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Marlin Model 60

• moderate
• Shop tier 3
• medium confidence
• Rimfire Rifle
• rimfire
• blowback
• tube magazine
• plinker
• requires tools

field strip ~5 min · reassembly ~8 min · detail strip ~25 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• A .22 LR round can be fired by a blow to the case rim, not just the centre. Keep ammunition out of the work area.
• A .22 LR case in a chamber is small and dull-coloured and is genuinely easy to miss. Use a light and a finger, every time.
• This rifle feeds from a tube magazine under the barrel. Unloading it means withdrawing the inner tube and rolling the cartridges out, then cycling the action — not just removing a magazine.
• The recoil spring is not captive and the bolt assembly is under tension. Control it when the action comes out.
• Later Model 60s have a last-shot bolt hold-open. Earlier ones do not. Know which yours is.

Under spring tension

• Recoil spring and guide
• Magazine tube spring
• Hammer spring

Easily lost parts

Inner magazine tube · Recoil spring guide · Trigger group pins

Tools

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 3 Tier 3 — hardest among rimfire rifles, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. 62 listed parts, but a full strip opens the trigger-guard 'sideplate' group: hammer, hammer spring/strut/bridge, sear, disconnector, cartridge lifter and bolt release with their springs sandwiched between two sideplates held by pin rings, which all have to be held in place together when the second plate goes on. Owners call it a pain; the loose recoil spring also kinks or flies.

Parts: 62 numbered parts (Shared 62-row list of the Marlin tube-fed self-loading .22 family, Model 60 column; Marlin also sells the trigger guard group complete), from Marlin Owner's Manual, Self-Loading Rifle with Tubular Magazine (manual_22tube_20201222) — Marlin Firearms (Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.), p. 11–12 marlinfirearms.com [2].

Bench time: about 45 min to strip, 80 min to rebuild (estimate). Strip of action, bolt, sights and the sideplate trigger group; rebuild far longer than strip because the sideplate sandwich springs must all be held while the second plate and pin rings go on.

Small parts: 10 pins, 9 springs, 0 detents or plungers (counted from the manufacturer's parts list (one per key number unless a quantity is given))

What comes off for coating

• Stock / takedown: front and rear takedown screws, stock and trigger guard assembly off the action, assembly post
• Receiver: bolt, charging handle, recoil spring and guide, barrel retaining pin and barrel (bare-receiver jobs), rear sight base, elevator and leaf; front sight ramp, hood and insert — sight pusher / brass drift
• Bolt: firing pin retaining pin and firing pin, extractor pins, extractors and springs
• Trigger guard (sideplate group): pin rings (C-clips), right sideplate, hammer, hammer spring, strut, strut bridge and pin, sear and sear spring, disconnector spring, cartridge lifter and roller, ejector lifter spring, bolt release lever — snap-ring pliers

Special tools

• Snap-ring (C-clip) pliers — Sideplate pin rings
• Punch set — Barrel retaining pin and bolt pins
• Sight pusher or brass drift — Dovetail sights

Known pain points

• The trigger guard action is a stack of small parts held between left and right sideplates by C-clips; once it comes apart it is a pain to get back together, with the hammer spring and bridge taking real patience. (reassembly)
  Owners report: Glenfield 60 help — TNGunOwners.com tngunowners.com [3] — “There are three "C" clips that hold the left and right sideplates together with the parts sandwiched inbetween. It is a pain to reassemble the action but with the diagram and patince you should be able to get it back toghter.”
• Getting the hammer spring and its bridge seated in the sideplate group takes patience. (reassembly)
  Owners report: Glenfield 60 help — TNGunOwners.com tngunowners.com [3] — “Getting the hammer spring in place with the bridge took a lot of patience on my part but I did get it back toether.”
• The recoil spring is compressed and loose when the bolt is lifted out, and on reassembly it must be supported by hand while compressed onto its guide or it kinks. (both)
  Source: Marlin Owner's Manual, Self-Loading Rifle with Tubular Magazine (manual_22tube_20201222) — Marlin Firearms (Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.) marlinfirearms.com [2] — “To prevent kinking the spring, hold breech bolt and recoil spring in one hand and use the other hand to support the spring as shown in P, while compressing spring until guide enters breech bolt.”
• Owners report bending the recoil spring when compressing it horizontally; the fix is to stand the rifle muzzle up and press the bolt down onto it. (reassembly)
  Owners report: Marlin 60/795 recoil spring help — Canadian Gun Nutz canadiangunnutz.com [4] — “The first time I attempted to do this, I bent the spring while compressing it into the back of the bolt.”
• Marlin does not support stripping the action beyond bolt and recoil spring. (both)
  Source: Marlin Owner's Manual, Self-Loading Rifle with Tubular Magazine (manual_22tube_20201222) — Marlin Firearms (Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.) marlinfirearms.com [2] — “Further disassembly of the action is not recommended and should only be attempted by a qualified gunsmith or the factory.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Receiver seated rearward in the stock when the takedown screws are tightened — Marlin warns the rifle may not fire if the receiver is not seated fully back.
  Source: Marlin Owner's Manual, Self-Loading Rifle with Tubular Magazine (manual_22tube_20201222) — Marlin Firearms (Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.) marlinfirearms.com [2] — “be sure the receiver is seated as far back in the stock as it will go while”
• Sight re-zero — Sights removed for coating move the zero.
• Function check: safety, trigger/sear release, disconnector and feeding with dummy rounds — Standard after any detail strip; a mis-assembled sear or disconnector can double or fail to fire.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "be sure the receiver is seated as far back in the stock as it will go while tightening the takedown screw. Otherwise, the rifle may not fire." (Marlin Owner's Manual, Self-Loading Rifle with Tubular Magazine (manual_22tube_20201222), PDF p. 9)

Materials and factory finish

As stated by Marlin Firearms. Prep, masking and cure depend on these; a polymer or aluminium part, a nitrided or anodised finish, and a blued steel part are each a different job. Variants with other finishes may exist — check the maker's page for the exact SKU on the bench.

Parts list

Transcribed from the manufacturer's parts list (Marlin Owner's Manual, Self-Loading Rifle with Tubular Magazine (manual_22tube_20201222) — Marlin Firearms (Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.), p. 11–12 marlinfirearms.com [2]) — Shared 62-row list of the Marlin tube-fed self-loading .22 family. Part numbers are from the "Model 60" column on p. 12. The 60DL and 60C (p. 12) and the 60SSK, 60SS and 60SB columns (p. 13) are left out.. Key numbers refer to the exploded view in that document.

Function check

• Verify the rifle is unloaded — chamber and magazine — before each step.
• Cycle the bolt by hand and confirm it travels smoothly and returns fully into battery.
• Cock the action, engage the safety, and press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
• Disengage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer should fall.
• Confirm the magazine seats, locks, and releases cleanly.
• If the rifle has a last-shot hold-open, confirm it engages when the magazine runs empty.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Bolt body sides where it rides in the receiver
• Recoil spring guide
• Hammer and sear pivots

Cleaning notes

Rimfire fouling is waxy and heavy, and .22 LR produces a lot of unburned powder. Clean the chamber and bolt face regularly and keep lubrication light — oil plus unburned powder makes a paste that stops the rifle. Most rimfire reliability complaints trace to a dirty chamber, a tired magazine, or cheap bulk ammunition rather than to the rifle.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 500 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Extractor and extractor spring · Recoil spring · Magazine follower and feed lips · Firing pin

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: Glenfield Model 60 · Marlin 60SS, 60SB, and 60C variants. Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• Ruger 10/22

Sourcing