Why was the MR-7 a firearms flop? It had reasonable good looks and a prominent name behind it, some pretty good features like a 3-position safety, and it shot well, too.
Last year the Connecticut business surprised us all again with the introduction of yet another bolt-action repeater chambered in. During the past four or five years a number of rifles have been introduced by companies that were previously not in the bolt-action business.
Everyone wants their piece. However, while these other companies tried to reinvent the deer rifle, Marlin engineers—perhaps guided by experience—took the smart road and built the X7 based on ideas and manufacturing techniques that have long since proven themselves in the market place.
For example, the X7 stock is of otherwise ordinary injection-molded black plastic. But Marlin borrowed an accuracy-enhancing feature that helped resurrect Savage Arms—simple steel pillars embedded in the stock that allow for consistent receiver placement and guard-screw pressure.
Both the pillar bedding and the adjustable trigger, along with a button-rifled barrel, make the X7 pretty accurate right out of the box. Other X7 features have more to do with manufacturing efficiencies, such a removable bolt head which allows Marlin to make only one bolt shank that will handle any number of cartridges should the line be expanded.
The use of a barrel nut allows the manufacturer to make receivers without integral recoil lugs, and it speeds up the process of headspacing during barrel attachment, increasing productivity. I like that feature. It allows to bolt to self-center, doing away with the need to have the lugs lapped as is often required on other designs to improve accuracy.
The thumb safety is to the right rear of the bolt handle, as we have seen on the Remington Model rifles for many years. It blocks the trigger from movement, but allows the bolt to be worked. To remove the bolt for bore-sighting or cleaning, a bolt release is located at the left rear of the receiver, and is easy to use.
Pressing downward while withdrawing the bolt allows it to slide freely from the receiver. A red cocking indicator tells the user, by sight or feel, that the bolt is cocked and ready to fire. One of the best features of the XL7 is the trigger. Called the Pro-Fire Trigger by Marlin, it is user adjustable for pull weight, and releases crisply with no hint of creep or overtravel. It is a fine trigger. The sample rifle arrived with the pull set to release at just over three and one-quarter pounds, but I lightened the pull slightly to two and one-half pounds.
Like the Savage AccuTrigger, the Pro-Fire trigger has a safety inset into the center of the trigger blade that prevents the rifle from firing if dropped hard. The result is an excellent trigger pull that is safe to carry, and easily adjusted. I detest a heavy, gritty trigger on a rifle. It makes it hard for the shooter to take advantage of the accuracy of a rifle. I like the trigger. Shooting the XL7 was a pleasure. As mentioned earlier, the stock design and recoil pad make the rifle very comfortable to shoot.
The excellent Pro-Fire trigger made it easy to hold the rifle on target while pressing the trigger blade. The Marlin uses any scope base that is made for the Winchester Model 70, which is a nice feature, as that base is very common and readily available.
However, during the accuracy testing, I also realized that this Marlin is priced below just about every other bolt action centerfire rifle available in the United States. Keeping that in mind, I mounted a Bushnell 3 to 9 variable Sportview rifle scope. This scope sells for a very low price. It is nothing like the quality of the Leupold VX-L, but I realize that most buyers of the Marlin are not going to pay twice as much for a scope as they do for the rifle. I also used no premium or handloaded ammunition in the Marlin.
I wanted to see how this rifle would perform for a hunter using ammunition that is readily available to everyone.
I tested the XL7 for function and accuracy using the inexpensive and plentiful Remington yellow and green box Core-Lokt. I also tested the XL7 with Federal grain round nose ammo that is also commonly available at any Wal Mart store.
None of this ammunition is high priced, and in the. Functioning of the XL7 was very good, with the cartridges gliding smoothly from magazine to chamber, and extracting just as easily after firing.
Accuracy was fine, using either of the two scopes tested with the rifle. The targets were much easier to see clearly with the Leupold, but the accuracy of the XL7 was the same with either. As can be seen in the pictures, this rifle preferred the heavier grain bullets to the grain loads, but even the s grouped three shots into one and five-eighths inches.
Thankfully, the magazine box is locked into the receiver and does not rattle around in the stock. A small lip at the front of the magazine box slips into a slot milled into the receiver's bottom.
A screw goes through a tab stamped into the box and threads into a hole just ahead of the trigger group. It is one of many nice touches on the XL7 that did not cost a fortune but adds to an overall sense of quality. A plastic follower and spring assembly match recesses in the stock's floor to complete the blind magazine.
Remington gr. AccuTip Boattail 1. Nosler Partition 1. InterBond 0. Power-Poiint 1. Winchester Supreme Elite gr. XP3 p 1. Accuracy is the average of five, five-shot groups at yards fired from a Caldwell Rock BR rest.
Velocity is the average of 10 rounds measured 15 feet from the gun's muzzle. Up front, the bolt is very similar to the Savage Model The bolt head is a separate piece that is pinned to the bolt body. A wave washer holds the bolt head in place, but there is some wiggle, which allows the dual, opposing locking lugs to center themselves in the lug recesses.
The right-side lug houses the extractor, which Rozum described as a "detented sliding member. A slot cut into the same lug's side matches a rail in the inside of the bolt raceway and prevents binding. The plunger-style ejector sits at the 5 o'clock position on the bolt face. The bolt body has straight, longitudinal flutes that reduce surface area by 20 percent and give all the nasty dirt and grime picked up in the field a place to go when the action is cycled.
The depths of the flutes are finished in a matte black--the same as the shroud and bolt handle--while the body is left in the white with a brushed finish. The bolt handle is cast, has two checkered panels on the knob, and is copper brazed onto the bolt body. The bolt shroud is also a casting, though an elegant one, complete with a small shoulder that protects the shooter from nasty gases in the event of a pierced primer.
A small cocking indicator--a holdover from the MRpeeks out from underneath the shroud when cocked. Red highlights accentuate the visual cue. One of the more important innovations that came along at the last minute was the trigger. We started with an MR-7 trigger, but at the 11th hour, we moved away from it and created something totally different," Rozum said.
We wanted to offer the customer something that was user-adjustable and very safe. The Pro-Fire trigger system has an articulating trigger-release lever that moves through a slot in the trigger bow and will not allow the trigger rearward until it is depressed. Parts are housed in an alloy casting, and sear engagement and overtravel are preset by the component's geometry.
Pull weight is adjusted by first loosening a jam nut on a threaded set screw protruding from the front of the housing and then turning the set screw either in or out with an Allen-head wrench. Turning the set screw in will increase the pull weight, and turning the set screw out reduces the pull weight.
Unlike the Savage AccuTrigger, which can be tripped without releasing the sear and then has to be recocked, the Pro-Fire trigger can be either pulled rearward or not, something determined by the position of the articulating trigger-release lever.
The trigger, sear, and cocking piece have a coating of electroless nickel-Teflon composite for lubricity and corrosion resistance. The Winchester-styled bolt release sits on the left side of the receiver and pivots on a pin that runs through the rear of the trigger housing.
The two-position, trigger-block safety also wears the electroless nickel-Teflon finish and sits comfortably in a shallow recess in the tang. A spring-loaded plunger mates with two detent holes in the safety stamping, keeping it i. Marlin is deservedly proud of its barrels and the accuracy they deliver.
The barrel-shop foremen have more than 30 years of experience. The inch tube is button rifled and has a recessed target crown. The profile is fairly standard, measuring 1. Like the receiver, the barrel has a polished-blue finish. The process is simple.
A barrel is started into the receiver's threads, and a "go" gauge is place in the chamber with the bolt closed. The barrel is then threaded down onto the "go" gauge, and a barrel nut is tightened down with a torque wrench to lock the assembly in place. It is almost impossible to screw up the head spacing using this method. Marlin uses a slim, if not svelte, barrel nut that matches the receiver's contours to lock the two together. At the bench, the XL7 shot very well.
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