I'm looking to purchase one of these rifles for my sons to use at Appleseeds. Same price point, but I would like some feedback from you guys and gals on which would suit them better. The kids are 15 and 13 and have shot a Ruger 10/22 in the past. I have a friend that swears by the Savage, but he uses it mostly for hunting. So, what are the pro's and con's?
I have the Stevens 62 which is identical to the Savage 64.
The Marlin has a better trigger and is more accurate. That last statement will get me poo poo'd but every time I have seen them on the line it has held true, as well as with my rifles. It is light and gives plenty of room to clear the bolt/receiver, the bolt lock is easy and simple to use. Tech sights are a 15 minute affair to install and work with the stock comb perfectly.
The Savage is the same size as the 795, but feels much larger, like a adult sized rifle. The savage drops the mags cleanly out of the box. The Savage is an excellent all steel design and should last for hundreds of thousands of rounds. It is far more difficult to disassemble for a thorough cleaning than the 795. The comb of the stock is not suited for scope, but it is workable with a very low mounted setup.
For teen agers, I would recommend the 795 with tech sights. For a large adult male, I would recommend a Savage with the lowest power/lowest mounted scope you can get.
YHJ
My experience on the line and recommendations reinforce YHJ's. 795s are (most all) good shooters out of the box, better when you get decent sights on them. I would change my mind if Savage were to put the Accutrigger on the 64!
I've seen only one Savage 64 on the line. It shot well enough for an LTR and can make Rifleman, no doubt.
One problem is it had an intermittent jamming problem. The mags protrude from the stock a fair amount and when the shooter using it was in prone his forearm would rest against the lower front edge of the mag, pushing it out of alignment, causing jams at times. It took a while to find this as it happened only in prone with the sling. Once this was corrected it ran without a hitch. HTH.
One more Pro for the Marlin has less to do with the physical product itself. From reply #6 from this post: http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=35453.msg261418
Quote from: Brown on May 09, 2013, 06:37:02 PM
On a side and related note one of the upper sales managers of Marlin asked for Appleseed to coordinate company events for ALL of their employees across the US. this includes mgt, sales, office people,and factory workers. Thousands of them. Marlin has full buy-in of the civic responsibility we preach about and they WANT their employees to hear the message.
I had them both and the Marlin was more user friendly the savage took some finger strength until broken in the bottom line is I now have neither! ..:..
Thanks for the input guys. I went with the Marlin. Pretty sure the kids will love it.