Marlin 336 R. C.

[IcerUSA]

Any good ? This on is in 32 Spl. Cal. . Looking in the Lee Reloading book and not much for reloads there, hummmm! . Lever pin seems a little worn as the lever hits on the reciever while racking it, everything else seems tight enough tho, new pin or a bore and bushing and pin should fix that, will know more once I get it home, got it on lay-away till next week sometime :)



Keith

[NVcurmudgeon]

Any good ? This on is in 32 Spl. Cal. . Looking in the Lee Reloading book and not much for reloads there, hummmm! . Lever pin seems a little worn as the lever hits on the reciever while racking it, everything else seems tight enough tho, new pin or a bore and bushing and pin should fix that, will know more once I get it home, got it on lay-away till next week sometime :)



Keith

Keith, are you referring to the machine screw that the lever pivots on? If so, I'll bet it's loose. Right after checking the rifle for loaded, removing the lever screw is the next step in field stripping. (See sticky.) Never had one fall out yet. You bought an excellent rifle in a hard-to-find caliber.

[sundog]

.32 Spl loads are just real close to 30-30. Don't tle the lack of published data stop you. Comparable loads to 30-30 most often generate a little less pressure and speed due to bigger surface are of the boolit. So, find a starting place with a 30-30 load, and then work up to best group. The H335 speed family of surp powders work pretty good pushing a 170 FN circa ~2000, or you can back down to lighter loads with powders like 4227, 2400, 4759, etc. What there's not alot of is different mould choices. One of the very best is RCBS 32-170-FN. Work so good the loads are almost boring. Nuthin' fancy, but gets the job done. Brass is no problem. Simply neck up 30-30 and go on.

[corvette8n]

I just bought some brass from Midway
loaded some plinking loads with 8gr of Unique
and 195gr fngc from Bullshop.
I could hear them hit the berm behind target
next time I will use 10gr Unique.
I also had the guy a Wallyworld order me 4 boxes of Rem .32ws
so I could test my rifle, then used the empties for plinking loads.

[onceabull]

Keith: congrats on your acquiring that rifle..I'm shooting a Win.md 64,Marlin 93 with 26" barrel,and the Marlin 336A in 32 Spec. One intriguing thing about the Marlins is that now and again one will turn up with barrel that slugs considerably undersized(like .318) to the "normal"expectations.,and there was some hearsay at another forum that some are found with faster than the expected 1:16 twist.. Please post if yours turns out to have either/both of those "Features"....:roll: Onceabull

[No_1]

If you have access to a chrony, you may want to run the factory loads across it for reference. This will help when you roll your own as all data is usefull.

Robert


I just bought some brass from Midway
loaded some plinking loads with 8gr of Unique
and 195gr fngc from Bullshop.
I could hear them hit the berm behind target
next time I will use 10gr Unique.
I also had the guy a Wallyworld order me 4 boxes of Rem .32ws
so I could test my rifle, then used the empties for plinking loads.

[Ranch Dog]

Great rifle and cartridge. The current issue of Handloader (Feb 07, #245) has an good article on the cartridge but the testing is with a Winchester M64 (the model the cartridge was initially chambered for in 1902). Gil Sengel does a good job with the article and offers great text on what made the 32 Win Spl, special, with info from the catalog announcing it's introduction...

"The .32 Winchester Special Cartridge is offered to meet the demand of many sportsmen for a Smokless powder cartridge of larger caliber than the .30 Winchester and yet not so powerful as the .30 US Army and which could be reloaded with black powder and give satisfactory results."

Winchester went on to add "... We do not advise handloading or reloading of this cartridge with Smokeless powder by individuals". This was just a reflection on the art of reloading at this point in time. Smokeless powders where new and scales for weighing charges where not generally available to the individual.

I have an 336RC that looks brand new but it has a synthetic stock (black). I didn't like the stock at first but it has become my "black gun". I've just started using the Hornady bullet and Hodgdon powders with the Lee Pacesetter dies. I ordered a Lee Factory Crimp die and case length gage last week (special order). In the article referenced above, the writer was able to use the 30-30 Win FCD with jacketed bullets. With my goal of developing a cast boolit for the cartridge, the little bit of additional diameter isn't going to allow the 30-30 FCD to work.

[IcerUSA]

Got the rifle monday and started working on it today, seems the pivot pin was loose so tightened it up and the lever works great WOOT, was checking all the screws and most where loose but the band on the hand guard made the tube wiggle when I tried to tighten it, so I tried to turn it out and it didn't want to unscrew, hmmmm, looked like it might have been peened a little to keep it in so I worked on it, had to peen the screw slot a little as someone had used a regular screw driver on it by looks :( Got it to come out and sure nuff it was bent, but it ain't no more :).
The reciever had 3 holes the where used for a scope I think, got some allen screws from the locale gun store, had to grind them down a little but the holes arn't so ugly now :) .
Took my rifle cleaning rod with a brush attached and ran it down the barrel, I then took a perminet marker and held it to the rod as I pulled it out of the barrel and it seems to be a 1in18 twist, is that good ?
Next I will have to slug the chamber and bore to get those dims so I can match up a boolit for her to spit out well :)
Nice to have a project rifle, all the others are new LOL cept the peestols, 2 1911's and 1 9mm but they are shooting just fine now hehe
Will give more feed back on her as I get things done. [smilie=b: :cbpour:

Keith

[IcerUSA]

Finally got the old girl tore down, yuk, dirty and rusty inside the reciever, did some brushing deburring and alot of oiling, just got to get her back together now and see how she shots, picked up a box of factory loads to try out till I get my GB Mold for boolits . :drinks: :castmine: :Fire: