also it helps to not load too many cartridges in it.

Hope the light strikes are fixed. They're handy little rifles.

Elk creek

earlyagain said:

The only part I've replaced on my 783 was the mag spring tube. Solved feeding issues I had. Also it helps to not load too many cartridges in it.

Hope the light strikes are fixed. They're handy little rifles.

That might be what I do… I’ll try cleaning it first,,, 

Gene L

Bigslug said:

Nice lumber!  I avoid .22 Mags (the Hornet you can't reload) almost like most of this forum avoids the .270 Winchester, but that one I might actually lift off the rack.  Purty!  1980's vintage you think?

Oh, no.  You don't get away with blasphemy on the Hornet while I'm around here! Can you get 3100 FPS with a .22 Mag?  I don't think so.

I avoid the .22 Mag as well, it's one of the common caliber rifle rounds I've never owned or even shot, for that matter. I can appreciate the OP's skill and resourcefulness in refinishing but not his love for that caliber. I don't dislike the Mag, it's just that I'm indifferent to them.  I've owned some odd-ball rifles, 8x60 Mauser and .41Swiss RF, but I got them because they were cheap enough.  I'll buy about any rifle in any caliber I can afford, but strangely, not the .22 Mag.

sakodude

I do have a tube feed Marlin model 81 that should be mechanically similar if that would be of any diagnostic help.

Bigslug

Gene L said:

Bigslug said:

Nice lumber!  I avoid .22 Mags (the Hornet you can't reload) almost like most of this forum avoids the .270 Winchester, but that one I might actually lift off the rack.  Purty!  1980's vintage you think?

Oh, no.  You don't get away with blasphemy on the Hornet while I'm around here! Can you get 3100 FPS with a .22 Mag?  I don't think so.

Ummmm. . .what blaspemy on the Hornet?  I just called the .22 Mag a poor, un-reloadable imitation.  If it ever got produced by the truckload to knock the cost down to something approximating high-octane .22LR, I might be enticed to play, but for what the WMR goes for, I at least want re-usable brass at the end of the day.  It's doubly screwed in CA with the non-lead hunting restriction.  I've got buddies that use it a lot for varmint hunting, but I've never seen what it gets you that the Hornet or the ubiquitous .223 doesn't.

But I can't fault a Marlin rimfire bolt gun.  Before CZ hit the states at their initial low prices, they were my go-to accuracy-for-the-price option.  I managed to knock my 2000 Smallbore Club rifle's bolt a bit out of kilter through A LOT of rapid fire practice for Highpower, but I can't really throw any stones for me "exceeding design parameters".  I still respect the 25N a lot for what it was.

earlyagain

The 22mag does bring a significant gain over the 22lr on small targets within the practical range of both cartridges. Such range being dependant on operator ability and subject to variation.

The practical usefulness of said gain is difficult to quantify, and may indeed not be significant.

However. Practical usefulness is a loose and slippery phrase amongst those of impulsive affliction.......
:-)

Wambli Ska

For many years the lowly .22 mag was my main Coyote gun.  Relatively low noise in populated areas is a big benefit.  If I could call a Coyote to 100 yards it was toast, so I got really good at camo, scent control and calling.

Gene L

The .22 Hornet was the first rifle I kinda owned...not mine, really, but mine to use.  I've held a warm place in my heart every since, and it's been 60 years. It was a Savage, cheap rifle that I had maybe 10 rounds for and no way to get more.  I've owned a number of Hornets since then and watched the performance climb over the decades.  I remember when there were "Hornet bullets" for loading, I believe 40 grains with 2400 fps using 2400 powder, which was developed for the Hornet.  It was the first "varmint" caliber ever.  Quite a history there.  It's a quiet, versatile round that will get 3100 fps using a 35 gr bullet and Li'l Gun powder.  Very accurate.  Not taking away from the .223, I've owned a number of them and it's my second favorite cartridge.  Nostalgia favorite small bore is the .222, which I have in a 788.  The .223 made the .222 pretty much obsolete from a performance stand, but I like both of them, and I don't want to go higher like the 22-250...too loud and overbored.  Teach gave me a lot of ammo for the .222 and I bought 10 boxes at $5 a box of 20 so I'm set for life. As much as I like these other rounds, none of these,  however, IMO could replace the Hornet. Just like the .38 Special is a classic that every handgun shooter should and probably has own/owned.  Like the 7x57, a classic through the ages.

Elk creek

Well I guess I hit a nerve. I too have been ambivalent at best about the 22mag. Most of the time you need a bit more or a lot less. That said this particular example is pretty and it shoots well enough and for less than a standard 10-22. I’m not stoked about being at the mercy of the ammo supply, but lets face it, we all are. I know most of us reload but the limiting factor is and always will be primers. So get it while the getting is good. I managed to scrounge 300 rounds of CCI maxi mags and it shoots them well. I had an additional 200 rounds of a mixed bag. It’s no bench gun, it’s no 450 yard varmiter but it is a short range solid gun, with nicer wool than most of anything put out today. I like it, it shoots and I got to tinker with it to make it better, winner!! 

Gene L

No nerve touched here!  At my post I was joshing about the idea that a .22 Mag was the Hornet Lite.  I pretended offense which I didn't feel.  I have endorsed the Hornet so much and for so long I thought others would see the post for what it is.  Apparently some took it literally, in which no disparaging was intended.  If so, I apologize.

The Marlin bolt gun in the OP is such a fine and finely restored it needs no justification.  If I were to own a .22 Mag, I can think of no other more desirable.  I think too much/to little is a great description of that round.

I pretty well and perhaps too extensively explained (not for the first time on this forum) my fondness for the Hornet, but I meant nothing other than that.

Elk creek

Gene L said:

No nerve touched here!  At my post I was joshing about the idea that a .22 Mag was the Hornet Lite.  I have endorsed the Hornet so much and for so long I thought others would see the post for what it is.  Apparently some took it literally, in which no disparaging was intended.  If so, I apologize.

The Marlin bolt gun in the OP is such a fine and finely restored it needs no justification.  If I were to own a .22 Mag, I can think of no other more desirable.  I think too much/to little is a great description of that round.

I pretty well and perhaps too extensively explained (not for the first time on this forum) my fondness for the Hornet, but I meant nothing other than that.

Me and the Hornet have a history, I’ve owned several and every one has been a disaster. I have almost given up on it. One would have to literally  fall in my lap for a stupid price for me to give it another chance. Hell, I sold the dies and gave my dad the brass if that tells you anything…… the 22mag was, I believe, intended to be a cheaper option to the hornet and other varmint rigs. It was, and is a perfect barnyard gun. For guys not interested in loading or too cheap for centerfire ammo, a box of 50 can be had for less that any other box of 50 centerfire, but nudging the performance. It’s a solid option when the options were few. Now we have everything we want at the touch of a bottom, not so back when this was devised…. We lived  in the golden age of guns gents the 1980’s, 90’s and up to 2020……..

earlyagain

I've carried my 783 several miles over many years. It's very handy in the sense that it packs easy, holds enough ammo to leave room in my pockets for things besides ammo. It's light, well balanced, and quick on target. Very fun rifle.