Suggestions for a fat .35

[Marlin Junky]

I've got a 336A ("H" gun) in .35 Rem that is .360+" near the chamber and about .3595" at the muzzle and would like to start shooting it with better than ho-hum results. I didn't get real accurate measurement because I started with .359" bullet weights from Wal-Mart and couldn't fill the grooves near the chamber, but I'm sure I need molds that drop a least .360" boolits... or wider for PB. Any suggestions for both GC and PB molds?

MJ

[6pt-sika]

I have a 336SC from the same time period in 35 and I've been shooting RCBS 200 grain GC bullets in it with very good results . And I rum mine thru a .359" sizer.

[Marlin Junky]

6pt,

Did you buy your 35-200FN recently? What diameter boolits does it cast in say, Lyman #2?

MJ

[PatMarlin]

Mine cast barely .359 in ACWW.. :roll:

Boughtit bout 5 years ago.

I've git a 1972 336 in micro groove, and it hates copper.

[Marlin Junky]

I think I may buy one then. I might be able to get a bit more diameter out of it by using 15 BHN metal and running it on the hot side.

MJ

[Trailblazer]

MJ,

I bought a RCBS-35-200-FN a couple years ago. The first one cast .3585" with WW. I called RCBS and they exchanged it. The new one was a little better, I think it went a hair over .359", but still undersize for my rifle. The rifle likes .360". I ended up Beagling it to get it large enough.

My Saeco 352 casts at .359" too. My NEI mold casts at .360" - perfect!

[Marlin Junky]

Trailblazer.

My SAECO 352 casts a nice oval .3575" to .3586" around the trailing band. I sent it back to Redding/SAECO for inspection. I hope they send me a new one that casts a wider, rounder boolit.

Also, I received a SAECO 301 last week and cast a couple hundred boolits from it on Saturday. I was a nice enough mold that was easy to work with BUT, one side casts .0005" smaller and one grain lighter than the other side. SAECO said, "That sounds typical", so beware SAECO fans. I think I'm going to stick to RCBS and Lyman for a while.

MJ

P.S. Which .360" NEI mold do you have and did Walt make it? I'm looking at #166 on NEI's website and the design looks good for the .35 Remington but I've got more confidence in Mountain Molds than NEI.

[35remington]

MJ:

Just what type of throat does the gun have? If it has the typical short throat soft alloys that bump up somewhat may give good accuracy even from undersize moulds.

I did say "may."

What have you tried so far, of what alloy and BHN?

I have a few .35 Remington Marlins myself, one a no throat and another with a considerably longer throat. The no throat rifle is the better lead shooter by far, believe it or not. It will shoot the RCBS 200 very well under 33-35 grains IMR 3031, which pretty much duplicates factory jacketed 200 velocity.

My RCBS 200 FN mould will go around .359-.3595" max when casting from wheelweights plus a little tin. Maybe it would be possible to inquire if RCBS would "select" a mould that would cast to the large side of the range? Asking couldn't hurt.

Lee will do this with their moulds if you send money to them direct, so you may be able to get a "plinker" bullet of 38/357 pistol style from them that casts to .360."

[Marlin Junky]

35remington,

The throat on my .35 (336A, "H" gun) is about .080" to .090" long. I've tried the SAECO 352 a couple times and the results are 3" to 4" groups at 75 yards with the same metal (15 BHN) that cuts groups half that size with the 30-30. The velocity is pushing 1900 fps with AA2520.

So... I decided before wasting any more gun powder, I'd let Redding have a look at it. Because I also complained about a brand new #301 mold not casting the same size boolit on each side, maybe they'll send me a hand picked #352 to shut me up??

MJ

P.S. I almost forgot... I had to cement the gas checks on the heals of the SAECO 352's with Locite 380 in order to keep them in place.

[Trailblazer]

MJ,

The NEI is stamped 290358GC. I looked at the NEI website and they don't show it but they do show a 300 grain bullet that looks the same. Mine drops at 295 grains. Probably not a good 35 Rem bullet. I bought the mold used so I expect it was made while Walt was alive. It is an aluminum single cavity and it is an excellent mold. The #166 looks like a good one for a 356 Win.

It looks like somebody enlarged the bore riding portion on my Saeco 352. They didn't do a real clean job on it either. One cavity is better and next time I cast I am going to mark it so I can sort them and see if there is a difference in how they shoot.

My RCBS mold might cast at .360" with a different alloy. It was supposedly cut with a new cherry so I wouldn't hope for anything much larger.

[Marlin Junky]

Does anyone know of a .35 cal. plain base pistol mold that'll drop .360+" boolits?... hopefully something in a RN-FP configuration that'll feed through a 336's magazine.

MJ

[357maximum]

Don

How heavy a boolit you looking for?

[Marlin Junky]

Michael,

The only .35 cal. mold I have right now is SAECO 352 and that mold is in NY. So, any .35 cal mold compatible with my .35 Remington would be a welcome addition. I guess what I'm looking for right off the bat is a 200 grain deer whacker. I'll probably give RCBS-35-200FN a try but I'd like something with a little wider meplat. I'd also like to have a PB mold that drops a 150 to 175 grain boolit that I can plink with and dust coyotes. Maybe I need a 150 grain GC-HP to really get the coyotes attention.

MJ

[Bass Ackward]

The throat on my .35 (336A, "H" gun) is about .080" to .090" long. I've tried the SAECO 352 a couple times and the results are 3" to 4" groups at 75 yards with the same metal (15 BHN). MJ


MJ,

If your throat is truely this long, There may be better .... options for you with that gun.

The only way you are going to know this for sure is to get some bullets sized .360 and try them. Someone here should be able to provide some for you. I have nothing that light or I would make the offer.

Try the .360 bullets and then HT a few and see what happens. If the HT ones outperform significantly, then you may want to have Marlin set your barrel back and rechamber to cut the jump distance in your throat or re-barrel all together. Since they will replace a barrel for around $150, I would guess costs for this to be about $100. If the gun is still under warranty and you describe your problem, there .... is a chance they will fix it for free. At least they did mine if you can get passed the call screener to the smith.

The other option is a custom mold that is more of a one diameter bullet so that the .360 diameter runs farther in the throat in essence cutting the jump. But with the dimensions you list, my guess is that that bullet will weight a little more than 200 grains. I guess about 225 should get it. But design the boolit to fit and let the weight fall where it will. This is about a $70 option. This will be a "stronger" bullet design than a bore rider.

Personally, I say look at how the gun shoots jacketed. If it does, then rechamber. If it is only so so, then re-barrel.

[Marlin Junky]

Bass Ackward,

There's always the custom mold option and I'll probably wait until MM is back in business to get serious about this rifle. However, I have a bad feeling about Dan's work load when he finally gets running again. I don't know or really trust any of the other mold cutters on the scene today. There's probably a few good BP-type mold cutters out there, but I've had success with Dan's system, so I'll stick with him.

My .35 is 55 years old and could be out of warrantee by now. I'm not positive about the throat length but I really don't consider less than a tenth of an inch to be a long throat. When I measure a throat, I seat a boolit in reverse and subtract the case length from the overall length and there may be a possibility I was using a short case. What I do recollect is that the .35's throat is about .020" shorter than my 24" 30-30 set up for silhouette. That 30-30's leade was calculated at .110" with a 2.02" case. So with a "normal" 2.035" case this would be .095". So, the .35's throat is probably in the .070" to .080" range which is not long in my book, especially when I've got another 336 in 30-30 that has a throat an honest 1/8" long.

Jacketed bullets!? Can we still buy those?

MJ

P.S. I don't see any reason why several of the many .35 pistol boolits out there wouldn't work in my .35 Rem. if they'd only drop fat enough.

[onceabull]

M---J---: If you can get past the bad feeling associated with BUYING boolits, you might be pleased with the .360 160 gr PB offered by Western Bullet (MIssoula,MT) these come out of a H&G #512 mould, which I'd wager you will not see at the next 5 gunshows,or 5 months of e-baying.. might be worth a try,especially if you could make an"unrefusable offer" for them unsized.unlubed.....[smilie=1: Onceabull

[Marlin Junky]

onceabull,

I didn't see the H&G boolit there but going to the website did raise the question: What about Lyman 358315? It's supposed to be made for the .35 Rem. I'll bet it won't cast .361" from a current mold though.

MJ

[onceabull]

M----J____: LY 358315 is a GC so I didn't mention it,Noting also that his listing spec's .358. One can always ring'emup and inquire as to what his raw casting mic ?? The H&G #512 is shown on the website as 38 S&W( he also has another .360 ,the lighter,more traditional 38 S&W from a older lyman mould) ..fwiw,:roll: Onceabull MY BAD: shouold have mentioned that Western also offers the lyman 358430, Nominal 200 gr PB,thats the boolit for the old 38-200 S&W load,so there's a fair chance the mould might drop .360 or a tad more

[Bass Ackward]

So, the .35's throat is probably in the .070" to .080" range which is not long in my book, especially when I've got another 336 in 30-30 that has a throat an honest 1/8" long.

P.S. I don't see any reason why several of the many .35 pistol boolits out there wouldn't work in my .35 Rem. if they'd only drop fat enough.


MJ,

Sorry I miss read that as .800 to .900.

I was thinking that all you needed to do was reach while you are fighting a case of 38-55 syndrom.

[Marlin Junky]

What can I expect from Lyman 358665 in terms of boolit diameter? Do the current 4-cavity Lyman molds have the same thickness sprue plate as their current 2-cavity molds?

MJ

P.S. Same question as above except substitute 358156 for 358665.

P.P.S. Same question for all the PB & GC RCBS molds in the 150 to 158 grain range.

Thanks,
MJ

[6pt-sika]

6pt,

Did you buy your 35-200FN recently? What diameter boolits does it cast in say, Lyman #2?

MJ


Got it about 4 years ago and I've only cast WW's in it so far [smilie=1:


I have a copy of Ranch Dogs 35 cal GC mould that looks pretty decent so far . You may see about starting a group buy for that mould if he does not mind .

[Marlin Junky]

I tried SAECO #399 for the first time today in my .35-336 and it performed very good at 2200 fps. The best 5-shot group at 75 yards was 13/16" and the worst measured just under 2" with 4 out of 5 just under 3/4". The shooting was done, with my '51 vintage 336A with iron sights. Even though the boolits were out of round by about .001" to .0015" because a burr near an alignment pin was holding the mold blocks open slightly, accuracy was better than satisfactory.

The leading band measured .352" and seated firmly into the rifling but the action didn't close excessively hard... it just kind of snapped shut.

Anyway, great results with a boolit that might be overlooked as .35-336 fodder. Driven by 40 to 41 grains of 2230-C, less pressure was developed when compared to my rounds loaded with 37 grains of 2520 behind SAECO #352 at 240+ grains checked.

MJ

[PatMarlin]

Big whooo hoooo on that one MJ.

I wonder how it do in my 358 win VZ-24? .....:drinks: