I called Gander MT for a Savage blue bull barrel 22 mag they had on sale. They said they had plenty. When I got there they were sold out. They did have a Marlin 22 mag in SS bullbarrel 982vs for more. I'd been looking for a 22 mag for a couple weeks with no luck and was tired of waiting. I wanted a night preditor rifle (rimfire only at night state) So I bought the Marlin. I have nothing against Marlin, but do like Savage Accutrigger (I have a 93BTVS 17 HMR ,but it's not set up for night hunting)). Brother has the same Marlin in 17HMR in a lam stock and it is a tackdriver. I always season my barrels by firing 20 rounds through them, wire brush and two patches between shots (just to prevent any tiny metal slivers left from machine work from being ironed into the barrel).. For a load I used Federal Premiums w/Speer TNT HP 30 grain. I bore sighted a BSA illuminated 4X for night hunting. Using a 2" dot target at 50 yards.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...22mag882vs.jpgThese are the first shots starting at the bottom and walking it into the target in three shots, and firing a 3 shoot group. The group measures .495, I think this is very exceptable for it's purpose, I then set up the chronograph and run a string of 10 shots, still cleaning between shots. The first shot ran 2217, but by the end of the string, with break-in and the barrel warming, speeds exceeded 2300 for an average of 2270 or 343# energy. I like the gun, it's trigger is not an Accutrigger, but I had no trouble with it from a rest and think it will be acceptable for hunting. It broke cleanly. Just gauged the trigger. It broke very consistently at 4 3/4# for average of 5 pulls. The gun weighs 7.3 pounds as scoped w/sling. The only fault I have found with the Marlin is the supplied scope mount bases were discribed a Weaver compatible, but the two different sets of real Weaver rings I tried on the bases would not tighten up on the bases. When tightened all the way in the rings would move on the bases. I assume it's the bases and replaced them with real Weaver bases from a sporting goods store which worked fine. Don't know the answer to that one, they were undersized in the width. The gun handles quite well and I am, at this point, very satisfied. The stainless is probably an advantage over blue in the sloopy winter woods. I spent last night setting in the dark ( 3 sets, no dogs))as the snow fell with a blue Rossi single shot 17 HMR, when I got back I wiped it down with an oily rag, and still found some small rust spots on it this morning.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...arlin982vs.jpg
