Marlin has transferred production to the Remingjunk factory and our local shop was clearing out of the "W" model (discontinued) that was made by Marlin. Picked it up cheap enough and mounted a 3.5 > 10 Tasco Titan on it with Weaver Grand Slam medium rings. I loaded up some ammo and with 130 Sierra FB bullets, 53.2 gr of IMR 4350, over a Fed 215, at 3.19 OAL, in a once fired WW case it will go moa for 3 shots. I've owned or own, Sako's, Sauers, Remingtons, Savages, Winchesters, Tikkas, Husqvarnas, Brownings and this is my 5th 270. I have to say this is one nice rifle.
I'll nit pick a bit, and this is being real picky - the bore may be a little rough as it took a bit to get it clean - the chamber has a few machine marks (as seen on the fired brass) - the leade is short and snug (I like them this way but bullets have to be seated shorter than the book says).
The chamber is not oversize and fired cases come out at .4695 at the pressure ring (with the above load), my FL RCBS die sizes it without changing headspace with a +0.002 Redding shellholder. This is very good and the headspace is within 2 thou of my Sauer and the same as my brothers Sako.
The best feature is the blind magazine, no junk sticking out of the bottom or any cold metal where the balance point is.
The magazine is a bit hard to load, it's no Mauser, and if you try to put in #4 it jams up. Three shells (plus 1 in the chamber) is lots, so it's not a big deal for me. Honestly lots of rifles don't reliably feed a full magazine, it's common for hunters to load to 1 less than max for reliability. Feeding shells is ok, but not stellar, they could have spent a bit more time on the design here. It's good but could be better.
For the price I give it 4 1/2 stars. It's a light rifle and in '06 it may be a bit much recoil for some, in 270 it's manageable, even when shooting offhand a light hold is all that is needed.
Now I have to sell one of my other rifles, because this one is a keeper.
If you're thinking about buying one get one built by Marlin, not Remingjunk. It's easy to tell, on the left side of the barrel over the chamber is a small M or a small Rem.
I thought Marlin was their own company only associated with NEF and H&R (which I thought they own). Did not know that Rem owns or has anything to do with Marlin. I did know that Rem's holding company aquired Bushmaster, but Marlin is news to me.
