The Pro-Fire trigger incorporates a release that locks the trigger until the release is depressed. Pull weight adjustable courtesy of a jam nut at the front of the trigger.

The bolt is fluted for looks and to reduce surface area. Fluting also gives dirt and grease someplace to go in order to achieve a smooth, non-binding bolt throw. To help with that, the right bolt lug has an anti-bind slot that matches a rail in the receiver.

The bolt head is pinned to the bolt body, and it self-centers so the lugs can get even engagement as they rotate into the locked position. A sliding extractor pulls cases from the chamber, and rounds are kicked out smartly courtesy of a plunger-style ejector.

The bolt features a full shroud for protection against escaping gases in the event of case rupture, and there’s a red cocking indicator at the rear. The brazed-on bolt handle sports a nicely proportioned, partially stippled round knob.

The trigger-blocking safety is activated via a two-position rocker style lever on the right side of the tang, and a Model 70-type bolt release is located on the left side immediately behind the receiver.

At first glance, the rifle may remind you a bit of a Savage. For one thing, the trigger incorporates a release ala the Savage AccuTrigger, but this trigger is an in-house Marlin design developed by Bruce Rozum called the Pro-Fire. The trigger cannot move backward until the trigger release is depressed. This allows the trigger to be user-adjustable for weight (not travel) down to 21⁄2 pounds by turning a “jam nut” in or out.

The second feature reminiscent of Savage is the barrel nut that joins the barrel to receiver. “We do that to ensure accuracy and consistent headspacing,” Foster says. “It’s straight go/no-go; you close the bolt and tighten the nut.”

The 22-inch barrel is finished in a polished (but not highly polished) blue, and it’s button rifled with a 1:10 twist. It tapers from 1.81 inches in front of the barrel nut to 0.72 at the midpoint to 0.59 at the muzzle. The crown boasts a target-style recess to protect it from damage.

The rifle comes with a gun lock and a one-piece aluminum Weaver-style scope base with ejection-port cutout.

I was fortunate to spend a fair bit of time with an early production rifle, chambered to .30-06, on the range and in the field. From the bench it proved to be a great shooter, with accuracy as good or better than what you might find on some more-expensive production rifles.

Honors for top average group size were a tie between Remington’s Core-Lokt Ultra 150-grain round and Hornady’s 180-grain Interlock. Both averaged 11⁄3 inches. Average groups for Winchester’s AccuBond 180-grainer came in under 11⁄2, and Federal’s Barnes Triple Shock X Bullet 165 was less than 13⁄4.

Taken as whole, this is one accurate and nicely consistent rifle; the difference between the worst average and the best average was about a third of an inch. I made no sight corrections during testing, and when I overlaid the targets I discovered that the XL7 put all four loads into essentially the same impact area--within 11⁄2 inches. It’s certainly handy to have a rifle behave that way, especially if the gun is going to be asked to tackle a lot of chores from, say, antelope to elk, which a cartridge such as the .30-06 is certainly capable of handling.

After I got off the bench, I fired the rifle from offhand, sling-supported sitting and sitting off shooting sticks. The XL7 has a really nice balance to it, and the soft rubber recoil pad (Marlin is calling it Soft-Tech) does a yeoman’s job of taming the recoil of the 180-grain loads.