Project Night Prowler

This is part of a series of posts on building affordable guns. See also:
Building an inexpensive Home Defense Shotgun
Building an inexpensive Hunting Rifle 


I bought a rusty Marlin model 60 at the gun show. The price was only $50, so I figured, what the hell.

This is what the gun looked like when I got it (not actual pictures, but you get the idea). The gun was missing the front sight and was also very dirty (neglect didn't end with the rust).

 The Marlin Model 60s have an aluminum receiver and cheap birch stocks.

There wasn't much sense in restoring the gun, its value would not appreciate much. You can find these in good to excellent shape for $80-$150.

So I stripped the gun & cleaned it up by doing a complete detail stripping. I also polished some of the internals.

I painted it flat black, I also found the proper front sight and screw in my parts bin, don't ask me where I got it, I was just lucky I guess.

 I bought a scope mount that fit the 11mm rail on the top of the receiver

and a Bushnell 3-9 x 50mm lighted reticule scope. The lighted reticule & the large 50mm Objective will make it easier to get the varmints on target at night.

The scope sat a little high, so I wanted to add some sort of raised cheek rest.

I thought about one of these from Blackhawk,
I bought one of these for my Savage model 9317 and I didn't like the way it tied on to the stock, but it is a non-permanent modification.

I also considered one of these Kydex adjustable ones, but the price was more than I paid for the gun.

 I ended up buying one of these universal cheek rests from ATI. They are affordable and they screw to the stock for a solid mount and one more thing....they are made in the USA! You can find them here

I taped the cheek rest in place and drilled the holes

Then attached it with the provided screws

Project Night Prowler is complete

Here is a breakdown of what I spent on this project:

Gun: $50
Front Sight: $0
Scope: $39
Scope Mount: $15
Universal Cheek Rest: $10

Grand total = $114