Merrill Pistol

[AxeHandle]

Opportunity to buy a Merrill with 22LR, 22Mag, 22Jet, 256WM, and 30-30 barrels has popped up.... Don't have 22 Jet dies but see that Midway has case forming dies as well as reloading dies for the cartridge...

[bradshaw]

Jun 27, 2018 6:45:26 GMT -5 AxeHandle said:

Opportunity to buy a Merrill with 22LR, 22Mag, 22Jet, 256WM, and 30-30 barrels has popped up.... Don't have 22 Jet dies but see that Midway has case forming dies as well as reloading dies for the cartridge...

*****

The Rex Merrill tip-open single shot pistol----a chunk of well machined steel. On firing lines of the International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association, shooter drops brass rod down the barrel to eject fired case. Steel shooters call the rod a “Merrill extractor.” Jim Rock bought Merrill, continuing production as RPM, Rock Pistol Manufacturing. Jim Rock may have impressed some as dry as a cork leg, but I found beneath his arid hide a vein of humor. I never met Rex Merrill, thinking him a contemporary of Warren Center, designer of our most successful single shot pistol.

The Merrill is striker fired, which presented a challenge to achieving a consistent letoff. I could not get along with it. There is a sheet metal tab under your right thumb, which is depressed to permit the striker to release. I cannot abide such an arrangement. My thumb on a pistol either contributes to grip squeeze unfettered, or it just lays there, To tell my thumb to depress a lever----like the flush lever on a toilet----is just wrong. A grip safety works because your fingers aren’t doing it.

Jim Rock proved the toilet lever no impediment to his offhand prowess on the firing lines of silhouette, steady and clean as a slab of granite. Jim Rock worked to cure unpredictable tendencies of the Merrill trigger. There may be no letoff cleaner & lighter, with shorter lock time, than a properly behaving RPM. Certainly, the short lock time is hypnotic. Nevertheless, you’ve got to follow through on the toilet lever, and that drove me nuts.

Mainly, I cannot abide gun I have to cocktail.

I would not dry fire the Merrill except on a fired primer or snap cap. To dry fire with .22 LR, I would rotate rim for multiple hits.

Bore axis sits low, a line barely above your thumb knuckle. In conjunction with solid steel grip frame, affecting straight-back recoil. This is fine for olympic precision, and poison for serious recoil. As with single and double action sixguns, the shooter’s individual anatomy factors grip compatibility. Therefore, I shall not decide for you.

With Bullseye blood in your veins, Stan, I suggest you try the trigger before you dive.

[AxeHandle]

Thanks David.... Nice to have tales from first hand experience. Looks like an interesting plaything. I'll try the trigger.

[Ken O'Neill]

The RPM XL pistol, which was Jim Rock's final iteration of the Merrill, completely cured the earlier extraction problems. My version has barrels in .356 Win. and .30 Merrill, which is a fabulous cartridge based on the .225 Win.
I get along okay with the thumb safety, but truthfully, probably would have preferred some other arrangement. David mentions Jim Rock's outstanding shooting, and there was an even better example in Bob "Iron Man" Kelly, who worked for Jim at RPM. Both shot the RPM / Merrill exclusively in IHMSA / NRA silhouette competitions.

[cmh]

LGS has one in 357 Herret.... so far Ive resisted.... but will admit Im weak 😁

[AxeHandle]

From what I read, while the Merrill was built to compete with the TC Contender, unlike the TC, the barrels must be individually fitted. A 357 Herrett Merrill sounds painful...

[bradshaw]

“... unlike the TC, the barrels must be individually fitted.” CORRECT

"A 357 Herrett Merrill sounds painful.” CORRECT

David Bradshaw

[AxeHandle]

Shot the Merrill this AM. Trigger didn't feel bad. Rear sight is fixed and held in place with a couple of set screws. Did not like that the barrels are not D&T for a scope base. Look to be grooved to some sort of tip off mount rings. DID NOT look like something a guy with 65 year old eyes would enjoy shooting. Gun is to expensive and old for me to consider drilling and tapping holes for scope bases.

[bradshaw]

“.... barrels are not D&T for a scope base. Look to be grooved to some sort of tip off mount rings. DID NOT look like something a guy with 65 year old eyes would enjoy shooting.”
----axehandle

*****

Ken O'Neill warned of the labor-intensive, bottleneck/small bore caper. If you want to test drive recoil with the .357 Herrett, try a T/C Contender in .357 Herrett with factory grips. Between the .30 Herrett and .357 Herrett in silhouette, recoil weeded out the .357 Herrett. Whereas, the .30 Herrett hung on until killed jointly by its slow twist against performance of the Contender .30-30 with 1:10-twist, and other, milder recoiling cartridges sporting downrange clout. A retired welder from the oil rigs, big feller, crazy as a pump house rat, stuffs his Merrill with Rocks & Dynamite, but the power regularly eludes his targets. It’s an old Merrill----pre-Jim Rock trigger work----and his pickle-size fingers don’t help.

Life’s too short for a lousy trigger.
David Bradshaw

[Ken O'Neill]

Definitely an old Merrill. By the way ... way in the back of my mind, I remember somebody shooting a Production 40x40 with a 10" T/C .357 Herrett in an IHMSA competition in 1978 or '79. Loose gun, mixed brass, no particular care in loading, etc. Might have been a tuff dude, with good luck.

[osammy1]

I've been shooting a Merril for years.Very accurate.I have it in .256 win. and 7mm Rocket. Would like responce to shooting the Rocket.Thanks,osammy1.

[Ken O'Neill]

I forget what the 7mm Rocket is. Is it on the .225 Win. ?

[osammy1]

The 7mm Rocket is bases on the .225 win. I believe it's the 30 merrill necked down to 7mm but not sure.The load I use is 27.5 grs. of 748 with 162 btsp hornaday.Been getting just over 1800 fps out of a 10' barrel.I'm 70 with not great vision anymore but can do 1 1/2 at 100 all day long. My 256 win has a red dot on an 8'' barrel and is deadly on dogs.

[needsmostuff]

So you guys are where all the old 225 win brass went .
I was wondering where it all was.

[osammy1]

I have it all.But good news it will be available when I die. At this writing,FEELING GOOD. osammy1