Re barrelling a 30/30 336 to 35 Remington or 38/55 & what Twists?

[Four Fingers of Death]

Two options, both calibres I like (no experience with the 35Remington, but I'd like to fix that).

What is involved in the 35 Remington conversion and what twists would you recommend for both?
Thanks.

[felix]

FFoD, what are the boolit lengths and meplats of each that will be shot MOST often, and at what RANGE? ... felix

[rockrat]

I would imagine a barrel, lifter and bolt for the 35Rem. I would go with a 1-16" twist. For the 38-55,probably just a barrel. Lifters might be the same, so you should be OK. I would also go with the 1-16" twist, in case you want to single load some heavy boolits.
You could go with the 35/30-30 and save the expense of a bolt and lifter.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

I have no Idea on the 35 Rem. But for 38-55 I have always been told 1 in 18.

Sam

[Boomer Mikey]

If you're going to have the barrel recut I would consider 1:16 or 1:15 twist rate for 35 caliber to take advantage of the 140 - 225 Grain bullets and spec the pistol bullet groove diameter of 0.357" - 0.358".

For the 38-55 1:14 or 1:15; the 38-55 is a lower pressure cartridge that could benifit from the faster twist than the normal 1:18 twist rate with 255 -300 grain bullets at moderate velocity. I would also ask for a chamber and groove diameter to use 0.375"- 0.377" bullets. I have both 375 Winchester and 38-55 Winchester and Marlin rifles. The 1:12 twist in the 375 Winchester barrels works great with 200 - 270 grain bullets at 38-55 power levels (1300 - 1800 fps) but 300's don't work well at high pressure 375 Winchester power levels.

Boomer

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thanks Boomer, I gather you are referring to reboring, no one does that in Australia anymore.

Does anyone know what the twists are for the factory Bbls? That would be a cheap option.

[Boomer Mikey]

Here you go:

30-30 lifters and guides will work fine for 38-55 or 375 Winchester. The easiest swap is to put a Winchester 375 Winchester barrel on a Winchester 30-30 and relabel it a 38-55 after poking the barrel with a 38-55 reamer. In most cases the 375 Winchester chamber will allready be long enough for 38-55 anyway.

See this:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=8549

Have Fun,

Boomer

[beagle]

For the .35...a 1-14 or 1-16. 1-16 works in mine for cast. For the .38-55, a 1-16 and this is a good conversion. You'll probably end up with a .375 barrel which will shoot most of the old bullets...unlike the new Marlins which are oversize and require oversize bullets. Makes life easier. You can used blown out .30/30s, .38-55 brass or .375 Winchester brass which is stronger.

I've rebarrelled a couple of 336 Marlins. One in .32-40 and one in .25-35. They work fine with no tinkering on the actions. The .38-55 would be the same. After rebarrelling, you do have to mill a flat on the bottom of the barrel for about 4" in front of the receiver for clearance for the magazine./beagle

[runfiverun]

both my marlin and win 375 will accept the shorter of the two 38-55 brass i haven't gotten any of the longer brass to try just yet.
however the winchester will definately outshoot the marlin i just got the win and have been working on the marlin for almost two years,i got the win home and shot the marlin loads through it and it not only grouped them better they shot to point of aim not two feet low.
if i were building one i think i'd buy the win-94, rebarell have a couple of threads cut off and rechamber and have the throat cut to your boolit.
your pressure will be topped at @40k but i doubt that it would make much difference.

[HiVelocity]

Save some time and $$.............

If you send your Marlin back to the factory with a letter and $170.00; they will change out the barrel and do whatever other modifications are required to convert your 336 from 30-30 to 35 Remington.

I wrote to them awhile back when I got the 35 bug; and I know of another CB fan who did this with his 336.

Oh, they go over the whole rifle and update everything they find. First Class service; not sure about the turn around time.

Just food for thought,

HiVelocity in SC

[Four Fingers of Death]

Save some time and $$.............

If you send your Marlin back to the factory with a letter and $170.00; they will change out the barrel and do whatever other modifications are required to convert your 336 from 30-30 to 35 Remington. HiVelocity in SC

I will be going to End of Trail in 2010 or 2011, I could drop it in then, which was something that crossed my mind before. Good excuse to come to the states as well.

[qajaq59]

Save some time and $$.............

If you send your Marlin back to the factory with a letter and $170.00; they will change out the barrel and do whatever other modifications are required to convert your 336 from 30-30 to 35 Remington.

I wrote to them awhile back when I got the 35 bug; and I know of another CB fan who did this with his 336.

Oh, they go over the whole rifle and update everything they find. First Class service; not sure about the turn around time.

Just food for thought,

HiVelocity in SC

I gotta look into that. I have a 30AS in 30-30 that I'd prefer was a 35. Thanks HV

[schutzen]

I think you Marlin factory prices are several years out of date. I had my 336T converted to .38-55 last year. Marlin charged me $310, but did a wonderful job. It is accurate and works flawlessly. That price also included them returning my barrel and fore arm (I switched from a round barrel to an octagon barrel).

[O.S.O.K.]

I don't know how what I'm about to say lines up with being in Australia, but if this were me, I'd simply sell my 336 30-30 and then purchase a 336 in 35 Rem.

For the 38-55, I'd do a barrel swap. I don't think you have to change anything else as the 38-55 is the same basic case as the 30-30 and has a little longer ocl- might have to grind the cartridge stop a little...

Now you're making me think....

I don't have a 38-55 and have wanted one for some time... didn't think of just rebarreling a 336 30-30...

[Four Fingers of Death]

OSOK, there's always some fool around here who's willing to help you spend more money!

[KCSO]

While not quite what you are asking I am doing another 336 to 38-55 right now. I have a personal favorite for the 38-55 and this conversion is so easy, yo need to take out the old barrel and put in the new one and if you are real luck you won't even need to turn the shoulder to set the headspace. I am waiting on a 38-55 tube from Jesse the barrel recutter. I actually prefer 38-55 to 35 remington as you can develop a somewhat heftier load in the 35-55 I push a 250 grain bullet to a full 1900 fps with no problems. On the current conversion I am replacing the stocks with the proper period 93 style stocks and I have removed the lawyer safety and re blued the receiver. Since the barrel was recut and chambered the headspace was right on when reinstalled and the caliber conversion alone would have taken only an hour or so. I was lucky enough that I had a couple spare barrels for 336's and had sent one off a while ago for recutting.

[Boomer Mikey]

The 38-55 is a great cartridge that's easy to obtain excellent loads for when the groove diameter is 0.375"-0.377" area and darn near impossible to find loads for when the bore is oversize at 0.380" or larger!

KCSO, Beagle and runfiverun's comments are spot on.

Jesse has recut many Cast Boolit member's barrels and I've not heard a single negative comment about his work.

I also prefer the Winchester 94 conversion. You can take the original 30-30 barrel off and send it to:

Jesse Ocumpaugh
715 South 6th St.
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
Phone: (541) 942-1342
Fax: (541) 942-7533

Cost was $225 plus shipping/insurance which I believe added about $30. I did send him the removed (with no sights etc.) barrel and he necked the original chamber for the 35 at NO additional cost.

Headspace will be unchanged from your original barrel and you can specify what twist rate and the groove diameter you want for either conversion. I purchased a set of 35/30-30 (35-30) (35-55) dies from CH4D for $75. I had a custom reamer made for mine that I call the 35-55 but it wasn't necessary; a 38-55 recut will require a reamer to cut the throat and chamber... be careful here there are two different lengths of 38-55 brass. The original 35-55 used 2.125" long brass and chambers should be cut full length. Winchester's 38-55 brass is 2.082" long... the same as 375 Winchester brass.

The 35/30-30 is one of the oldest if not "the" oldest wildcat cartridges in America.


Left to right: 375 Winchester 255 grain, 35/30-30 (35-30) RCBS 200 grain, and 38-55 255 grain in 2.125" long brass.

Jesse is pretty fast too... you could be shooting your 35/30-30 or 38-55 at the End of Trail in 2010.

Boomer

[HiVelocity]

I think you Marlin factory prices are several years out of date. I had my 336T converted to .38-55 last year. Marlin charged me $310, but did a wonderful job. It is accurate and works flawlessly. That price also included them returning my barrel and fore arm (I switched from a round barrel to an octagon barrel).

Actually, sir, my price was not inaccurate. Another gentleman with whom I traded with sent his Marlin 336 last year to the factory and he provided me with the pricing information and color photos of his new 35Rem.

I imagine that there may be a tad more to changing the 30-30 to 38-55. Specially since you changed barrel configurations. Hence the additional cost.

In any case, write to Marlin and have them provide you with a current quote to preclude any misinformation.

HiVelocity

[Charlie Sometimes]

This thread has given me much to think about.

I owned a Big Bore 94 XTR top eject, several years ago in 375 Win., and let someone talk me out of it.
It was new, never fired (no box) with 2 boxes of the original Big Bore 94 ammo.
Not long ago, I decided that I would like to have another Winchester to actually shoot, and began weighing my options.

After reading these posts, I think I have more options for a good shooter in 38-55.

I want to use the 375 Win dies and brass, RCBS 37-250-FN mould, gas checked and sized to 0.376", and H4198 or H4895 loaded at 38-55 pressures and velocities.

You guys helped me with the rate of twist question, I think.

[Uncle Grinch]

I've been following this thread for some time. I keep going back and re-reading it and each time I pick up more info and ideas. Well I finally got to a point where I can do something about it.
Now I need to decide which 30-30 to rebore to 38-55. I've got a Win 94 and a pre-safety Marlin 336. Are there any advantages /disadvantages for either one? I am truly open to either.