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See Part II- Marlin795 as a handy dandy field/survival rifle.

The little 795 has proven to be a fun rifle to play with. The more I fool around with it the more I think of things I can do to make it more versatile.

In Part II, I set it up as kind of a grab and go survival rifle. I have since added to and changed a few things in the stock to enhance the stash away benefits.  As you can see in the photo, I added more para cord to the stock, about 25 feet. What you don’t see is about 10 feet of duct tape underneath the paracord.  I also swapped the US GI web sling for a black nylon one. The hardware on the GI sling was just too heavy and noisy

I was able to rig a lighter nylon one to use both as a hasty and loop sling. The next thing I did was re-evaluate what was inside the stock. I kept the 5 magazines and extra 50 rounds of ammo. I kept the foam ear plugs, they are both handy for impromptu shooting sessions

and help keep the mags from rattling. I kept the light as it doesn’t take up much room and is handy to have.I added about 12 Ibuprofen tablets as you never know when a headache or other type of pain might occur. They don’t take up much space. I wasn’t satisfied with the screwdriver. While digging around in my junk drawer I came across a small key chain type swiss army knife. This was cheap Chinese one that came as an incentive for something else. It did have a small knife blade, finger nail file and scissors in. I thought I might be able to use it with the 795.

 

It was a little bit too wide to slide down in a void between mags so I pried off the red plastic scales and tried it again. Yup, slid right in. Now to make it more useful. The blade on this thing was not very good but a go on a sharpening stone made it pass-able. In looking at

the small nail file, I thought that if I grind the tip down flat I could use it as a screwdriver for the stock screws. In addition, the file part wasn’t much good so I decided to try to put an edge on it as well reasoning that an extra blade couldn’t hurt. Scissors are always useful so I went with them as is. A small piece of paracord made it easier to fish out of the stock. I should note that in addition to the taking off the scales, I polished the steel so I could use it as a signal mirror. (Ok, I know, I am lost in the wilds of metro Detroit and I am going to signal the police helicopter who is out looking for some nut walking around with a rifle).  Also added a couple dabs of orange paint to make it easier to find if dropped. The body of the knife is no more than a couple of inches in length by 3/4″ wide and about 3/8″ thick.

The good thing is that I was able to get an edge on the blade and file and the scissors work. I would prefer to use a real Victorinox Swiss Army Knife key chain version with tweezers and toothpick. Better quality but this one will do for now.

There really isn’t any more room near the buttplate since it contains the small flashlight and extra ammo. I did notice some small thin spaces between the magazines. What else might be useful out in the bushes?  How about fire making tools. Not enough room for a lighter but thin enough for a book of matches to slide down into. While digging around in the kitchen for a pack of matches, I ran across a wet nap in a foil pouch from a bar-b-q joint. Yup, two of them slide right in with the matches and of course the wet-naps have some alcohol in them and can be used as a fire starter.  How about some Band-Aids? Why not, three or four slide right in.  Paper money? Bills would slide in. Naw…I am too cheap to stash money away in a gun stock but then again I could stop at the Bar-B-Q place on the way home.

Thoughts turned to the ammo I was using. I have five ten round mags that hold 50 rounds. I have another 50 rounds in a plastic bag in the stock. I have an additional 30 rounds in the space under the barrel in the fore stock. The ammo I have is CCI Blazer. It cheap and reliable enough for my purposes. I did however think about stealth. What if I had to take a shot at a rabbit, the neighbor’s cat or a zombie and didn’t want

anyone to hear. Sound suppressors for firearms are not allowed in my state and they are expensive and the rifle barrel would have to be modified. The alternative is to use a quiet bullet. One with possibilities is the Super Colibre by Agullia. This round contains no powder, the bullet is projected by the primer. Because the bullet is quite light (20 grains)  it does have a muzzle velocity of about 600 feet per second which it enough to kill small critters with a head shot. It is also about as loud as an air rifle.  They are not recommended for rifles because of the possibility of a lead projectile getting stuck in the long barrel. I’ve fired them in a number of rifles and they accurate and quiet. One has to manually operate the bolt since there is no recoil but I have not had any stuck bullets. I decided to trade ten of the CCI Blazers in the fore stock for the Super Colibres. I had a case of them from a clearance sale a number of years ago. I think I paid $4 per a 500 round brick.

I also thought about adding some hyper velocity rounds such as the CCI Stingers. They are not recommended in this rifle and the Blazers are high velocity anyway.  I didn’t see much advantage of a hyper velocity round.  Bullet placement is key in using the 22 long rifle cartridge. A little more zing is probably not going to make much difference for my intended use.

One thing I just picked up for the 795 was a butt pad/pouch gizmo. I bought one several years ago for my hunting rifle to raise the comb to see through the scope for a good cheek weld. While preparing that rifle for the coming deer season it struck me that having a pouch to hold more stuff for the 795 would be a good thing. I ordered a couple online through an airsoft supplier. They can be found on eBay under airsoft as well. Though they are primarily marketed for airsoft they are perfectly functional for a real rifle.  The straps are adjustable to fit any stock and they are relatively cheap at under $10. They have Velcro on the inside and outside and come

with two ammo carriers. One carrier is for rifles, one for shotgun shells. They can be swapped or removed. I had a black one on my bolt-action but the place I bought it from was out of black so I bought a tan and green one. Thought one would be handy on my Ruger 10/22 as well. They just came in the mail the other day so I haven’t figured out what to put in them yet.

So there you have it. A 22 rifle with 130 rounds of ammo, a small knife, paracord, duct tape, matches, Band-Aids,  wipes, ear plugs, hook line and sinker, pain pills, sling, good sights, and some quiet ammo  I did add a couple of Benedryl in case of allergic reaction.  Someone suggested putting a un-lubricated prophylactic in the stock. These are often recommended by survivalists as a means to carry water or to perhaps hook up with the last women on earth. Of course soldiers also used them to protect the muzzles of their rifles in inclement weather.  I decided against it however,  I don’t even want to have to explain to my wife why I carry a rubber in the stock of my gun.

 

One of the interesting things about loading the stock with stuff is that, while it makes the gun a bit more hefty, it also gives it a nice sense of balance. A heavier, more balanced gun is easier to shoot accurately. I think the ammo alone adds half a pound or so to the weight.

One suggestion someone sent me was to move all the stuff in the stock to the pouch and then put items in the stock that would not be used very often. For example the mags and all the other items fit easily in the pouch while the stock could be filled completely with ammo. The items would be more accessible in the pouch than they are in the stock. As such you could add a lighter, compass, larger folding knife or small multi-tool and perhaps other items as well.  I suspect one could probably get 150-200 rounds in the stock.  Another idea is to put cleaning and maintenance items in the stock. A small cleaning kit/bore snake would fit in addition to more ammo.  If you were using this as a stash away/survival rifle you might want to put more ammo, survival and cleaning gear with it. If using it as a hunting rifle, you might want more items like a compass, map or other types of field gear.

The list of things to carry is endless and is more a function of what you intend to do with the rifle.

                                                 Stay tuned for Part 4 where I take this little gem in a whole different direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: 795, article, marlin, Shooting

This entry was posted by Mac66 on Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 at 9:58 pm and is filed under 22 rifles, Appleseed, Guns, Information, maintenance, Marlin, Marlin 795, Product Review, rifles, Shooting, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.