Is the 35 remington about the perfect bottle neck round for cast?

[Tripplebeards]

It seems everywhere i read here and other forums that the 35 Remington round can push cast at max jacketed velocities pretty accurately. Every other bottle neck round seems most here stay at velocities similar to max 35 Remington velocities(2000/2200). Maybe its just me but it seems like its about one of the most efficient cast rounds because so many post here its easy to get accuracy at max loadings. I would assume the twist rate has a lot to do with it as well?

[Markopolo]

hmmmmm trip.... could be, but I have No experience cuz there are NONE around here anywhere to be bought, but it is on my bucket list... especially in a marlin..

marko...

[BK7saum]

30-30 works well also and the long neck is a bonus with cast.

[GhostHawk]

^ old dirty thirty gets my vote as well, although .357 mag or max in a rifle is nothing to sneeze at.

I will say this, the old codgers I knew that hunted deep woods tended to have 35 Rem, and tended to get their deer most years.

Truth is most of them will work if you put it in the right spot. And confidence helps a heck of a lot with that.
So if your confident with your gun, load, and hunting spots it makes it a lot easier.

[Chris S]

I shoot a 35 Rem and it is good. It really likes the RCBS 180 grain silhouette slug. FWIW though, I think the 32-20 and 25-20 meet your criterion even better in that they are not capable of over speeding lead projectiles and maintain superb accuracy with them.

Chris

[Bazoo]

I'm fan of the treinta-treinta myself. I've found it to be just fine with cast at full velocity/pressure. I've not messed with it but I hear the 30-40 krag does well with cast at full speed also.

[Judan_454]

I used the Lee 200 gr FN gas check bullet out Remington 760 pump at about 2000 FPS with very good results. The cast bullet weights 203 grains as cast with 31.0 grains of Reloader 7 with a gas check.

[Tracy]

I had a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington and finally sold it because it left a lot to be desired as a cast bullet rifle. My four biggest complaints, in order of worst to least:

1) Brass availability. The brass is neither cheap nor readily available. For a couple of years I could find neither brass nor loaded ammo. Finally a bit of Hornady loaded ammo started showing up on the shelves, and I had to buy some just for the brass. You can't easily make it from another, more readily available cartridge, either.

2) No leade. That greatly limits which cast bullets you can use. I have quite a few .358 molds, and most of them were unusable in that rifle. On the other hand, all of them (including wadcutters seated out) work in my .35 Whelen.

3) Short neck. You can shoot cast bullets with a short neck, but a long neck is so much more cast-friendly.

4) Micro-groove rifling. Not saying uG doesn't work with cast. It can, but it is a handicap.

I like .30-30 a lot as a cast bullet cartridge. Also .308, .30-06 and especially .35 Whelen.
For a traditional lever action in .35 caliber, I recommend .356 Winchester. It is everything the .35 Remington is not, as a cast bullet cartridge. And if you have trouble finding brass, you can use .358 Winchester brass. Or make your own from .308, .243 or quite a few other rounds. Even .30-06, .270 etc. The rimless cases will work just fine.

Another option is .35-30. That is a wildcat that is just a .30-30 necked up to .35 caliber. There are companies that will rebore your .30-30 barrel to .35-30 with nice, cast-friendly cut rifling.

[richhodg66]

The .35 Remington is very good. In my experience, the .358 Winchester is even better.

The .30-30 is darn near the perfect cast bullet caliber, but I think the .30-40 Krag edges it out.

The real beauty of the .35s is the plethora of cast revolver bullets around that make great practice rounds very easily.

[RU shooter]

I'd also add the 32 spl in to the best cast cartridge group just like the 35 Rem you can shoot cast at jacketed speeds without too much trouble .

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I go for the 32 Special in the Marlin's, having a rim helps with reduced loads moving the shoulder. Top loads, the 35 has some advantages, if you go to 220-230gr bullets over 2100fps, but the 32 Special will push 200gr past 2100fps. If the 35 had a rim, then it would be best, cases are 'different' too, usually available, but not EASILY formed from common cases. There is the 35-30, but it is a wildcat without ANY factory ammo available. I have 30-30's, 32 Special's, 35's in Marlin's, all are good, but the 303 Savage in the Savage 99 is also a very good cast bullet cartridge 30cal 195gr at 2000fps.

[lightman]

The 35 Remington is not a bad choice except that brass can be hard to find. Other choices might be 30-30, 375 Winchester, 444 Marlin and of course the 45-70.

[1hole]

.35 Rem cases aren't instantly available but they do show up from time to time. A counterpoint to the case scarcity is that the load limits of the .35 Rem are modest and, with proper handloading techniques, those cases can last a LOOONG time! I have some that have been fired at least ten times and are still going strong.

I've loved my old second-hand 336/.35 for some 45 years and have three grandsons who badly want Papa's deer rifle when I'm gone. (Each one is tougher than the other two put together so it's going to be a fight I hate to miss ... but I sorta' expect to be like "out of town" when it happens .... )

[rbuck351]

I believe the 35 Rem is one of many very good cast bullet shooters. My M8 Rem shoots the 200gr cast at 2200 at least as good as I can shoot iron sights and I have several hundred cases. And, it doesn't have micro groove rifling.

[Four-Sixty]

I'm a fan of 35 caliber and shoot both 35 Remington and 30-30. I prefer the 30-30 over the 35 Remington because of the long neck, the rim, and the plentiful brass.

In the 35 Remington I've had best luck with heavier bullets around 180 to 200 grains.

The 30-30 is just more versatile. It can also tap into a much wider range of lighter bullets really shinning as an economical cartridge. There is way more data on 30-30. Several models are in production to thus day.

I won't knock the 35 Remington. It, unfortunately, will just continue to linger.

[unclemikeinct]

Linger indeed young fellow. I'm only 64 years feisty. Got to tell you, before I figured out the 35 Rem liked cast. I had a ton of fun plinking w/ some el cheapo [reduced velocity] 158 grain HP J words in mine. Everyone likes shooting the old marlin 336 35 lever gun at our family August Pig-Nic. uncle mike

[richhodg66]

I didn't get real serious about deer hunting until my late twenties, but I killed my first buck with a .35 Remington. Used a very old Marlin, probably late '40s vintage, with the long barrel, pistol grip and perch belly forend. Even remember the load; one of those bulk packaged 200 grain Remington Core Lokts Midway used to sell and 35 grains of IMR 3031.

I bought the rifle because I was getting serious about casting and figured the .35 Remington was best all around cast cartridge, but I hadn't been doing it long enough to try cast bullet deer hunting yet, just didn't have the knowledge of faith in it yet.

[unclemikeinct]

Sadly, until I joined up here. I was under the impression the Marlin micro groove barrels hated cast bullets. My old Girl, a 1955 vintage 336 shoots both cast & J words pretty well. Long live the 35 Rem. Uncle Mike

[richhodg66]

We only have one micro groove, a 60s vintage Marlin .30-30 which is a Western Auto or Montgomery Wards store labeled gun. Rough exterior, but I wanted it and then my oldest son basically took it away from me he liked it so much. With a Williams FP sight on it, it's a good shooter with jacketed bullets, but I haven't gotten around to trying it with cast. I'll likely use the Ranchdog bullet in it when I do. I had heard all that about Micro Grooves, I've read enough now that I don't believe it anymore. Just gotta try it yet.

[richhodg66]

I go for the 32 Special in the Marlin's, having a rim helps with reduced loads moving the shoulder. Top loads, the 35 has some advantages, if you go to 220-230gr bullets over 2100fps, but the 32 Special will push 200gr past 2100fps. If the 35 had a rim, then it would be best, cases are 'different' too, usually available, but not EASILY formed from common cases. There is the 35-30, but it is a wildcat without ANY factory ammo available. I have 30-30's, 32 Special's, 35's in Marlin's, all are good, but the 303 Savage in the Savage 99 is also a very good cast bullet cartridge 30cal 195gr at 2000fps.

Kinda forgot about the .32 Special. I rescued an old waffle top from a pawn shop about six or seven year ago. Had to replace the stock and did a complete break down and cleaning, but it turned out to be a good shooter with cast. Only used it one one deer, but it did what it was supposed to do very well. Theoretically, it should be a better cast round than the .30-30 with the slightly bigger bore and slow twist, but that's probably just academic. It's a good cartridge.