got myself a Marlin XT22TR

[CJ_56]

I've wanted a Marlin 981T for a long time because of it's ability to shoot shorts, longs and LR's. I have a rifle that will do that but it's a single shot. Now I have another rifle that will do it and it's also a Marlin. I know longs are just about gone and shorts are more expensive than LR's but still I like to be able to load some up for some quiet shooting. I know a person can buy low power LR's too but it's good to have a rifle that will shoot up all those leftover shorts from when I bought some several years ago. That was before the really quiet LR stuff.

Accuracy seems to be pretty good from what I've seen so far. I need to put up some targets today but winter has made a comeback. It's actually snowing here. The smooth action and the looks make for a good enough reason to talk about this rifle. First thing the barrel is black instead of blue which really makes for a nice looking setup with the black synthetic stock. Yeah I know most prefer wood but there's room in the world for a good synthetic stock here and there.

I also own a Savage MkIIBTV and a CZ 453 American. The CZ is certainly the best looking rifle but the Savage is slightly more accurate. And as much as I like my CZ I've had some issues with it. I've had several rust spots appear even though I've kept the barrel oiled and I haven't had it out in the rain. I've switched to another type of oil for the barrel and it seems to be working fine now but the teflon based stuff I was using just didn't get it done. I've also had problems with the bolt sticking on that rifle.

The Savage is a nice looking rifle too and it shoots great if you use the right ammo. If you use any bulk pack stuff except for CZ it won't be nearly as accurate.

I also have a 925 with a birch stock and it looks very nice. But I think this next XT22TR holds it's own in the looks department. It looks really cool with the whole thing being black the way it is. And it shoots very well too. I can work the bolt very quickly without moving the rifle from my shoulder and I haven't even had time to break it in good. I just got it yesterday.

From I can tell using the irons it seems to shoot very accurately. I like the trigger a lot but, again, I haven't had a chance to adjust it yet. That will likely happen today. It's already the best stock Marlin trigger I've pulled. I can't wait to mount a scope on it and see what it will really do. My eyes just aren't good enough now to shoot great groups with irons.

BTW all the sights line up perfectly. It's a Mayfield, Ky product so that's a much better deal than the Ilion stuff.

I paid $180 for it at a LGS. They matched Bud's price for me since they aren't that far up the interstate from Lexington. I've been buying guns from that place since before the AWB. They've always done right by me.

So far I'm very happy. I've looked it over and can't find a single thing to worry about. I guess that's the main thing with any Marlin these days.

[Albtraum]

Nice! I remember you considering one for your grandchildren? A cool thing about the XT22TR is that it can hold 25 .22shorts in the tube. I bet it will have amazing accuracy once you put on and sight in a scope for it.

[CJ_56]

I haven't mounted a scope yet but I have shot it a few hundred times with the irons. It seems to be very accurate especially after I adjusted the trigger. I think I'll mount a scope today and see how that goes tomorrow. I'm thinking I probably won't leave the scope on because I'll want to use it as a varmint gun. But who knows. It may end up being my best shooter for all I know.

[Big Shrek]

Need pics

[BETH]

pictures fella

[CJ_56]

Soon. Very soon.

[Zane71464]

Originally Posted by CJ_56

I've wanted a Marlin 981T for a long time because of it's ability to shoot shorts, longs and LR's. I have a rifle that will do that but it's a single shot. Now I have another rifle that will do it and it's also a Marlin. I know longs are just about gone and shorts are more expensive than LR's but still I like to be able to load some up for some quiet shooting. I know a person can buy low power LR's too but it's good to have a rifle that will shoot up all those leftover shorts from when I bought some several years ago. That was before the really quiet LR stuff.

Accuracy seems to be pretty good from what I've seen so far. I need to put up some targets today but winter has made a comeback. It's actually snowing here. The smooth action and the looks make for a good enough reason to talk about this rifle. First thing the barrel is black instead of blue which really makes for a nice looking setup with the black synthetic stock. Yeah I know most prefer wood but there's room in the world for a good synthetic stock here and there.

I also own a Savage MkIIBTV and a CZ 453 American. The CZ is certainly the best looking rifle but the Savage is slightly more accurate. And as much as I like my CZ I've had some issues with it. I've had several rust spots appear even though I've kept the barrel oiled and I haven't had it out in the rain. I've switched to another type of oil for the barrel and it seems to be working fine now but the teflon based stuff I was using just didn't get it done. I've also had problems with the bolt sticking on that rifle.

The Savage is a nice looking rifle too and it shoots great if you use the right ammo. If you use any bulk pack stuff except for CZ it won't be nearly as accurate.
I also have a 925 with a birch stock and it looks very nice. But I think this next XT22TR holds it's own in the looks department. It looks really cool with the whole thing being black the way it is. And it shoots very well too. I can work the bolt very quickly without moving the rifle from my shoulder and I haven't even had time to break it in good. I just got it yesterday.

From I can tell using the irons it seems to shoot very accurately. I like the trigger a lot but, again, I haven't had a chance to adjust it yet. That will likely happen today. It's already the best stock Marlin trigger I've pulled. I can't wait to mount a scope on it and see what it will really do. My eyes just aren't good enough now to shoot great groups with irons.

BTW all the sights line up perfectly. It's a Mayfield, Ky product so that's a much better deal than the Ilion stuff.

I paid $180 for it at a LGS. They matched Bud's price for me since they aren't that far up the interstate from Lexington. I've been buying guns from that place since before the AWB. They've always done right by me.

So far I'm very happy. I've looked it over and can't find a single thing to worry about. I guess that's the main thing with any Marlin these days.

Anxious to see it CJ!

And so true about bulk pack ammo. I shoot the CCI Blazers and
buy the bricks. (500 rounds) Ive bought the same thing in the bulk
packs, and it does shoot differntly.
But of coarse, the bulk is put out in bulk.

But very good point!

[CJ_56]

OK here's a few shots of this rifle. I have come to really like this thing. It's everything I expected a Marlin with a really good trigger to be and then some. The trigger is great as expected but what has really surprised me is the way the bolt works. It's as smooth as any rifle I ever picked up. It's more smooth than my 925 which I hadn't expected at all. And it has none of the QC problems that have plagued Marlin on certain rifles since the buyout. It works very, very well in fact. It's as solid as my late 80's Model 60 and that's saying a lot. I still haven't mounted the scope. I wanted to take the photos first. I didn't want to make the rifle look bad by putting one of the reject scopes I have laying around on it. All my good scopes are mounted and zeroed on other rifles so I didn't want to go through that much trouble. I'll probably use it as a iron sights rifle anyway. I have good scoped bolt action rimfires. This one is going to be my bolt action varmint rimfire for taking care of roving packs of dogs or whatever. It can really put the bullets out quick. I had the barrel almost too hot to touch today which says a lot about a bolt action rimfire.

There are a few things I wasn't real happy about. First I have hundreds and hundreds of hex wrenches and bits. None of them would fit the take down screws. I ended up using a star bit to take it apart which is NOT a good idea. I'll have to find out what size hex wrench it should take and try to find one. I'm guessing no one but Marlin sells that size. That stinks. Maybe one should have come with the rifle. But it didn't. I'll work it out somehow I'm sure.

Also the finish on the end of the inner mag tube tip got knocked off really easy. I doctored it with some paint but my guess is that will be a full time job. Plus the bolt got marked up really quick. It was a super nice looking rifle when I got it but I shouldn't expect the finish to stay that way on a budget rifle I guess. I don't have good luck even with my expensive rimfires though (like my CZ 453 American). It's a trend IMO and not a very good one.

There are other things I really like too though. The rough finish on the front of the stock makes for a very solid grip and likely it will be that way even if the rifle is wet. It's not rough enough to work like sandpaper on your skin though. I like it a lot. I like the grip and the raised comb too. It's easy to get the right cheek weld with this rifle. And it's easy to get a solid grip on the rifle. The wood and laminate stocks have your basic Monte Carlo stock but the synthetic stocks are a new design and I like it a lot. And the lines on this rifle are very nice. It has the classic good looks of a straight line, sleek rifle. I like that a lot even if it is a knock around gun. There's no reason it can't look good at least at first and I expect it will keep it's good looks a good while.

Once I mount one of my old scopes I'll test for accuracy better. But for now here's the photos such as they are.

[CJ_56]

And so true about bulk pack ammo. I shoot the CCI Blazers and
buy the bricks.

I think my Old Timer's disease is kicking in again. I called CCI ammo CZ ammo. They shouldn't have two things that start with a C. It's confusing.

I shoot a lot of CCI Blazer too. Plus I shoot a lot of CCI SV. But if I really want to shoot my best I shoot Wolf in both of my best shooting rimfires (CZ 453 and a Savage MkIIBTV). That ammo seems to work well in just about everything but it doesn't work that well in my Marlin 925. It likes the high price stuff. It doesn't get a lot of it. .