Marlin 336CB 38-55

[Rrusse11]

After a number of years of being lost to the world of shotguns,
ya' gotta' love exploding targets!, I'm baaaack. {:o)

With most of the sporting clays venues slowing down over the winter months, I chanced upon Ranch Dog's site, and ordered 3 of his moulds, the C175-359; C235-379; and the C265-432.
My last outing with the above CB was an exercise in frustration,
Winchester brass, no sizeing die, and plain base bullets all added up to problems.

With Starline fortuitously running a long 38-55 case with a thin mouth, RD's excellent mould and sizeing die, this afternoon was a great opportunity to shoot the gun as it was designed to work. 10 rounds 11gr of Herco under the Lee plain base 245 was a pleasant plinker. 10rds of 30gr of Rx 7 barked with authority under RD's checked 235. Not much accuracy yet, but no leading, sizing, chambering problems. Hurrah!

Trigger needs work, and the forend & magazine tube needs some tweaking, the load started to wander as the barrel heated up with the Rx 7 loads.

The other gun that got me back into casting this winter is aMarlin 44Mag that I plugged a 44-40 barrel into several years ago. The 24" octagon was a leftover at Numrich's that I scored and finally got around to starting to shoot. Lol, I must confess it took me a couple of days to find the old girl, buried in a closet. With the same load of 11gr of Herco under a 215 plain base RF, I think a group buy here years ago, she's dialing in nicely.
I did miss the groundhog yesterday at 160yds with a 25 knot crosswind. He'll be out again but.

Cheers all!

R*2

[northmn]

My 38-55 Marlin CB shoots pretty good with the Lee 380 bullet as cast at about 250 grains. I use Starline brass and 3031. As I load it to about 1600 fps I also use a card uner the bullet and have had good results. The 3031 pretty much fills the case. 379 bullets did not give as good of accuracy.

DP

[Dan Cash]

Try .380 bullet over 30 to 33 gr Reloader 15. Bullet sits on the propellant, velocity right at 1600 and pressure seems low. 32 grains in my 1893 gives 2 1/2" at 100 for the first 4 or 5 shots.

[Rrusse11]

Northm,

Thanks for the reply, was wondering if anyone noticed the post, lol. In between planting the onions and peas at my farmer friends garden, I took breaks and shot another 50rds with the 336CB.

Ranch Dog's checked boolit is starting to dial in. 30gr of Rx 7 gave me a lovely 3 shot cloverleaf group at 50yds, MOA. Some fiddling with the scope, and I popped a claybird with the 2nd shot at ~ 160yds set up next to the groundhog hole down by the fence row. The real object of the exercise at the end of the day. Had to allow a couple of inches windage with a bit of cross breeze.

10gr of Herco is looking like the plinker fun load. 5 shots with a large ragged hole into the stump is looking good.

I'm partially sizing the brass, and the boolit is just engraving into the rifling, you can feel it on the last bit of lever squeeze that releases the trigger block. Brass is consistent at 2.125, and I have to put a washer over the cartridge to allow the Lee Factory Crimp Die to catch the neck correctly. I'm loading some more for tomorrow's exercise. I'll get rountuit to trim all the cases, but it's a real pleasure to feel the rifle is coming up to its accuracy potential.

Cheers,
R*2

[Whit Spurzon]

Sounds like you're on the right track. It took me a while to find what shot well in my 38-55 Cowboy.

The RD bullet did real well in my friend's Cowboy sized .379" and mine did best with the Lee Bullet .381" as cast. I just got a mold made by Accurate Molds 382-250B and my early tests are very promising.

http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k542/WhitSpurzon/A382250Bsized381.jpg
25 yards, sitting, unsupported, TEN grains of Unique (1270 fps) under the Accurate bullet

http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k542/WhitSpurzon/IMG_2836.jpg
The Accurate bullet as cast. I haven't determined if these shoot best as-cast or sized to .381"

http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k542/WhitSpurzon/IMG_2838.jpg
The Lee and the Accurate bullet

[W.R.Buchanan]

Russel: Ttry adding some clearance to your forearm. They need to have about .020-.040 end to end travel so that they don't influence the barrel when it heats up.

I had this same problem on my 1895 CB .45-70 and after the first 3 shots it started throwing shots everywhere. My forend was tight to begin with but after refinishing with a few coats of oil it was really tight. A few strokes with a file on the flat between the end of the forend and the forend cap and on the angled surface that contacts the hanger on the barrel were all it took to fix this problem and give the forend some clearance to move end to end.

That should settle the gun down so you can actually do some meaningful load development.

Randy

[Rrusse11]

WR & Whit,
Yep as to the gun needing a bit of "leveritis tuning". The forend cap for clearance on the barrel
and the magazine tube at the receiver end and the front plug both need a touch of tolerance.
Had the chance to compare 2 of the CB's side by side, I confess one came up locally and I grabbed it. With the takeover of Marlin by Remington and subsequent issues, original Marlin prices are climbing steadily.
Both guns liked the same loads, the 10gr of Herco and 30gr of RX 7, my thoughts are to salt one away and or use for trading purposes. The difference in group sizes were minor.
I have done a bit of action work on my original, and shot it more, so it's noticeably slicker and smoother. But it was fascinating to see that with identical loads, conditions, shooter, etc etc,
there might be 1/2" diffence in group sizes between the two.
Comments on the MarlinOwners board confirm that for whatever reasons, these guns are consistently accurate, and the favorite load of 10gr Unique seems to be an all round favorite.
My Herco, I've got an 8# jug, is for practical purposes, nearly identical.
To improve accuracy now is some tweaks on the gun and the trigger. The load and boolit are working just fine.
Cheers!
R*2

[JesterGrin_1]

Any Updates?

[Rrusse11]

Any Updates?

JG,
Sorry, no, I've been sidetracked by a Marlin "94CB in 44Mag. 24" octagon barrel again, quite a bit more problematical to get to shoot.
I must confess that once I get a gun performing it tends to start migrating to the back of the closet.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=155187
Check out this thread for updates and info on getting Marlins to shoot.
The 44Mag is not nearly the long range proposition that the 38-55 can be, but I love the pistol calibers in the rifles. Plenty of punch out to a 100yds for deer and the like. I'm on "crop damage control" on my buddy's farm at the moment. I've taken big deer with the same configuration "94 in 357Mag, given the opportunity I expect the larger heavier boolit of the 44Mag to be even more effective.
Cheers,
R*2

[JesterGrin_1]

Good Luck with that .44 Mag lol.

I can give you some load info and even some bullets to try. But the best with over 600 rounds of work was right at 2 1/2 Groups at 100 yards with a Scope. And this was Hunting Ammo not low velocity plinkers lol.

Awwwwwwww What the heck lol.

The Load was a Lee 310 Gr that I beagled as to be able to size them at .432 and in a Remington .44 Mag Case with 21.0 Gr of H-110 or W-296 With a Standard CCI Large Pistol Primer.

And Yes you can use a Standard Primer with H-110 and W-296 depending on the temps that you plan to use the ammo in. If it is below freezing than I would re work the loads with a Mag Primer.

I also have a BEAUTIFUL Brass Mold that will make right at 300Gr Hollow Points for the .44 Mag. And a larger one but I never tried it in the Marlin as I felt the 325Gr was a bit on the large side lol. But worked good in a Ruger Super Black Hawk but there was a bit of RECOIL lol.

[Rrusse11]

JG,
Thanks for the load info, I've just started to play with the Alliant clone of H110, 300MP. I've got a chrony here somewhere, and used to be someone who tracked the data and did the math. Then I got into shotguns, and shoot a coupla' hunnert rounds of week of sporting clays.
I've come to the conclusion that the only data that really matters is results on target. I'll confess to loving keeping up with the 12ga Krieghofs and Blasers with my circa 1931 20ga Rem Model 11(an A5 clone) shooting 3/4oz. The claybird game gives good instant feedback on performance. And for those who are familiar, the Cutts compensator choke system works REAL GOOD!, ugly but effective!
All the best,
R*2

[JesterGrin_1]

Yep I do like those old Cutts Compensator's . I have one on an Old Mosberg 20 Gauge Bolt Gun lol. And an Old Remington 42 in 20 Gauge.

The kind of Shooting I used to do with an Old 1952 Browning Pigeon Grade O/U is not very popular so I just do not bring it up lol.

[Rrusse11]

Yep I do like those old Cutts Compensator's . I have one on an Old Mosberg 20 Gauge Bolt Gun lol. And an Old Remington 42 in 20 Gauge.

The kind of Shooting I used to do with an Old 1952 Browning Pigeon Grade O/U is not very popular so I just do not bring it up lol.

JG,
Just recently they've shut down the last club here in PA that was conducting live pigeon shoots. Ah well, the varmint on the rise locally is the Canada Goose. They just love sprouting corn. Might have to develop a subsonic load. {;o)
Cheers,
R*2

[JesterGrin_1]

lol You caught on lol. I never did Box do not believe in it. Just hand thrown.