The old man of rimfire

One of my favorite rifles is the Marlin 60. Introduced in 1960 (hence the name), it is the most popular rifle ever sold.

Among the strengths of the platform, the Marlin 60 is exceptionally accurate, very reliable, and is one of the most inexpensive firearms that can be bought. A new "M60" can be had at many Wal Marts for less than $150.

The tube magazine is easy to load, and very reliable. No external magazines to lose or step on. The rifle is semiautomatic, making it easy to shoot again and again. It is also well balanced.

Among the few negatives, the Marlin 60 has a heavy trigger. This is easily remedied by a person with household tools, good instruction and about 10 minutes to spare.

Some people, mostly online, will say the platform suffers from reliability issues. I've seen this in person and the most common underlying reasons are:
1) Rifle is dirty.
2) Poor ammo
3) Ejector wire bent.

Of the errors listed, dirty rifle and poor ammo are the cause of 95% or more of the problems with the M60. Since the Marlin 60 is so inexpensive, and so reliable, people will fail to clean it. I have seen several rifles that were not cleaned for decades. The Marlin 60 tends not to have problems as fouling increases, then all of a sudden, it will have serious jamming issues.

So many people, by neglecting the rifle, will run it to a point that no rifle should go, then ditch it, calling the rifle unreliable. This is the little underground secret of Marlin lovers everywhere. I keep my Marlins meticulously clean, even though they do not need it.

At an Appleseed event back in May, there was a father-son combo who had just bought Marlin 60's for the event. The rifles they bought were used. Late in the first day, they both experienced jamming issues. Not surprisingly, they were using Remington ammo (the worst rimfire ammo out there, in my opinion), and the guns might never have been cleaned. Early on Day 2, I cleaned their rifles superficially, and they went without malfunction all of Day 2.

Bad ammo for the Marlin - Remington (Thunderbolts or Golden Bullets). Granted, the Marlin 60 will do better with these ammo types than most any other gun, but it is not ideal.
Good ammo for the Marlin - Federal Bulk or Winchester bulk.
Great ammo for the Marlin - CCI mini mags, or CCI standard velocity.