Thoughts on trapper 16" barrel on 30-30, good & bad?

[runfiverun]

now you guy's got me thinking I should go measure the barrel on my pre-64 carbine.

[beagle]

Got a friend in VT that took a M336 Marlin .35 Rem and made a "marauder". Carries it in the spring during the sugar run when black bears are crawling out of hibernation. Furnished him some 200 grain cast and he loves it and it's easy to carry when working his sugar lines./beagle

[Texas by God]

I shortened a first reissue Marlin 1895 45-70 to Trapper length in 1981. My first time to file a dovetail and it turned out great. Unfortunately I traded or sold it on a whim like hundreds of other times. Marlin made a youth model SpikeHorn 16" 30-30 a decade or so ago. My daughter wanted one bad but didn't get one. A post 64 Win 94 rebored to 35-30 or 38-55 in trapper length would be very nice.

[Greg S]

Trappers are a joy to carry, perticularly in the denser stuff. I've owned a couple in 45 Colt, a 94AE and presently a Winokow 1892. In the pistol calibers, the added barrel works as a gain in fps. If you looking for accuracy/hunting beyond 75-100,the longer sight radius helps. If you are trying to get top velocity with joolits, take a gander at the contender loading for the shorter barreled pistols to get an idea for powders. For a kick around plinker rifle, its more about enjoyment than velocity so have at it.

[Randy Bohannon]

My son bought a Montgomery Ward/Marlin 16" Trapper from his Pastor for $200.00. Nicer than stock Marlin of the day with cut checkering and nicely polished and blued furniture. Factory drilled and tapped for a scope we put a old 4 X Weaver scope on it,with the elevation to the top and the bottom post. We could take 8-10 pigs on the silhouette(300m) line using the 30-30 Leverevolution factory ammo.

[Drm50]

Attachment 205627

You’ve got something fairly rare. I believe the 16” marlins were called Marauders and were only made a few years.

I’ve got a Texan with 18 inch barrel and it sure is handy to carry and hunt with.

Yeah, they are Marauders- I got them back before they were "cool", wish I new then what I know
now and would have bought them up. Really never ran across that many of them even back then.

[OverMax]

Had a Trapper 44 mag years ago. Very inaccurate mine was. Wish I had bought the 30-30 version instead. Sold the Trapper to a fellow I worked with. Shortly after his buying the rifle was again traded to a gun shop for a down-payment on a T/C Encore as told.

Still have a Marlin 36 model in reserve. Its the Sporting Carbine model in 30-30. Pretty good accuracy it has for being a short barreled rifle. But the best lever 30-30 I have for accuracy is a little Savage Model 1899 t/d. That rifle came to me with a Williams F/P peep installed and Boy can that rifle ring the gongs out at 200. Its so short and light weight with a tiny lever hoop you would think the rifle was made especially for the ladies or those fellows having a small physical stature.

Its been said for every inch of barrel cut a cartridge looses about 50 fps. Probably a even higher loss of velocity suffered with those belted Magnum cartridges?

Would I buy another short barreled rifle? I don't think so. Um a tall fellow with long reach. Those shorten sight plain carbine barrels with their open barrel sights are rather bothersome to get on target for this feller. 20" barrel is more of a preferred short barreled rifle for this old bushwhacker.

[OverMax]

Sorry for the double tap.