Ruger 10/22 vs Marlin

T

thinktwice

New member
My brother in law is looking at buying a Marlin22 cal. I am not sure of the model, but I am trying to talking him in to a Ruger 10/22. I think they are close in price. I even got my old 10/22 out the other day, it's been sitting in the safe for about 8 years, the last time it was used my son shot around 500 rounds through it, and put it away dirty, never even cleaned the bore. ( needless to say he won't use any of my guns again) Anyway we shot around 300 rounds through it without a jam or problem at all. It was still as accurate as the day I bought it. What do you guys think. When any of you reply I am going to show them to him, and then let him make his own choice. Thanks Guys/ Gals
 
First off I am a big fan of Marlins, both their semi-auto and bolt action models. In saying that I wouldn't discourage away from the Marlin. If it's a model 60 he's seeking, they are great. I believe they have outsold the 10/22's for many years. They are both great guns, but personally I think the 60 looks a little classier. If it's the Marlin 795 (clip fed), he might be in luck or might get a lemon. From hanging out in the Marlin semi-auto page over at Rimfire Central, it seems that some of them are duds, and some of them are absolutely great. My 795 is a great little accurate plinker. Very light weight, and very reliable. If your brother's purpose of buying this semi-auto is to customize it for himself, the Ruger has far more options in do so. Manufacturers are beginning to make more and more aftermarket accessories for the Marlins, but still the Ruger wins in that category. I believe he can't go wrong with any of the three I mentioned, and in owning two of them I can keep suggesting the Marlins. I've shot more than a few Rugers, but they just don't seem to be my cup of tea.
 
I don't modify my guns. If I did the Ruger 10/22 would be a hands down winner.
But out of the box the Marlin 60 is imho a much better choice.

I am also a fan of tube magazines for .22 semis.
 
I don't modify my guns. If I did the Ruger 10/22 would be a hands down winner.
But out of the box the Marlin 60 is imho a much better choice.

I am also a fan of tube magazines for .22 semis.
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Very well said. Either one should be a great rifle. Rugers are more customizeable, but Marlins tend to be more accurate out of the box. YMMV, though.

I you plan on keeping it stock, hold both, shoulder them, and see which one fits you better.
 
Based on experience with other Marlins, I wouldn't have one at all.
My Ruger 10/22 has had countless thousands of rounds through it flawlessly.
Accurate and reliable. Can't ask for more than that except reasonable price. And...Oh, yes....the Ruger is reasonably priced.
 
It is my opinion (as a Marlin owner) that the Ruger is a better gun.

My Marlin and I have come to an understanding after 15 years.....

(it requires that I purchase the correct ammo, though)
 
The Marlin MIGHT be more accurate out of the box, might not. The Ruger will still be working years after the Marlin has given up. The weak link in either is the magazine. They will wear out and the cost of replacing the worn out mag tube on the Marlin is not worth the expense. I have 2 older model 60's that are now single shots because of this. I could have them repaired, but it is simply not worth the expense. I have other rifles.

The Ruger mags will also wear out and have to be replaced, but that is simple and cheap enough.

I'm also one of those guys who keeps none of my rifles stock. The Ruger is perfect for modifying to suit your tastes and with the right modifications will certainly be much more accurate than the Marlin will out of the box.
 
Figure out which Marlin.
I'm not a fan of their tube fed designs (such as the 60), but I like the box mag fed designs well enough.

As stated above, the magazine/feed assembly is the weak link in either design. The Ruger magazine is pretty good (and can be cheaply replaced if it fails), but the Marlin mag tube/lifter assembly is more complicated, harder to access, and easier to jam, IMHO.

Having worked on both the 60 and the 10/22 fairly extensively, I think the 10/22 is a far simpler design that is much easier to work on. The Marlin 60 does have a bolt hold open, but that's a less useful feature on a tube fed rifle that takes much longer to reload anyway, and it adds more complexity.
 
The Marlin tube loads faster and easier than the stock Ruger mag and with a speed loader is really fast, it holds more too. The Marlin is more accurate out of the box. Personally I've never seen a Marlin tube fail and I've got a pretty old one and had older ones. My 10/22 hardly ever gets used.
 
10/22's are nice (my sons each have one) but I love my Marlins. All have been reliable and the accuracy is nothing short of amazing (especially in a rifle at these prices). Think it's best not to 'talk' your friend out of it. If he's partial to Marlins you might end up hearing forever more about how he wished he had bought the Marlin instead. basically either gun should serve him well.
 
As having both a Marlin and a Ruger, I would say the Ruger is a better gun. Both are accurate but I like the sights better on the Ruger as well as the availability of replacement parts and the ease of installing them. In addition, Ruger has a better scope base attachment system than the Marlin. I believe the design of the Ruger can better handle high volume shooting and is easier to disassemble. Now the Marlin I have has performed great, both accurate and reliable but if I have to get just one to depend on it would be the Ruger. These are just my opinions and hope they help.
 
Another 10/22 VS. the 60's post.

I have owned both, shot both and like them both. I will not say anything negative about either. I will say this, I would never need to buy another Marlin but I would buy another 10/22, especially an older one. I routinely do trigger work on the 10/22's so that speaks for itself. .... ;)


Be Safe !!!
 
I've shot lots of both and the Marlins are pretty much always more accurate. I have a 1989 Model 60 with 150,000 rounds through it and it works almost perfectly. Any problems it has are related to the drop off in quality of ammo especially Federal which I've used for years. But Federal has really dropped off in quality IMO.

I bought a new 60SS two years ago. My friend bought 2 Rugers at the same time. We took both of his 10/22's out and both of my Marlins and we each shot all the guns. Both Marlins were clearly more accurate. And you could never find a rifle that's been more reliable than my old 60. My new 60SS is more accurate though but not by much.

I also have a 795. Ir is not up to the quality of the 60 IMO. Mine doesn't always feed well and the LSHO works about half the time. Plus the trigger guard broke on it because it is very thin around the mag well and it takes some twisting to get around the bolt release when taking it apart for cleaning. It still works actually but Marlin is back ordered on the tg's.

The only weak part of my 60SS is also the tg. It's made of a very cheap plastic. I just ordered an aluminum trigger guard and a better trigger yesterday. It could go on for years with the original tg but these Marlins do have heavy triggers. It should be mentioned that Marlin has come out with a whole new line of rifles that have a trigger that's very similar to the Savage AccuTrigger. My guess is they were losing market share to Savage so they did something about it.

Also the Marlins are considerably cheaper than the Rugers. Usually there's about a $75 difference for similar rifles.

To be honest I wouldn't even consider buying a Ruger as a entry level rifle. The Marlin just has it all over the Ruger IMO. But Marlin has had some quality issues since the company was bought out and the factory moved. I haven't had that kind of issues with my Marlins though. I've had the problems I mentioned but I still think they are quality rifles. They just seem to let more problems out the door according to many. The only evidence I've seen of cutting corners I've seen is the cheaper plastic on my 60SS. But their other 60's might have a different kind of plastic. It could be that the process of making the plastic to match the silver color of the stainless and the salt and pepper coloring of the stock on the 60SS. I really haven't looked at any other trigger guards lately. My 795 has decent plastic but it's just too thin. But remember that rifle is still selling for $100 after the rebate that's been going on for at least 2 years.

It should also be pointed out that the quality of the Rugers has dropped in recent year. They have a lot of plastic part compared to the Marlins (which have 2 plastic parts - the buffer and the tg).

Cheaper, more accurate, and more durable adds up to more than twice as many Marlins sold over the years. The most recent numbers mentioned by the companies are 11 million Marlins and 5 million Rugers. And Ruger has several different rifles that have been called a 10/22. Marlin has only one design that they call a 60. It may have cosmetic differences (like stainless and different stocks) but the action is always the same except for a few improvements made over the years. You can take parts from 60's made 20 years apart and they will work together.

Ruger makes the 10/22's for people who like to tinker. Some people like the rounded mags that fit flush with the bottom of the stock but many replace those mags with high capacity mags. Personally I do not like those rounded mags at all. They're hard to load IMO.
 
I've owned both
my marlin 60 would not take lead bullets, it would only take brass or copper cased rounds. it required cleaning about every 250 rounds to be any form of reliable and still had nasty tendencies of jamming at least once every couple of mags.
that said, my brother got it for free and gave it to me as a christmas present and being at least 20 years old it probably needed new springs, though I did have a cop friend tell me the the marlins were notorious around his dept for jamming (I never really read that far into it).

my 10/22 on the other hand has an AR15 type stock on it and cycles any kind of ammo I put in it and as long as it has decent magazines in it. the factory mags have never jammed on me and I like the speed of detachable versus tube fed(though my Model 60 was the old style 18+1 tube rather than the 14+1 they have now so that made reloading a little more bearable).
but with that said I used to shoot empty 22 casings with my marlin at 50-60 yards, a feat that I haven't even attempted with my 10/22
the base marlin60 usually goes for 50-75 bucks cheaper than the 10/22 carbine and are just a little bit lighter. so either one is a decent choice, hard to go wrong with any 22 though.
 
My first gun, Marlin Model 60 in 1994-ish
My second gun, Ruger 10/22 in early 1996

I have spent so many rounds that the firing pins and springs are wearing down on both! No problems from either one other that. For me the one I shoot the most is the Ruger, reason: the stock/"pistol grip" is thicker and fits my hand better. The Marlin is thinner and more sleek but doesn't fit my firing hand as well. So as stated before, go to LGS and try them both, also many rental ranges have both to try out. The +/- 150 investment is worth a few dollar to rent just for fit and feel.

Mike
 
I don't have a 60, but I do have a Marlin 795(same action as the 60 and mag fed instead of tube). It eats any ammo I put through it. Very few of them are duds(and those that have been Marlin pays for shipping to return it and fix/replace). It's just that, like anything else, the bad experience spreads all around while the many many more great rifles like Jbotto and myself don't get the same exposure. And for those that do have the bad experience nearly every one of them are people who never looked at the gun before buying it. Just walked in, paid the money, took the box home. Not a good way to buy anything really.
 
Thanks for the info guys,it looks like it's about 50/50, the Marlin he is interested in is the model 60 stainless. He likes the longer barrel,and the one he is looking at has an orange front site. Still hasn't made up his mind so keep'em coming, either way I think he will be ok, and it's his money.
 
Do your friend a favor

I have had both the Marlin 60 and the Ruger 10/22. My Marlin 60 developed feeding problems and I got rid of it. My Ruger 10/22 was an absolute tack driver when I shot it off the bench. However, the carbine configuration didn't fit me when shooting offhand and I couldn't hit anything.

Enter my new all time favorite. A Thompson Center Classic purchased used off Gunbroker. The rifle is a tack driver from the bench and offhand. They come standard with a 5 round box magazine and you can pick up a 10 round (all metal) fairly cheaply. The other plus for me was that it feels more like my centerfire rifles than either of the other models you listed.
 
how does the tube magazine on the Model 60 wear out?
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This is just a guess, but there is a long spring on the tube rod that pushes the bullet down to the internal magazine, this would be the part most likely to fail, mine hasn't but I don't shoot it that often.

I have both the Ruger 10/22 and Marlin 983 both in stainless steel. The 10/22 is in 22LR and the 983 is in 22 Mag. Both are very accurate. Both are scoped and fun to shoot.

I did redo the 10/22 with a muzzle brake and ATI stock and the Marlin is how it came from the factory. Since the Marlin is a bolt action and the Ruger an auto loader, my recommendation is that if your brother wants a Semi-Auto go with the Ruger 10/22 if he wants a Bolt Action XT model then go with the Marlin.

Both will do well, but Ruger makes the better Semi-Auto.

Jim
 
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