Sitting on the edge of a creek bottom in the early morning light of a Kansas sunrise, I admired a classy looking bolt rifle sitting upright in a set of shooting sticks and ready to go. Over the years, I have admired many such rifles--it is something to do when the deer do not show up when they should--and usually the level of admiration is directly related to the number of $100 bills I laid down months before the hunt.

But this rifle was a little different. It shot like a dream on the range, it had a good trigger, and the fit and finish were above average. The action was smooth, and the gun neither rattled nor did it have a tinny feel. The cost would be just over three $100 bills--one heck of a bargain, to say the least. The rifle in front of me was Marlin's brand-new XL7.

Marlin Firearms is one of America's oldest gun makers. John M. Marlin hung out his shingle in 1870 after working for Colt in Hartford, Connecticut. The Marlin name has become synonymous with lever guns, though the company has produced just about every action type over its long history. The company dabbled with bolt-action rifles in the 1950s, purchasing FN and Sako actions, and barreling and stocking them here in the States.

SPECIFICATIONS
MAKER:	Marlin Firearms Co. www.marlinfirearms.com
ACTION:	Bolt-action centerfire rifle
CALIBER:	.30-06 Sprg.
CAPACITY:	4+1 rounds
BARREL LENGTH.:	22 inches
OVERALL LENGTH:	42 1/2 inches
WEIGHT:	6 1/2 pounds
SIGHTS:	None. Receiver drilled and tapped for scope mounts
FINISH:	Black
PRICE:	$326

Then in the mid-1990s, the MR-7 was to be the company's first proprietary foray into the world of bolt-actions. Introduced in 1995, it was one heck of a gun. Having benefited from all those years of riflemen griping and complaining about the Remington Model 700 and Winchester Model 70, Marlin sought to give them the perfect gun. A three-position safety, adjustable trigger, hinged floorplate, cocking indicator, forged receiver, and a bolt head surrounded by three rings of steel were a few of the MR-7's key features. The only hitch was that the rifle just did not sell, and production ceased just three years later.

Matt Foster, Marlin's current marketing director, chalked it up to an unlucky combination of price point and trying to compete in a very tough category. The company name just was not associated with bolt-actions, and the category was chocked full of rifles produced by respected and storied companies with decades of marketing muscle behind them.

Though the category is still a tough one today, it makes a lot of sense for Marlin to produce its own bolt rifle. The know-how and tools are all there to get the company into the over-200-yard-shot category. Marlin started working on a rifle that maintained the MR-7's quality and design innovations but with a price tag that was more affordable.

It took three years, but the end result met all the goals Marlin set out to accomplish. Bruce Rozum is a design engineer who has spent his entire, lengthy career designing guns for Marlin. He now heads up the research and development department. Rozum explained that the new XL7 would have appeared on gun store shelves sooner, but other high-priority lever-gun projects, like the XLR, took precedence. The tactical pause proved fruitful, giving designers a chance to check and recheck the design.

The barrel has a deep target crown (l.) that protects the lands and grooves from dirty pickup truck floorboards. The bolt head (c.) is a separate piece from the bolt body, but it is machined from the same 4140 steel alloy. The slot in the lug mates with a rail in the bolt raceway to prevent chatter and binding. The bolt handle (r) is a cast part and is copper brazed to the bolt body. A small shoulder on the bolt shroud helps block gases from a pierced primer from reaching the shooter.

"We went through all the parts and features of the MR-7 and looked at ways to reduce manufacturing costs while keeping the important attributes," Rozum said. "We went from a flat-bottom receiver that was forged to ordinance-grade round bar stock that took a lot of cost out of machining the receiver."

The three-position safety was dropped in lieu of a more economical, but just as functional, two-position safety. The bolt sleeve was also dumped. Several non-critical parts were cast or created using metal injection molding (MIM). The beautiful hardwood stock of the MR-7 was replaced with a lightweight, molded synthetic stock. At the end of the design process, none of the MR-7's parts were interchangeable with the new XL7, and there were additional features and innovations the MR-7 lacked.