Microgroove .35 remington

[Avery Arms]

I met a guy walking through the gunshow with a marlin levergun, turns out it was his fathers and he didn't care for it. The weapon had light surface rust and dust all over it. He wanted $125 but accepted $100, a half hour later I had the rust cleaned and was happy to find 95% of the bluing intact.

Then I realized it was a micro-groove barrel:-?

My reloading friend tells me it should drive tacks with JSP bullets but pattarn like a shotgun with cast...

Should I sell it and try to find a ballard model or is there anything that can be done? I am set on having a .35 rem rifle as I have a contender, dies, brass, ammo and around 4K gas checks. However I was really hoping to shoot affordable homecast bullets.


PP

[garandsrus]

PP,

You got a great deal! It will more than likely shoot great with cast... I have one that will shoot less than an inch at 50 yards with iron sights. I use the RCBS-35-200 mold.

John

[BABore]

MicroGroove shoots cast just fine, and at whatever the velocity the bullet/cartridge is capable of. Just slug the bbl and see what your groove diameter is. Size your bullet 0.002 to 0.003 over groove diameter. Make sure the bullet will slip fit into a fired case (with the case mouth crimp removed), and a dummy round will chamber. Then go show your buddy your groups. MG just like bigger bullets.

[GrizzLeeBear]

...He wanted $125 but accepted $100,...

Man I hate people like you...:mrgreen:

Your friends don't know jack about cast boolits.

I had great accuracy with a micro-groove 336 with the Lyman 358156 and the RCBS 35-200-FN and a full power load of H4895 (+/- 2000 fps)

Slug the bore and size them to match or .001 over.

Check your seating length. You may have to crimp over the front band. The 35 Rem. is notorious for having a short throat in a lot of rifles.

[jlchucker]

I agree with GrizzleeBear. Your friends know squat about micro-groove and cast bullets. I have two 35 Remingtons-one a full magazine carbine made in 1961 and an earlier half-magazine model. Both have microgroove barrels and both shoot cast bullets (RCBS 200 gr FNGC) just as well as they do jacketed ones--maybe a tad better. My Marlin 30-30 is microgroove, and shoots the 173 Gr Lyman bullet every bit as good as it shoots a hornaday 170 jacketed round. I bought my 45-70 just before Marlin came out with that safety button, and it has seen hundreds, if not a thousand, full-power cast as well as jacketed rounds--and I didn't even know there was supposed to be a microgroove controversy until that gun magazine gurus started writing about it a couple of years ago. You got a steal on that rifle--enjoy it. Find out if your "knowledgeable" friends subscribe to all the gun magazines--the more of those they read, most likely the more dumb about gun matters they will be.