Marlin Super Goose Review
Not a gun for 98-pound weaklings!
Hunters loved two features on any of the Marlin Goose Guns and
especially the 10-gauge Super Goose — sling swivels to lighten the
load and a rubber butt pad to reduce recoil. Photo: Cowan’s Auctions
There was always work to be done on our dairy farm, especially around milking time. When I was young, I tried to be like one of the older guys and help out by closing the stanchions around a cow’s head. I was too small to do it right, so I figured climbing on the concrete food trough made the most sense. I got a few done right, but that was before I fell in and cracked off half of my front tooth. Anyone who has done that before knows the feeling of inhaled air across nerve endings isn’t worth repeating. Off to the dentist we went.
Shotty Doc
Unlike my friends, I looked forward to seeing Dr. Biehn. He’d come around to hunt geese when our silage corn fields were planted with winter rye and this I learned to be true — Doc Biehn may have enjoyed his dentistry work, but he sure loved to kill geese. On the day when I walked into his office to get my tooth fixed, he took a moment to show me his new shotgun. If its registered name was the Marlin 5510, then its call name was The Super Goose. I had never before seen such a beast …
The Goose Gun series was made a few towns away from our farm, in North Haven, which was the home of the Marlin Firearms Company. Product developers designed the Goose Gun to fill two different shooting needs. The first niche was to create a price-point shotgun every entry-level hunter could afford. The second was to use an action familiar to young shooters. As most kids of the era learned to shoot with a .22 caliber bolt-action rifle, the designers reasoned a similar action used in a shotgun would help sell more units.
In 1954, Marlin introduced the Model 55 Goose Gun in a 12- and 16-gauge. Barrel lengths for those two models were 36″ and to keep costs low, there was no rib but instead a single brass bead. The chambers were for 2 ¾” shells, and a two-round detachable magazine brought the firepower up to a legal three shots.
The Goose Gun had a one-piece American walnut stock with a pistol grip and thumb safety. No checkering appeared anywhere as low cost was an important goal. There was a recoil pad and hunters were thankful costs weren’t cut in that department. They also appreciated the sling swivels making the carry of shotgun and dekes much easier.
The Goose Gun was immediately popular and between 1954 and 1965, Marlin sold nearly 120,000 shotguns. The retail cost of $30 in 1954 dollars is worth $350 today and is still quite inexpensive. To build on its success, a 10-gauge was added in 1976, which is when I first saw Dr. Biehn’s new goose slayer. They were discontinued in 1986.
The Marlin 55 was an affordable shotgun but its overall
difficulty of use and weight shortened its shelf life as
hunters preferred lighter and lively options.
Tough Chore
I was a robust young kid, capable of bailing hay for about half a day, but try as I might, I could not handle Doc Biehn’s Super Goose. The 34″ full-choke barrel and overall 56″ length came with a 10.5-lb. weight. The 4 ¾” length made it difficult if not impossible to mount, swing and shoot. Working the bolt was cumbersome, too.
I haven’t laid my eyes on one since the 1970s, but Tim Carey sees them on a regular basis. Many shotgunners will remember Carey from his long career at Griffin & Howe, but in 2021 he joined the sporting arms division of the Cincinnati-based Cowan’s Auctions. Every year he sees a few Super Goose 10 gauges and Goose Gun in other gauges come up for auction.
“Seeing a Marlin Goose gun is like seeing an old friend,” Carey said. “They certainly were never expensive, and even now when they come up for sale, they don’t command a high price. It was the era when fathers taught their sons to shoot with a small caliber bolt-action rifle before introducing them to a shotgun. Some of the folks who buy a Goose Gun these days are usually doing so because they had one when they were growing up. Others might remember their dad or granddad as having one. These personal stories come up at our auctions and they are a lot of fun.”
“Part of the theory for the 34″ barrel was it offered a longer sight plane to improve accuracy. Another idea was that the longer barrel would offer better ballistics and kill waterfowl at greater distances. What we know now is barrel length doesn’t make shot go faster or farther, and we’re thankful for that. Today’s shotguns, as well as those that command higher prices at auction, are lighter and livelier. They’re more enjoyable to shoot than the Goose Gun, which was a workout.”
Because of the low retail price, a number of gunners bought the Marlin Goose Gun as a backup to their primary gun. Ones that come up for auction at venues like Cowan’s Auctions typically are in great condition. Whether you pick one up for nostalgia’s sake or are adding to a collection of waterfowl shotguns, be sure to do this first: Hit the gym. You’ll need to rack a bunch of weight if you’re going to carry that shoulder howitzer into the marsh.
