35 Remington Die Question for 1 Rifle.

[JesterGrin_1]

I will have an older JM Marlin 336 in 35 Remington with some New Unfired Brass and some New Reformed Brass by Grumpa here on the forum. And since this brass will be used in only 1 Rifle or to say 1 Chamber and with Cast Boolits mainly do I need to purchase a 35 Remington Die Set or can I simply use the .357 Magnum Seater and Neck Expander?


Thank You

[3006guns]

I usually full length size ANY new or reclaimed brass, just to start out with a level playing field. Having said that though, why not carefully insert each individual case into the chamber and see if the action closes? If it does you should be able to neck size and load. Put any that don't chamber aside until you find a deal on dies. Oh, check overall length too.

I don't have any experience in reloading for lever rifles, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. After all, the only rifles you have to full length size for are auto loaders.....AND......Ideal/Lyman offered dies for their little 310 hand tool in this caliber and they only neck size.

Only caution is to load FLAT nose bullets only. A spitzer punching into the primer of the round ahead of it in the magazine could really ruin your day.

[William Yanda]

As I recall, many sources advise full length sizing for lever actions. Of course my rememberer isn't as reliable as it once was.

[dualsport]

Make a couple dummy rounds using what you got. Run them thru and see.

[bhn22]

You might get away with neck sizing the cases once or twice max. Lever actions don't have much mechanical advantage to help overcome sticky chambering, so sooner or later you'll need the correct dies. Many lever actions also seem prone to sloppy chambers, so keep that in mind too. Go ahead and try it of course, but you will be needing the correct sizing die at some point.

[gunarea]

Hey Jester
Get the die set. Fixing/replacing the lever on your Marlin is much more costly. If, when chamber checking you get a tight fit, rod out the case. Old Marlin levers are prone to bending.
Roy

[EDG]

Used RCBS die sets in .35 Rem are very common and usually not very expensive.
When you find .35 Rem once fired brass you will need a FL die to make it fit your rifle.

If your FL die is carefully set up so that it only pushed the shoulder back about .001 or .002 the ammo will chamber and there will be minimal working of the brass. That being said you might eventually bump into a .35 Rem neck sizing die if you want to try neck sizing only.

For expanding the neck for cast bullets an M die is very good.

The .357 Magnum dies are close to worthless for a .35 Rem

I know .35 Rem cases are dear but they will last well with careful die setting.

[JWFilips]

I only load for one 35 Rem & that is an old JM marlin like yours ( circa 1964) I found an old RCBS die set on e-bay then hand honed out the neck of the sizing die so it would be more cast boolit friendly (.002 under bullet size ... instead of squashing down the neck for jacketed bullets) Then I size my shot ( as well as found brass) with my die about 3/4 turn up from the "touch the shell holder" position....this gives me a "partial full size" (only sizes the neck down to about 3/4 way & doesn't touch the case body much or set the shoulder back) but granted I shoot light pistol boolit loads not not full house loads. I can shoot these about 8 times before I have to turn in the die a bit to set the shoulder back to normal. But even then ...because the neck has been honed..... the real business area of the case doesn't get overworked much. I also Anneal my cases about every 8 reloads ( of the light loads) cases last a good long time

[catskinner]

Jester, I load for 3 Marlin 336's in 35 Rmington. Have an RCBS die set but also have a Lee collet die and haven't used the fl die in along time. Load mostly the 200 gr. RCBS cast bullet at 1900fps and never fl size. I do use a Wilson case gauge to check all cases before sizing in the collet die. Never a problem chambering.

[mac266]

I'm a fan of full length resizing for lever actions. Granted, it's not as dependent on an easy fit as a semi-automatic, but you don't want to find yourself forcing the lever closed. Regardless, you will need to size at least the case mouth, so a bullet seater / crimp die won't be enough.