Just bought a Marlin 336 in 35 Rem

[Menner]

Ok The definition of a deal is being at the right place at the right time with the right amount of money in your pocket

I just Bought a 336 in 35 Rem the rifle's numbers make it a 1972 model it has a little surface rust here and there but the action is tight and the bore looks really good doesn't look like it has ever had a scope mounted on it. A guy traded it in on a shotgun said that he doesn't hunt in Pa. anymore and De. is a shotgun only state. I really think this thing has been shot very little. I have dealt with this Lgs quite a bit he was asking 250 I asked if he would take 200 and he said yes so I now own my first 35 Rem so here come the questions

Would like to try a couple different Boolits before I buy a mold what are you guys using in the 336 I would buy some Boolits to try if anyone is willing
I am looking for a fun load to shoot not a hunting load for now any recommendations powders I have on hand are H4198,Red Dot,IMR4320,H4895,and a little IMR 4227
Looking at the case specs I cannot form brass from any other caliber so I will have to buy brass and dies
everything I read about the 35 Rem says that it is a really good cast Boolit caliber so I am excited to see what it will do

Thanks any help will be greatly appreciated
T9103091031ony

[357maximum]

I have yet to see a 35REM that would not shoot the RCBS 35-200 made of WD'ed 50PB/50COWW accurately.

I am sure someone will come along with a plinking load for that boolit (softer alloy might help), but when/if you decide to hunt with it ....max/near max loads of W748/H335/AA2015/H322 all seem to work just fine in mine with a 50/50 waterdropped boolit of the 35-200.

I have done very little plinking load workup with my 35's, and the boolit I used was the BRP hornady SWC clone (no longer available) with pinches of Unique and 700X......so this amounts to verbage without much use, but I had to plug the RCBS-35-200...could not help it. :mrgreen:

[dondiego]

Your gonna alike it! Mine shoots all of the 158 grain 357 mag bullets well sized to 0.359. 8.5 grains of Red Dot does well in that weight for a light plinking load. Even the jacketed bullets. There are many vendors that sell 180 to 200 grain cast bullets with or without gas check. Lee makes a 190 grain mold. 16 grains of 2400 works.

[Menner]

thanks for the info I would like to try the 35-200 but the 158 357 mag boolit sounds like it is worth trying out. prob wont start messing with it until after the first of the year

[myg30]

Congrads on the 35. Its very addictive. Do you have any lubing and sizing dies for 35 yet ? I might be able to send you some of the 35-200.
Also one of the vendors on here, Carolina cast bullets I believe has that boolit. Good guy to deal with.
You can always ask up in the boolit exchange section and you might luck up on some other types for your 35.

Good luck with it, sounds like santa was looking out fer you. Merry Christmas, Enjoy.

Mike

[ButterNutZ]

Great rifle! I have same model, made in 1971, loves the rcbs 35-200 over 37gr of Varget.
Man I cant believe you only gave that guy $200 for it, what a steal!

[Menner]

thanks i am excited about this rifle I when he said that he would take 200 I could not get the cash out of my pocket fast enough I am willing to trade for boolits I cast so I can sample a number of different boolits before I buy a mold have a feeling that I will own a rcbs 35-200 but dondiego mentioned a 357 Mag boolit for a red dot load that looks interesting

I cast this boolit in 40 s&w its from Erik at hollow point bullet molds 401-175-tc
9104991050
I also cast a 7mm & 8mm lovern Boolit

and I cast a few others
willing to trade or buy boolits
by the way does anybody know where I can find Brass?

[ButterNutZ]

Menner I'm sending you a PM.

[jonp]

Hold on, you got that for $200? You stole that gun. Great buy. I had one just like it and loved it.

[MtGun44]

Heck of a price. Does it have a throat? Mine is about 1/16".

Bill

[earlmck]

Heck of a price. Does it have a throat? Mine is about 1/16".

Bill That's the challenging thing about 35 Rem: if it came from a factory it has almost no throat. Short neck, no throat, so the RCBS 200 and Lyman 205 are made with that bore-ride nose so you can load them to normal length and not have bases down below the case neck.

And indeed, that is a heck of a price. The gun store guy must have been having one of those "senior moments" and forgot what decade we are in.

[shredder]

Nice work on the purchaase. I tried some 150 RN cast and found out that my 336 is super fussy about OAL and will jam wide open if I try and feed them through the magazine. I bought a new Lyman 358315 204 grain RN designed for the .35 Remington. It feeds flawlessly and shoots really well with 20 grains of IMR 4198 giving about 1350fps. My only concern with this boolit is the round nose in a tube magazine if cast hard.

[jlchucker]

I agree with everyone that says try the RCBS 35-200. I've never tried any of the powders you mention in your post, though. IMO you can't go wrong with IMR 3010 or Winchester 748 with that boolit in the 35 Remington. Use published data. There's lots of it available.

I meant to say IMR 3031. Sorry.

[Menner]

Thanks to everyone and yes I would have to agree that I stole it and is it bad that I don't feel bad about doing it ?
from what everybody is saying looks like the Lyman 358335 204 grain RN and the RCBS 35-200 are the most popular boolit for this Rifle. I have had a couple members that have offered to help with some samples so I can get an idea of what the rifle likes
The shop owner looked up the numbers and he said that it is a 72 model but it is a micro grove gun ( says so right on the barrel) what year did Marlin start using the micro grove ?

[shredder]

Thanks to everyone and yes I would have to agree that I stole it and is it bad that I don't feel bad about doing it ?
from what everybody is saying looks like the Lyman 358335 204 grain RN and the RCBS 35-200 are the most popular boolit for this Rifle. I have had a couple members that have offered to help with some samples so I can get an idea of what the rifle likes
The shop owner looked up the numbers and he said that it is a 72 model but it is a micro grove gun ( says so right on the barrel) what year did Marlin start using the micro grove ?

Fixed my post above. I gave you the wrong mould number it should be 358315.
Marlin went to the microgroove in the 50s. Very few 336s in 35 Rem. were ever made with so called standard rifling. A very fun gun for me. I put a peep sight on it.

[Menner]

Shredder thanks I thought the micro grove was much later than that I may try a peep but with my eyes I think it's going to be some glass probably 3x9 something. I am going to do some shooting with the open sights but with cataract surgery open sights are rough I had to take the peep off my bow, low light could not see through the D@!# thing


Have not had a chance to check the throat yet just got it yesterday afternoon and don't have any brass or boolits yet but I see some arriving shortly from a very good source
The people on this site are some of the most generous people I have had the pleasure of being associated with thanks again

[Lefty SRH]

I really enjoy my 336 .35 Remmy! I cant really offer a plinkin load but I did try some 358311s and Trail Boss in mine recently. They were so light it was funny. Hard to say about accuracy cause the sights were so bad off from the normal load. Mine wears a Williams receiver sight and an XS front sight.
Congrats on Your purchase

[BruceB]

NVCurmudgeon and I went to the Cabela's store in Reno a few years ago and found a neglected 336 in .35 Remington on the used-gun rack. I was tempted, but left it there. As I recall, the price was $200.

I mentioned it to my wife when I got home, and forgot about it.

That Christmas, it was under the tree!

About 1/2 hour's work, and the rifle is like-new. The surface crud (inside AND outside) was purely a matter of neglect. The rear (barrel) sight had been bent up at a 45-degree angle.... I removed it, added a slot blank, and mounted a steel Lyman on the receiver. Up front there is now a Lyman 17 with the interchangeable inserts.

The rifle is literally almost like-new! No wear or marks on wood or metal, and the rifling is Ballard style. date of manufacture is (I think)1951.

Using the collective wisdom of this website, I obtained the RCBS .35-200 mould, and I'm sizing at .359 which seems to work perfectly.

No drama, no hysterics, no problems.... just a classic rifle that works exactly as it was intended to work.

I even developed a method to make .35 brass from .308 cases.

[Menner]

Sooooooo....... tell me about 308 to 35 brass 308 brass I got???????????

[Djones]

I sent you a PM on the 308 to 35 Remington brass conversion. I have not converted any 308 brass to 35 but I do have the instructions for later use.

What a steal for $200! I have one I picked up for $400 and love it! No cast yet...waiting on the MiHec 220 grain hunting boolit group buy! If my paitenance wears thin I will buy a NOE 35-200 "RCBS clone" mold

[brown bass hunter]

RCBS 358-200 shoots great out of my 1977 model 336 in 35 Rem. The hotter the loads the better in mine. Good luck with it.

[jm423]

Here's another endorsement for the RCBS 200 gr. More accurate than that rifle is supposed to be capable of. For a plinker or close range hog thumper try 15-18 gr 4759. (Head shots on big hogs, please) One of my "sometime" projects is trying 150-160 gr 38/357 pistol boolits in my 336-35. Speaking of scopes, I have an ancient Weaver K-2.5 to try someday. Think it will be just about right at the ranges I hunt.

[Menner]

Thanks Djones that looks intresting and if I can't find any brass it looks like an option. yeah from all the indorsement on here I will probably end up with the RCBS 35-200 or/and the Lyman 358315 and I am going to play with the 357 Mag boolit a buddy of mine has 1 and we were talking about it last night. Through the kindness of others on this site I will have a few pcs of Brass and a few sample Boolits to start experimenting with, the dies and case length gauge are already on the way so after Christmas should be able to make this puppy bark a little. found a lgs owner that has what he calls a bunch of 35 brass but won't part with any I ain't done with him yet persistence may be the key

[357maximum]

FWIW the lyman 358315 is too small in the nose for 98+% of the marlins out there if ultimate accuracy at J-word speed is your goal....it is an excellent boolit to paperpatch however as you generally can just wrap it and then size it. I had great luck shooting paperpatched 358315's in two 35Rem Marlins, but the RCBS boolit made of the proper alloy does not need wrapped to do the same thing....you can make alot more boolits faster and without cramped fingers that way. I will freely admit the LAZY MAN I AM likes the easiness of a proper grease grooved boolit that works over the paperpatching a boolit that is almost right.

RCBS 35-200 is about a 500% better boolit in my opinion.

[Menner]

Thanks 357 I am not looking to get into paperpatching anything the alloy I will using is COWW

[hicard]

BruceB, I sure would like to learn how to make 35 Rem cases out of 308's. Can't seem to find any 35's. hicardattheskybeamdotcom

[singleshot]

There are seasonal runs of 35 rem brass and you can get loaded ammo to tide you over with brass. Go that route! 35 rem and 308 win have different dimensions EVERYWHERE including the base, and therefore take a goodly amount of work per piece. I.e. not worth it unless that is your ONLY option. (But, it's good to have options!)

My favorite boolits are the RD 190 grain, which was specifically designed for this rifle to maximize case capacity, and can be pushed to ~2400 fps, and the 125 grain SWC for plinking and varmint work with shotgun powders.

[wrench man]

There are seasonal runs of 35 rem brass and you can get loaded ammo to tide you over with brass. Go that route! 35 rem and 308 win have different dimensions EVERYWHERE including the base, and therefore take a goodly amount of work per piece. I.e. not worth it unless that is your ONLY option.

Agreed, It' on the shelf around these parts, you guys make it sound like it ranks with Unicorns, Minotaurs and honest politicians!??

[BruceB]

Shortages of .35 Remington brass are a FACT OF LIFE. The very future of the cartridge seems to be questionable.

At the time I got my 1951 Marlin, there was very little brass available, and I created MY method of adapting brass that I had in plenty, for my own use. I then made the error of posting the method for all to see here.

I am frankly amazed at the numbers that come out of the woodwork to poo-poo the very idea.

Look, people.... it is NEVER wrong to know how to cope for oneself in the face of bad circumstances.

I do NOT see nay-sayers on the subject of (good grief) making blackpowder at home, or reloading primers, or modifying Berdan cases to accept Boxer primers...... but mention making .35 Remington cases from .308s, and OH MY! "You can't do this, you can't do that, it's wrong, yadda yadda ....."

News Flash: It is NOT wrong; the dimensions adapt perfectly; the resulting .35 cases are long-lived, and there are NO issues whatever.

If someone wants to do this conversion, more power to him. He'll create usable cases to supply a rifle for which he either had NO brass, or add to his supply of .35 cases without spending Nickel One to do it.

Win-win.... but some refuse to acknowledge the fact.


The Method:

1. Lubricate the .308 case and run it all the way into a .44 Magnum sizer. This will throw-up a narrow "belt" of brass at the extractor groove...don't worry about it now.

2. Size the case in a .35 Remington sizer die.

3. Place the case in your trimmer (adapting an electric drill to the trimmer is almost essential) and trim to correct .35 length.

4.Chuck the case in a drill press, lathe, or electric-drill-in-a-vise, and remove that belt of brass with a sharp fine-cut file. Try each case in the rifle as you do this step; you'll soon learn how much filing it takes. Taking a bit off the rim diameter does no harm.

You may want to polish the filed area, but it's not essential.

Voila'....... usable durable .35 Remington brass. I've converted several hundred .308s without loss using this method, and the rifle has no complaints.

YES, it's best to use factory-original .35 brass.....but when the day comes that one simply can NOT find factory brass...... THERE IS A WAY!

[dverna]

I have to agree with BruceB. .35 Rem brass is not always easy to get and it is good to have a way to produce it from something as easy to get as .308 - even if it involves a bit of work.

The .35 Rem is such a great caliber for cast and for most of the hunting we do here in Michigan. Like a fool I passed on a Marlin in good shape for $225 about 5 years ago and have always regretted it.

Good luck with your find!!!

Don Verna

[Menner]

Thank you I read the procedure for making the 35 brass and while it does require a bit of work it is an option and it is good to have options thanks to a member I have a few cases and boolit's to play with so today I prepped the cases and made up 10 test loads to just to see 9gr red dot oal to 2.5 and went to the range was happy with the results considering my eyes and open sights at 50 yrds and 30 degrees about 3 1/2" 5 shot groups tried post a pic of it but could not with my phone will try tomorrow with puter

91623

[Beerd]

ya think the R & D folks at Lee would consider catloging a 35 caliber rifle bullet mould if every 35 Rem shooter requested one?
..

[MtGun44]

Hmm. I didn't have too much trouble getting about 150 new Rem or Win cases when I got my
rifle a couple years back. Not enough trouble to even remember where I got it. Probably like
Midway or Grafs.

Bill

[onehousecat]

You got a great deal. The 35 Rem is a excellent round, and I really don't understand why it is so often neglected. My experience with one was with a TC with a 14" barrel. I used a RCBS 180 Sil gc mold. With my mostly COWW alloy, the bullets came out at more like 192-193 grs. I think that bullet with a moderate charge of 3031 was capable of a perfect score in Metallic Silhouette based on sessions of shooting off a dead rest. Unfortunately, I wasn't that skillful in competition. I'm not a hunter, but I have no doubt that the 35 will take a deer as long as I do my part.

Have fun playing with your versatile, efficient round. I certainly did. One last thing, I bought exactly 100 of those those rather expensive, and allegedly better jacketed bullets. I still have a few of them left over. After seeing what the caliber would do with cast bullets, I wasted no more time on the jacketed ones.

[Menner]

Yeah bought the rifle and started looking for brass all of the usual places nobody had any looked on all the one fired sites still none thanks to some members here I have got enough to work up loads and do some shooting. The more I look the more I believe the seasonal run they make x# of 35 Brass and when its gone its gone until the next run so I will wait it out and see what I can get later this year. I don't see any J words being shot through this rifle if I do any hunting with it it will be with cast Boolits. Looking at the RCBS 35-200 mold or NOE 360-200 2 cavity with 1 PB and 1 GC
The 2 targets above were the RCBS it seems to like them. I put a scope on it last night and am going to reshoot them tomorrow that was 9gr red dot tomoroow will shoot that again with a slight crimp and a string of 9.5 gr red dot let the rifle tell me what it likes

[singleshot]

Shortages of .35 Remington brass are a FACT OF LIFE. The very future of the cartridge seems to be questionable.

At the time I got my 1951 Marlin, there was very little brass available, and I created MY method of adapting brass that I had in plenty, for my own use. I then made the error of posting the method for all to see here.

I am frankly amazed at the numbers that come out of the woodwork to poo-poo the very idea.

Look, people.... it is NEVER wrong to know how to cope for oneself in the face of bad circumstances.

I do NOT see nay-sayers on the subject of (good grief) making blackpowder at home, or reloading primers, or modifying Berdan cases to accept Boxer primers...... but mention making .35 Remington cases from .308s, and OH MY! "You can't do this, you can't do that, it's wrong, yadda yadda ....."

News Flash: It is NOT wrong; the dimensions adapt perfectly; the resulting .35 cases are long-lived, and there are NO issues whatever.

If someone wants to do this conversion, more power to him. He'll create usable cases to supply a rifle for which he either had NO brass, or add to his supply of .35 cases without spending Nickel One to do it.

Win-win.... but some refuse to acknowledge the fact.


The Method:

1. Lubricate the .308 case and run it all the way into a .44 Magnum sizer. This will throw-up a narrow "belt" of brass at the extractor groove...don't worry about it now.

2. Size the case in a .35 Remington sizer die.

3. Place the case in your trimmer (adapting an electric drill to the trimmer is almost essential) and trim to correct .35 length.

4.Chuck the case in a drill press, lathe, or electric-drill-in-a-vise, and remove that belt of brass with a sharp fine-cut file. Try each case in the rifle as you do this step; you'll soon learn how much filing it takes. Taking a bit off the rim diameter does no harm.

You may want to polish the filed area, but it's not essential.

Voila'....... usable durable .35 Remington brass. I've converted several hundred .308s without loss using this method, and the rifle has no complaints.

YES, it's best to use factory-original .35 brass.....but when the day comes that one simply can NOT find factory brass...... THERE IS A WAY!

Bruce, I may not have adequately represented myself. I LOVE innovation AND options. I wasn't poo-pooing your idea. I plan to try this myself, just to ensure I know how the process works. My point was one of economics and time management.

Now, if you can do this with 308's, 270, 30-06, etc. should work as well, right?

[BruceB]

Yep, I definitely got the wrong impression. Thanks for the explanation.

I suspect that , in using the longer cases such as '06 or .270, we might run into problems with excessive thickness at the necks of the formed .35 cases. The .308 cases haven't given me any troubles with this, but cutting-down the '06-length brass would probably get into the thicker walls further down the length of the case.

If this does become a problem, neck-reaming (or outside turning) of the new case would still allow the brass to be used, but the process would require an extra step as well as the tooling to do the job. I also suspect that annealing the neck/shoulder area might be a good idea.

[dondiego]

BruceB - Luckily I have several hundred factory 35 rem casings but I am glad that you posted your method for converting .308. I have several thousand of those that I will never use. Have you noticed any difference in using factory verses military brass for the conversion?

[BruceB]

Hmmm.... now that you mention it, I realize that I've never used a military case as the basis for .35 Remington conversion.

I have several military-type 7.62 NATO rifles, and my GI brass is reserved for those rifles.

Given that 7.62 NATO brass is "usually" heavier than commercial stuff, it's possible that the neck-thickness issue will arise with this brass too, as well as with the '06-.270 cases.

I'd just try one or two and see if it works. If it DOES work, then in the interests of uniformity I would use only ONE type for all my conversions..... stick to either military OR commercial cases, and don't mix them together.

Please let us know how it works, should you decide to give it a try.

[Menner]

Update on the 336 made a few more test loads last night and went out this afternoon when the rain let up put a scope on it saturday and after sighting it in shot a couple strings here is the best 5 shot group I am sure the dummy behind the stock had a lot to do with the flyer the 4 are at .6" the fifth which was the 4th round out of the muzzle opened it up to 1.2" this is with the RCBS 35-200 boolit rifle seems to like it we will see if I can repeat it when I get my mold

91968

[randy_68]

Menner, have you chronied your Red Dot loads?

I have the same gun and RCBS mold but haven't found a great load yet using 3031. Most people say 3031 is a good powder for it but 2"-3" groups at 50 is as good as I have gotten. I have a couple pounds of reddot so I may try your loads.
BTW does your rifle have the short throat and do the RCBS boolits engage the rifling when loaded in the crimp groove? I found I had to crimp over the front band to get them to chamber without forcing them into the rifling.

[Lefty SRH]

Menner, have you chronied your Red Dot loads?

I have the same gun and RCBS mold but haven't found a great load yet using 3031. Most people say 3031 is a good powder for it but 2"-3" groups at 50 is as good as I have gotten. I have a couple pounds of reddot so I may try your loads.
BTW does your rifle have the short throat and do the RCBS boolits engage the rifling when loaded in the crimp groove? I found I had to crimp over the front band to get them to chamber without forcing them into the rifling.

Depending on how much they engrave without seating over the band you can trim your brass a little shorter. I had to do this to my brass inorder to crimp in the groove and chamber with lifht engraving.

[randy_68]

I did a few like that as well and it worked ok. I just never saw it mentioned about this boolit engraving the rifling so I thoght something was amiss with my setup. I guess not. With brass at 1.910 and this boolit crimped in the groove it takes a little effort to close the lever so I trimmed some to 1.90 and it was better with just a very slight engraving. It shot better also. The 1.910 loads shot like a shotgun.

[Menner]

did not have time yesterday to set it up it was getting late by the time the rain quit but we are estimating them between 1300 to 1350 by the Lyman charts will chrony them next time it will be a little while these were boolits from a member here that sent me a few to try so am waiting on a mold

did not even try to touch the rifling pushed the boolits to an OAL of 2.5" and used the Factory crimp die just to take flare out of the neck from the expansion die but no crimp. Cases were trimed with the lee case gauge I am not near my notes and don't remember exactly 1.90 or 1.91 sounds right will look when I get home


started with 9gr Red Dot then 9.5 and then 10 and I could see the groups tighten up when I get my mold and cast some boolits I will work up until the groups open up and play with OAL some to see what the rifle likes

one thing I am thinking hard about is NOE has a 360-200 Mold that I want to get (not available right now) when I can get one I will, to work up the slower powders to push velocity up a bit

[Menner]

MY New Mold is HERE got my Lyman 35-200 mold today ordered it from Midsouth on Sunday and I have a feeling I know what I will be doing tomorrow Gas checks came in Thursday can't wait to start working up the 35 Remmy. Do I appear to be a 12 yr old instead of a soon to be 50(very soon)yr old?