I had bought my Marlin 795 over a year ago with the intention of using it at a Project Appleseed event. At the time, the only semi-auto detachable magazine rifle I had was my AR. While .223 is cheap compared to other “proper” rifle caliber rifles, I was still able to buy the Marlin ($80 new after rebate) plus the needed ammo (<$20 for a bulk box of .22) for less than the needed 500 rounds of .223 (roughly $250). I learned to shoot on a Marlin .22 lever action, both my dad and I own 336’s, and I already owned one of their .22 bolt guns, so I figured this was a no brainer.
I’ve already upgraded the um… rudimentary sights that came on the 795 with Tech Sights. This was a huge improvement over the cheap leaf spring sight that Marlins typically come with. After Appleseed, I’ve decided that I should order a scope for it. While the ideal is to get rifleman with iron sights, to quote Linoge “if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.” After shooting his rifle on the last red coat target, I’m a believer in using glass. Oh, and Amazon happened to have his scope on sale. So… that’s on the way…. The Tech Sights may end up on the Papoose.
The last thing that I’m doing to the 795 is replacing the stock. There’s not a whole lot of options out there for .22 rifles that aren’t 10/22s. For a long time, I thought my only options were ATI’s Fiberforce stock or Muzzlelite’s bullpup. Both of which just look and feel cheap. Anyways, I’m a fan of wood stocks over plastic.
Recently, I tripped over Boyds’ gun stocks. They make some beautiful wooden stocks. including some “drop in” stocks for my 795! After debating with myself over which color to get, I decided to get an SS Evolution stock in nutmeg.
It showed up last night, along with the sling mounts and some Acraglass bedding material. There was a grand total of two sheets of paper in the box. One was the purchase order. The other was an anti-lawyer warning sheet telling me not to work on loaded guns.
Fortunately, the Marlin 795 is pretty darn easy to disassemble. Remove two screws, and the trigger group drops out, at which point the receiver and barrel can be removed. The stock was, indeed, a simple drop in. No fitting was required. Probably the trickiest part was drilling the holes for the sling points, which is pretty simple.
Here’s the end result:
It looks a thousand times better than when it was in the original stock. It also feels a lot better. The pistol grip is just easier on the wrist than the semi-pistol grip, and there is a palm swell that fits my hand nicely. I can also get a much better cheek weld on the Boyds’ stock then I ever could on the old one.
It’s not all good though. The problem with laminated wood over plastic is that you can make plastic thinner without loosing too much rigidity. This is obvious around the receiver. The plastic stock was almost flush at the side, where the wood stock sticks out a good bit. It sticks out to the point that I’m concerned about clearance for my fingers to manipulated the bolt after mounting a scope on it. It also hides the bolt release a good bit. It was this giant lever sticking out for all to see, and now it’s barely sticking out when the bolt is held back. This could be an issue, since the 795 requires you to hit it instead of manually cycling the bolt. The last bit is that I wish I was able to move the front sling mount just a bit further out, but that’s the limitation of this style of free-floating design.
Obviously, the big question is “how does it shoot?” Unfortunately, I’m stuck at work on this beautify sunny day and can’t tell you. I can tell you that it feels rock solid and I’m glad I plopped down the $100 to get the new stock. I haven’t done the bedding yet, and I debating whether I will or not.
There’s also the nice thing of knowing that I’ve currently invested roughly $250 on this thing, which is about what I see bare bone stock 10/22s being sold for around here, if not more.
. You can also get a 
. DIP has them for under $30 IIRC. Speaking of DIP, they also have an aluminium trigger guard and trigger thats adjustable for pre and over travel for under $70; and a “tactical” bolt handle that’s a bit longer and fatter for under $25. With the aluminium trigger guard (there’s another company that makes them for the 795 and they charge $50, but I can’t remember the name) you can properly pillar bed the action and stock. All you need are some of those $4 lamp replacement threaded screws and some JB weld. There’s a good how-to on marlinowners.
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