Dale53
posted this
02 March 2017
GWarden;
I bought one of these when they first hit the market. I also bought a bulk pack of jacketed bullets, but never used them to this day. At any rate, I bought a Lyman 257420 flat point gas check bullet mold. At first, my rifle did not want to shoot. I am nothing, if not stubborn (er-r-r, PERSISTENT) and I kept changing loads and shooting. At about the 500 round point, the rifle suddenly started shooting well. I ended up with three loads for my needs.
1- My squirrel load was 4.0 grs. of Unique. I did not chronograph this but it flat worked like a CHARM. Whether it was a head shot or a body shot, the squirrel (whether the smaller greys, or the larger fox squirrels found in this area) they came out of the trees DRN.
2- My general purpose load was 11.0 grs. of RL-7.
3- My “High Speed” load (similar to the old factory high speed load) and chronographed just under 2200 fps. was 14.0 grs. of RL-7. This is a compressed load and must NOT be shot in older rifles. These are not pressure tested, but I did take five cases, and shot them twenty times each. I was still using those cases when I lost the vision in my right eye and quit shooting long guns.
The only thing I did to the Marlin was I did stone the sear for a good trigger.
I mounted a straight tube low powered scope on the rifle. Using this, the rifle would consistently shoot possibles on the small bore target at fifty and one hundred yards. The “x” count was not impressive but it WOULD stay in the ten ring. For a hunting rifle I considered this impressive.
My bullets were cast of straight linotype and sized at .258". I used Hornady crimp on gas checks.
For several years, we ran lever action matches at our club. These were a mix of speed and slow fire, using bullseye and animal targets. Kind of small game IPSC matches. Any caliber lever action rifle using jacketed or cast bullets. My rifle dominated those matches (and I LOVED it).
It went on down the pike, sadly, when I got rid of my long guns. Hopefully, it found a good home.
It was one of the most practical small game rifles EVER!
FWIW
Dale53