proper shooting bench for my Marlin 60

[Harry Tobin]

Well I finally built a proper shooting bench for my Marlin 60 I don’t have any bolt 22's. My old friend (OSOK) Charlie got me interested in precision shooting. I have room to setup at 50 to 75 yards at home, I liked the bench Charlie made out of steel so he gave me the dimensions. I had heavy 2x2 square stock I made the frame out of. I did wanted the ability to move it around, I put wheels on it that retract and a sliding handle for moving. The top is 2" thick and used marine-grade epoxy for a finish, it weighed 170 lbs. when I finished. Great, time to see how the old Marlin did, it is a 22'” barrel model. It was a great varmint gun and very accurate, but was it accurate enough for bench rest? Now I was only shooting CCI standard velocity in it, on a fixed income couldn’t afford the match stuff. Some day's could pull a good group together and mostly inconsistent groups but not bad. Even had some sub MOA groups. But it was a journey I had to try.

303820

303821

303822

303823

303824
1 inch grid on target and 1 inch dots. The hole between 1 and 3 targets is spatter and not bullet hole

[farmer66]

I like it! Any chance you would post some dimensions or details?

Ken

[BLAHUT]

Nice bench, good job on building< now you need to test ammo< groups you show are large for 100 yds in compitision, out of a sling< for bench rest there closer to all in one hole> find a .22 brand your guns likes, stay with that lot number?

[sigep1764]

CCI Standard is pretty decent stuff. Those targets suggest to me that Wolf or SK Magazine should be considered, if it's available. It's not expensive, about the Sam as the CCI, maybe a bit more

[dverna]

That seems like very good performance from an inexpensive Marlin shooting inexpensive ammunition.

Certainly not "competitive", but just how accurate do we need to be for "practical" purposes?

Nice job on the bench too!!!

[pworley1]

Very nice work.

[Harry Tobin]

Hi guys thanks for the feedback, the Marlin was good at times then would group all over the place. Talking to Charlie he suggested that I chrono the ammo, and it did have ups and downs in the SD. I know this is over the counter ammo, I did run some tests on it. At times the SD was not bad and at other times it was high. Here’s one target that I got data on.

303846

Being a semi it’ll never be a bench rest gun in my opinion. Don’t know how many targets I still have, I cleaned my shop not to long ago but I’ll look around. The one thing driving me crazy was the lack of consistency. So as Charlie and I talked he suggested bedding the action and I did that and free floated the barrel and mag tube. That came up with mixed results. Then I bedded the barrel 1 inch from the receiver, a little better but still not there. I wasn’t sure if the mag tube should be bedded or not

[dverna]

Group 9 was your best and the ES was 41 fps. Group 3 was one of your worst and ES was the best at only 7 fps.

ES does not tell us everything, and possibly not much, at short ranges. It is why I shoot groups and lots of them.

For years I have been too lazy to chronograph and muddled along shooting groups. Ammunition was cheap and I liked shooting, so it worked. Maybe not the most efficient way to do it.

I would see data on gun tests that showed limited correlation with good groups and ES...at least at 100 yards. I used that to justify not doing the chronograph work. Your data shows the same disconnect.

I know. Many will say that is not fair. After all this is a "cheap" gun using "cheap" ammunition so not a "fair" example.

Reality sucks.

BTW, heard some good reports on this:

https://www.mcarbo.com/store/p/27-Marlin-60-Trigger-Spring-Kit.aspx

[Harry Tobin]

Group 9 was your best and the ES was 41 fps. Group 3 was one of your worst and ES was the best at only 7 fps.

ES does not tell us everything, and possibly not much, at short ranges. It is why I shoot groups and lots of them.

For years I have been too lazy to chronograph and muddled along shooting groups. Ammunition was cheap and I liked shooting, so it worked. Maybe not the most efficient way to do it.

I would see data on gun tests that showed limited correlation with good groups and ES...at least at 100 yards. I used that to justify not doing the chronograph work. Your data shows the same disconnect.

I know. Many will say that is not fair. After all this is a "cheap" gun using "cheap" ammunition so not a "fair" example.

Reality sucks.

BTW, heard some good reports on this:

https://www.mcarbo.com/store/p/27-Marlin-60-Trigger-Spring-Kit.aspx

Funny you said that, I just installed them. A little better, still not a great trigger. Thanks Don

[dverna]

Harry,

If you find a KAT trigger, they are supposed to be awesome. There was a guy named Arrow Dodger IIRC who made aftermarket triggers until a few years ago. He stopped producing them.

BTW, a friend of mine has an old beat up M60 and it shoots very well. They are not "fine" guns but shoot better than they should. I had to do some work on his about 4 years ago. He does not have a lot of money and after I got it functioning, I mounted an old 4x scope on it for him at no cost. He and I were both amazed at how it grouped. He kills a lot of varmints with it. No need to spend mega bucks to have a decent shooter.

[uscra112]

Nice bench! Why didn't I think of that? Not like I don't have a welder.....

[OS OK]

"Nice shooting Harry...you've been very patient with that rifle and have done a fine job of accurizing it. You may be at it's limits now?"
(maybe park that Chevy Nova and get yourself a Corvette?" ...:bigsmyl2:

I liked that bench so well...I just ran out to the shop and built me one too!

https://i.imgur.com/DEjOSky.jpg

But...I forgot to put some wheels on it ... :veryconfu

[Harry Tobin]

Thanks Charlie all the dimensions came off your green bench. The thing I'm most proud of is the wheel system, by simply lifting the corner of the bench you can kick the axle over into a locked position and disengage the wheels when in place. It was done with a simple design of a J shape plate.

303864

303865

303866

303867

[Mk42gunner]

I like the J slots for the axles, I may borrow that feature for some other uses.

I have long thought the Marlin Model 60 (in its many versions) is the most accurate out of the box, readily available, .22 LR semi auto available in recent history.

Robert

[Harry Tobin]

I like the J slots for the axles, I may borrow that feature for some other uses.

I have long thought the Marlin Model 60 (in its many versions) is the most accurate out of the box, readily available, .22 LR semi auto available in recent history.

Robert

Use it how ever you need, I did 3/4 for the slot and the axle is 5/8. You need room for the axel to float in the slot without binding

[Mk42gunner]

Use it how ever you need, I did 3/4 for the slot and the axle is 5/8. You need room for the axel to float in the slot without binding
Makes sense to me. The extra room should also mitigate against warpage while welding.

Robert

[CLAYPOOL]

Please give the dimensions on it and the "TOP" material in the second bench. I am in Southern Illinois and would do the welding for other folks. On second thought what is the first top made of.

[Harry Tobin]

Please give the dimensions on it and the "TOP" material in the second bench. I am in Southern Illinois and would do the welding for other folks. On second thought what is the first top made of.

I'll do that later today, the top is plywood. I used 2- 3/4 plywood and 1- 5/8 plywood, just what I had on hand. That gave me 2" thick, if you get 1 full sheet of 3/4 you can get all 3 pieces out of it.

[Harry Tobin]

Please give the dimensions on it and the "TOP" material in the second bench. I am in Southern Illinois and would do the welding for other folks. On second thought what is the first top made of.

Here’s measurements for you, everything is outside measurements. The height of the table is up to you. Mine is a little lower than most at 32" to top of wood, my buddy made his at 36". I added diagonal supports to the legs, coming out from the inside corner in both directions I came out 10 ½ and connected the lines for the diagonal supports

304011
304012
304013
304014

[OS OK]

Like Harry said...You can get 3 equal cuts from a full 4x8' sheet of plywood.

https://i.imgur.com/8y32QpO.jpg

I spread 'plenty' of the waterproof yellow carpenters glue, just like I was laying tile...cover it all. Then, screw the layers together from the inside working towards the edges so there's no bulges caught up in the middle.
Don't leave your new sheet of plywood out in the sun too long or it'll bow real quick!

I got my finish dimensions of the top by drawing it out on the floor of the shop...I was concerned about having an adequate cutout for my big belly! :bigsmyl2:

https://i.imgur.com/NReZjWM.jpg