The January edition of GunBroker.com’s Top Selling Report, presented by GunGenius.com, showed a meteoric rise for a semi-auto rifle in the used category. Marlin’s Model 60 jumped ten spots from number 14 to number 4. It’s also interesting to note that it is the only rimfire in the top five in that category.

Introduced in 1960, the Model 60 is a semi-automatic rimfire rifle chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. With no detachable magazine, the Model 60 uses a fixed tubular magazine mounted underneath the barrel. Depending on when the gun was produced, the magazine holds either 17 or 14 rounds of .22 LR ammo.

Even though it was introduced four years before the Ruger 10/22 and was in production for 60 years before stopping in 2020, the gun never rose to the same level of fame that the 10/22 enjoys to this day. That’s an interesting dichotomy considering that in 1983, Gun Digest Treasury noted that the Marlin Model 60 was one of the fastest-selling sporting rifles ever produced.

Production and sales of the Model 60 were boosted in the 1990s due to the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. This law put a restriction of ten rounds on removable magazines. Since Marlin’s rifle used a tubular magazine that could not be removed from the gun, it was not subject to the capacity restriction that other rifles – like the Ruger 10/22 – were facing at that time.

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The basic design of the gun is very simple. It’s a tubular-fed, semi-automatic straight-blowback rimfire rifle. It was an inexpensive rifle to make and was inexpensive to buy, which made it popular with new shooters and plinkers alike. There’s nothing fancy about it; the gun just flat out runs.

Despite being an inexpensive rifle, it was known for being very accurate. This is due in part to Marlin’s use of proprietary Micro-Groove rifling that utilized 16 small lands and grooves instead of a smaller number of larger lands and grooves. In theory, the smaller lands and grooves create less deformation on the bullets as they travel down the barrel. As a result, the projectile is able to fly straighter at greater distances.

Astute gun owners may be aware that there was an almost identical rimfire rifle on the market that also bore the same model designation but was from a different brand. This was the Glenfield Model 60. Glenfield was a sort of sub-brand of Marlin and they offered even more inexpensive versions of Marlin products. So, essentially the Marlin Model 60 is the same as the Glenfield Model 60 except for the name on the side of the gun. Functionally, they are the same rifle.

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Over the years, the Marlin Model 60 was offered in more than 35 different configurations, which mirrors that of the Ruger 10/22’s adaptability, as their website currently lists 78 different configurations. Where Marlin fell short was in aftermarket support. There is an absolutely staggering amount of aftermarket parts, accessories, and upgrades available for the 10/22; there were very few available for the Model 60.

This is perhaps why the Marlin Model 60 is relatively obscure despite only being out of production since 2020. The Model 60 ceased to exist when the Marlin brand was purchased by Sturm, Ruger & Company. While Ruger has revived the Marlin name and reintroduced some of the models, it does not appear that they have any plans to bring back the Model 60 any time soon.

Top Selling Guns Sold in January 2025

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

Editor’s note: In the report, guns are rated from one to five within each category, with the number one gun being the most popular that month. The numbers are color-coded to show any changes in the ranks from the previous report.

Black = Steady
Green = Up
Red = Down

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.