For my .444 Marlin lovin’ buds, circa 1975.

accurate 22's I have ever owned. I have mentioned this numerous times so I hesitate to go into it again. In the mid to late 70s most of the ammo manufacturers were coming out with high velocity 22 LR ammo. Remington had the Yellow Jacket. CCI had the Stinger, Winchester had the Xpediter, Federal had the Lightning, and surprisingly there were no foreign 22 LR ammo high velocity around in those days. I had a couple of the guns and borrowed the rest. The guns were the Remington nylon 66, Rem. 552, Ruger 10-22, Weatherby MK XXII (22), the Marlin 99M1, and a Winchester bolt action. There were actually 2 other 22 LR rifles included in the tests but they have left my memory banks for greener pastures. To make a long boring post a bit shorter we did accuracy tests, feeding tests and field tests (shooting a water filled jug). At the end of the tests the little Marlin 99M1 shooting each of the brands of ammo beat them all. The tests was not about the guns. It was about the new high velocity 22 LR ammo and the Stinger beat every brand as far as accuracy and the field tests. But what surprised me the most was the Marlin 99M1 fed everything and the accuracy was as good if not better than the others.

The fondness for the 99M1 is obviously not me only. Today if you can find one of the original Marlin 99M1 rifles in good condition it is not unusual to pay $350 or more for it. I bought one a couple of years ago to have an extra around and if I remember correctly I paid around $300 for it. In the pic, my original and the newest one.

sold it for 150.00.. really too much for me--until I used BLC#2 and then I could do better with it.. the ball powder had a different recoil feel