Marlin 336 - Good deal or not?

[garandsrus]

Hi,

I was at a gunshop today and saw a Marlin 336 in 35 Rem caliber for sale. It is priced at $295. Is this a good deal? The serial number translates into a 1989 production date.

The rifle looked pretty nice. The forend had a burl pattern to the wood which was especially nice. It does have a safety. The top of the receiver is drilled and tapped for a scope. Would this have been done at the factory?

Several other questions:
o Is there any equivalent "pre/post 64" type thing with the Marlins that I should watch for?

o What type of rifling should it have? I looked down the bore and think that it's traditional rifling verses micro groove.

o Does anyone reform 30-30 brass for their .25 Rem? If so, do you need to do anything special to the brass? I would think that I could reform the brass by just running it through a 35 Rem size die, but of course haven't done it!

o Do I lose any collector value if I refinish the wood on a 1989 gun?

Thanks,
John

[Scrounger]

I think it is too much but that is what the dang things are selling for. I guess the "pre-64 thing' with the Marlin would be "Pre-safety". The rifling is Microgroove and the barrel lettering will loudly and proudly proclaim that. I'm not afraid of Microgroove rifling, it can be made to shoot as good as Ballard, in either case it's just a matter of fitting the right bullet diameter. What worries me the most about Microgroove is that the shallower rifling will wear out quicker. Not a big problem with cast bullets.

[felix]

Only wears out at the leade-in area, making more freebore, like in all guns. Faster, prolly not enough to notice over other configurations because you have more "bore/land" to wear off with the 50-50 microgroove/microland. Most guns have less land area, and compensate by being taller. However, shallow lands have more opportunity to fill up with lube, and that is the real downfall. Must tailor the lube much mo'betta' for many rounds per outing. ... felix

[Char-Gar]

You can't turn 30-30 brass into 35 Remingtons brass as the 35 Rem. uses a larger and different case althogether.

The only thing you lose when you refnish a 1989 Marlin is the old finish.

[GrizzLeeBear]

I just bought the same gun, only a little newer, a couple months ago for $299 in Bay City. So if its in very good condition that seems to be what they are going for. Forget reforming 30-30 brass, the 35 Rem is a completely different case, just look at drawing of the two. The 35 is fatter and is rimless. Buy 35 Rem brass. I had a hard time finding it, but Cabelas carries it, so I got my brass from them. I've only shot 15 rounds through it, but it shoots great! Worked mine up to a top load of H4895 with the RCBS 35-200-FN (my first cast boolits!).
Yes, they are factory drilled for scope mounts.
It should have microgroove rifling, but dont let that scare you, they can be made to shoot very well with cast boolits. Like I said, I haven't been casting or loading for the 35 very long, but what I've read says choose a boolit with a gas check and cast them big (.358+) and hard. You might want to go over to marlinowners.com and do some searching, too, lots of good info. on this gun.
I am very happy with mine!

[garandsrus]

Thanks everyone...

The guy at the store said that the brass was a necked up 30-30. I should have known better! I had never looked at the case drawing.

John

[pumpguy]

Necked up 30-30 could be a 32 Winchester Special. You are not going to find one in a 1989 gun, though. If you have a hard time finding 35 brass, you can buy factory loads and either shoot them or pull the bullets and load them with cast.

[9.3X62AL]

Although not a lot of 35 Remingtons seem to come up for sale in California, I can't think of many better cast boolit calibers for deer work in the woods or brushlands. Just go a little fat with boolit diameter, and MG can do good work. I have a MG Model 62 in 30 Carbine, and the Lee Soup cans @ .311" shoot significantly better than the j-words, and at the same velocities (1900-2000 FPS).

Maybe the 22" barrel over the usual 18.5" on the Carbines makes a difference--I dunno.

[Scrounger]

It ain't easy but I've heard of guys making cases out of .30-06 brass. That does have the potential to be rechambered to .356 Winchester. Safe??? I don't know.

[garandsrus]

Well, I bought it... The wood is probably the "fanciest" of any gun I own. Here's a picture that doesn't do it justice: http://photos.gunloads.com/images/garandsrus/marlin336.jpg

Were there different grades of Marlin 336's? This one doesn' t have any checkering and the wood is much nicer than what I have seen while doing some searches for 336's.

Now I need to gather up reloading supplies!

Has anyone tried the Keith 173 GB boolits in a Rem 35? If so, how did they work out? I got in on the .35 cal rifle group buy but need to wait a couple months for the mold.

Thanks,
John

[GrizzLeeBear]

WOW! Looks like you got a great deal. The wood looks fantastic! Don't have any loads for you, but one thing you need to watch on the 336 in .35 is the short throat. I loaded my first round with the RCBS 200 gr. bullet seated so the case mouth was at the middle of the first driving band (so the crimp groove was inside the case) and they were still jaming into the lands! My next loads I will seat the bullet so I crimp over the front driving band. It pushes the base of the bullet into the case a ways, but its a slightly compressed load of H4895, so it should work ok. That 173 gr. Keith nose should fit the throat and seat the base of the bullet right at the base of the neck. Should do well if you don't push it too fast (it is a plain base, correct?).

[0802]

I just bought a newer production 336 in 35 Rem this weekend. I was travelling to an area I used to live in and just happened to place a call to an old shop I frequented to price a 35 Rem 336. The shop said they had one like new on their consignment rack. Turns out it was wearing a Bushnell 2-7 scope and I couldn't find hardly a mark on it. Lady who works there said she had sold this fella this gun new and didn't think 10 rounds had been through it. Maybe I made a mistake, but I paid $369 for it and I consider it to be brand new gun. I figure it would have taken me another $100-150 to set up a new gun like it is.

Only problem is I had too much luggage to get it back on the plane with me, so my parents have it until they drive out, maybe early May. Finally going to make all those .360 GBs pay off (how long 'til they come in BoomerMikey?).

Also of interest on their consignment rack was and IHC M1 Garand for $1500 (supposedly had all IHC parts, not sure about the barrel) and a Glenfield 30-30 for $250. If I was $1000 richer, this post would be in a different forum . . .

Josh

[uscra112]

A 336 in .35 Rem that looks that nice can NEVER be a bad decision. The only other common case with that base diameter is the Krag, which is rimmed, so converting brass is out. But it's easy to buy the brass. At least it is around Michigan. If you have trouble finding any, PM me and I'll get you some. I've got half a ton of it.

My .336 was my Dad's last deer gun, and I treasure it. If I had to have just one gun, (oh Lord, don't let that happen!) this would be it. It will shoot storebought 158-grain Keiths, 200 grain cast, and 190 grain paper-patched with equal alacrity. It will shoot 000 buck over a 2-3 grains of any fast pistol or shotgun powder, just for grins. By golly, it will even shoot 200 grain condom boolits at just over 2000 fps, and the plunk they make on deer is very satisfying. Unless you live in Montana and can't get closer than 200 yards to anything with legs, it's one heck of a tool. It's dead reliable, it ejects sideways so scopes are never a problem, the bolt comes out easy so it's real easy to clean. I've also got a 336 in .30-30, but it never goes anywhere to work, because the .35 Rem can always do the job better.

Boolits for Microgroove need to be full diameter for at least 65% of the their length. One thou over groove diameter is perfect, but most commercial Keiths are .358, and as long as you don't try to go slow with them, they work fine. 16 grains of 4227 or better yet XMP5744 does a good job.

The typical boolit with a long bore-diameter nose that works so well in .30-06 and Krags doesn't work in .35 Rem MG, because while the GROOVE diameter is still about .358", the BORE diameter is larger than .350". There's nothing for the nose to ride on, so the boolit tips. Loverin styles are great. I've never had a problem with the throat being too short. But I have the earlier shallow Microgroove.

BTW Harry Pope shot something like a ton of lead through his own .33 High Wall, and Harry's rifling was shallow, just like Microgroove. Took him years to do it, but it never wore out.

You done good!

[garandsrus]

Thanks for the posts everyone...

I shot the rifle for the first time today with some factory loads. It kicks a little when you are just wearing a light sweatshirt! It seems like it wants to shoot though.

I am looking forward to the .35 rifle molds coming in!

John