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Is it irresponsible to NOT buy it?

I'm not @p_ham but my experience with the Hawkeye was this: Much worse quality of finishes and lower craftsmanship quaulity based on the tang & MKii. Cheaper wood, cheaper metal finishes, no real deburring and refinement. It was about 30% rougher than my Markii.
I have a few M77 Hawkeye (non tang safety) My biggest complaint is how sloppy the actions are. The inside of the recievers look and feel like un polished cast metal. You gotta jiggle the bolt to cycle rounds if you're not experienced with that particular rifle. Accurate? Hell yeah they are, and mine are range toys/ varmint blasters so the sloppy bolt doesn't really matter. After cycling a few rounds, one gets the feel for it and can almost cycle 5 rounds rapidly without having to rattle the bolt,Almost.

A 28" SS barreled 6.5 is stupid accurate but weighs 12~15lbs

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HT Enablers Unanimous strikes again. :)

@millerkiller77 The slop in the bolt is a throwback to the 98 and 96 actions that were loose to ensure proper function in battlefield conditions. The M77 was based off of the 96, IIRC. The receivers are cast and incredibly strong. My 98 Model B is just about the same in terms of bolt slop as my Rugers.

My MKii 30-06 is 7.5 -7.8 pounds with the scope (VX3-i 3.5x10).

Rugers make amazing starting points for custom rifles. It's great to hear that their attention to detail is good with the Marlin brand. Looks like a very lovely rifle, @TexAg09!
 
Hey HT, I've been wanting a Marlin 1894 in 357 mag for a long time now, and I found a gun shop that has one of the brand new Ruger Marlins for a hair under $1k. I don't need the gun, but I want it and will eventually get one either way. I have the money, but this isn't the best time of year to drop $1k on a gun. Is it high now because they just started producing them again? Will it go down in price in a few years if I wait or maybe be even more expensive? I know no one has a crystal ball, but I'm slowly talking myself into buying it. However, it might be smarter to just wait. What would you do? (I'm already getting new waders for Christmas, so it wouldn't be a Christmas present.)

Buy the gun, hand it over to your wife so she can wrap it and give it back to you at Christmas, that's what I'm doing with the CZ .22 I just picked up.
 
Buy the gun, hand it over to your wife so she can wrap it and give it back to you at Christmas, that's what I'm doing with the CZ .22 I just picked up.
Nice. I've wanted a full size .22 for a while and keep coming back to the CZ's as the Ruger 77/22's are more than I'm willing to spend, problem is my old Marlin 781 micro groove just keeps on shooting well.
 
Well as ol' Gus McRae said " There is no remedy for mortality."
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Dude that thing is beautiful, congrats. My trapper '94 in .357 is one of my favorite rifles, solidly in the "never for sale" category.

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I also got it for like 600 bucks a few years ago, and now they seem to be going for 2.5-3x that on gunbroker... so per your question, it has been many times a better investment than the S&P 500. Seems like most of the "precious metals" have been going that way recently...
 
I'm a simple "meat and potatoes" gun owner. I don't buy another gun unless I can totally justify the need for it.
 
I would have waited. Every August/September the automakers roll out the upcoming year models. Dealers have to clear out the current inventory and good deals are to be had! The SHOT show kicks off in one month. Bass Pro, Scheels, Academy, Sportsman’s will all start trying to sell off current inventory in two weeks.
 
The new Marlin stuff looks good. A new 336 is actually really tempting, but dang they’re pricey
 
The new Marlin stuff looks good. A new 336 is actually really tempting, but dang they’re pricey
I thought the same thing, but unfortunately I don't see it getting much cheaper. I actually found it about $100-150 cheaper at my local gun shop vs anywhere online.
 
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