The author found the rifle to be a great hunting gun that carried nicely, handled well and got the job done when the time came to take this Kansas buck.

The doe drifted toward us, the buck 50 yards or so behind, before disappearing into a brushy ravine. She emerged from the other side and jumped a fence that put her smack on Dan’s lease. And while this kind of thing hardly ever happens to me, the buck followed the script to the letter just a few minutes later--jumping the fence at the exact same spot.

We were 250 yards away, hunkered down in the sparsest cover imaginable, but when the deer vanished into the ravine, the rifle was already on the shooting sticks, and I maneuvered myself into a solid sitting position oriented on the spot where we hoped the whitetails would cross.

When the buck bounded over the wire, all I had to do was move the rifle just the tiniest bit and wait until he took two steps to clear a piece of brush before I sent the bullet on its way. At the shot, I saw the buck kick his hind legs back and heard the smack of the bullet hitting home, but he took off like a scalded dog. As the deer sprinted across the field, I let loose a volley of three shots before he disappeared into the brush on the other side.

We were both sure I’d hit the deer, and I was sure he was well-hit, but I was still on high alert and a bit anxious as we walked quickly to where we’d last seen him. We found blood right away and followed the trail, a 30-yard buttonhook just inside the edge of the brush, to find the buck stone dead.

I wish I could tell you I connected with any of those 200- to 300-yard running shots but, alas, all I can say is that my first shot was true--right through the boiler room. It’s certainly not the gun’s fault that I can’t hit running game; the XL7 does get all the credit, however, for enabling me to rack off three shots in a very short time span.

Gun writers tend to throw around labels such as “utilitarian,” and I’m sure that term or something like it will be applied to the new Marlin. But I think that particular label doesn’t do this rifle justice because the XL7 is everything a hunting rifle needs to be: dependable, tough, accurate and handy. Further, if my early production sample is any indication, you get all those characteristics plus accuracy that’s on par with what you’d find in some other production rifles costing a hell of a lot more money. And that, my friends, is the true meaning of the word “value.”

Gun services provided by Turners Outdoorsman ( turners.com ). Range facilities provided by Angeles Ranges ( angelesranges.com ).