XS Sight rail issues

Just went through this with my GBL.

I used the included shims for my XS lever rail by mounting them in the middle of the rail for my forward scout scope. Raising the rear got me on target.

I measured the shims with a caliper and relieved material from the underside of the front of the rail back to the front mounting hole equaling the shim height.

Back to the range and it was still dialed in.

See these threads:

http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php/topic,84648.0.html

and

http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php/topic,84847.0.html

Appears to be a rather consistant issue of late.

To raise the POI, you need to elevate the rear - scope or sight.

In my case, I have a scout scope, they mount forward, so I had to raise the rear of the scope and that correlated to the middle mount point on my lever rail.

For a regular scope mounted traditionally, raise the rear most mounting point.

If your iron sights work, the mount would most likely be the culprit.

Something - I don't know what - changed and the later Marlins seem to be iffy with rail mounts.

Do a search and you'll find many more examples than mine.

Ultimately I ground down the front of my rail system by the amount of the shims I used to correct it originally.

Eli, my gun was made in 2009 ( the s/n starts with 91 ) . Other than the issue with the rail, it is a fine gun. I was amazed by the accuracy I got the 1st time out. I never shot it over the factory sights. After I got mine in mid-Dec. of 2010, I was impressed by the good quality, fit and finish.

The XS Lever Rail also went on right away, and I was getting better accuracy over the ghost ring sight than with the scout scope. I'm sure that there was nothing wrong with the scope either, as it was NIB. The Leupold QRW rings were also new.

I own a few other rifles / carbines with a scope rail, and it was just throw the scope on, tighten the rings onto the rail, and go hitting the target.

The XS rail is the first one causing such issues.



Thanks so far,


Pete

moonbat60 said:

I wonder if those shorter scout scope rails also got the same issues. Anything known about that ?


Thx,

Pete

Click to expand...

That is what I have, the short scout scope XS mount. Before I changed my barrel out I could pull the scope off, and put it back and it would be dialed in. The only thing I did was change to a Marlin factory 45 Colt barrel, probably made in the early 90's, put the same mount back on, same mounting dovetail piece, same scope to the same receiver and it shot over a foot low @ 50 yds. Over on the rimfire section there is a thread about the different OD's on various model 39's over the years. There is quite a variance! Then there is the barrel taper, and that was all over the place on the 39's as well. It really isn't Marlin's fault, these guns were meant to have the scope mounted on the receiver.. I have no idea if there is different OD barrels, or tapered differently from barrel to barrel or year to year for 1894's or 1895's like the 39a's are but it could be and if so it is no wonder the XS rails are having some difficulty. If it is the case it would seem that a better solution than shims would be to have different dovetail mounts that would sit the rail higher or lower at the front. It would be a cleaner install I would think, but also open a new level of skill to install, maybe a smith would be required for some..