[3] Major features include a micro-groove barrel, a cross-bolt safety, hardwood stock with Monte Carlo comb, and brass or blued steel inner magazine tube.

The primary difference was that the stock was made of birch instead of walnut to reduce the recurring production costs for the more expensive wood.

For a few years in the mid-1980s the Model 60 rifles had both the "last shot hold open" feature and also held 18 rounds in the tube magazine.

The redesigned magazine tube was visibly shorter than the barrel, which is how rifles from this period can be easily identified.

Non-removable tubular magazine-fed rifles were never subject to the 10 round limit of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

Marlin also manufactured models for export, which had various capacities to comply with foreign firearms regulations.

Some notable parts that are year-specific are the feed throat mechanisms, magazine tubes, firing pins, and hammers.

For use without a scope, the barrel features an adjustable open rear light and a ramp front sight.

The charging handle is used to load the first round from the magazine and can be retracted and pushed in as a manual bolt hold-open feature.

This increases the accuracy of the rifle by lessening deformation of fired bullets traveling down the barrel.

Unlike some competing .22 semi-automatic rifles, such as the Ruger 10/22, there are relatively few aftermarket accessories sold for the utilitarian Model 60.