30-30 conversion to358

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I was just wondering if the marlin 336 30-30 has enough barrel to bore it out to .358. how hard would it be to convert to 358 win? or possibly blow out and neck up the 30-30 case to .358, but the I would need a custom reamer made, and how much would that cost? any thoughts, information? I just think it is mor fun to cast for the bigger stuff, seems the skinnier the boolit the less fun, but I am weird so just ignore that. anyways any info/ advice would be appreciated. thanks, Travis

[Oklahoma Rebel]

surely someone has swapped barrels or done something.....

[Outpost75]

Rebore and rechamber to .35/.30-30 is a straight forward job. JES does it all the time. CH4D makes dies.
Use .35 Remington data as a guide, backing off max. loads 10%. A 16" twist stabilizes 250-grain cast even subsonic. I use 8 grains of Bullseye with Accurate 36-245D as subsonic blooper and 30 grains of 4064, RL15 or Varget with same bullet as hunting load, approximates .38-55 Winchester performance.

Cartridges in photo left to right, .30-30, .35 Remington, .35/30. Rifle is 1894 Winchester Short Rifle made in 1908 which had shot out barrel, John Taylor relined with 16" twist liner, roughed chamber with .30-30 reamer then opened neck with .35 Whelen neck and throater. Heavier bullets are more accurate than light pistol and revolver slugs.

178777178778178779

[dverna]

I do not believe the 336 will take .358 Win pressures. .35/30 is the way to go.

Don Verna

[9.3X62AL]

I opened up a spoiled-chamber 1894 Winchester to 38/55 about 3 years ago via JES Reboring's good work. Plenty of metal in the barrel for the .376" drill-out and re-rifling.

[dragon813gt]

30-30 can be rebored to 356 Winchester. Same thing as 358 w/ a semi-rim. But the pressure is a little lower. While I do have 356 brass mine will feed converted 308 LC brass, no semi-rim, w/ no issues. JES did a great job on mine. I have a habit of sending him rifles far to often.

[Shawlerbrook]

Same as dragon. I have a Marlin 30AS that JES rebored to 356W. It shoots great, but so far I have only fired factory ammo. I highly recommend JES and this conversion.

[rockrat]

Same here, a JES 30-30 to 356Win. Load my own, but have shot some factory ammo thru it, little sticky now and then.

[Ben]

.35/30 is the way to go.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

the 35-30 sure is a strange looking cartridge, lol, is there a reason the shoulder is so far back?, also glad to see there are others that have done this , I am going to research 356 win, just because ive not heard of it, only 358 win. whats the diff?

[Outpost75]

.35/30 is optimized for heavier bullets to approximate .38-55 ballistics. That is why longer neck, permits 260-grain bullet without intruding into powder space

[runfiverun]

35-30 ammo is about 400 times easier to make than trying to find 356 brass.
the 336 will about handle the 375 win's pressure.
you also have the option of making an Ackley version of the round [the dies would be a bit pricey]

[Shawlerbrook]

356w is the 358 with a rim and at lower pressure. You use the same reloading dies for both just like the 307 & 308 Winchesters.

[JSH]

Is there any issue with forming 444 into 356, and getting them to work in the 336?
jeff

[dragon813gt]

444 brass will work. But it's not cheap and easy to find. If you do go that route try and use the short brass. This way you don't take the normal length brass off the market. Hornday FTX bullets have ruined a bunch of cartridge brass.

[bouncer50]

.35/30 is optimized for heavier bullets to approximate .38-55 ballistics. That is why longer neck, permits 260-grain bullet without intruding into powder space .35/30 is a great cast bullet shooter with the longer neck. If the 35 Rem was not around, in the old days the 35/30 would have been more common today. 30-30 brass is easy to find and cheap. That would be my choice 35/30 cheap brass easy to find.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

what about the 375win , and also what weight range as far as boolits? how much might this cost from start to finish with JES, could I have them (JES) re chamber it (30-30cal marlin 336) to 375 winchester? thanks. would be an awesome cast hog hunting gun

[9.3X62AL]

OK Rebel et al--

Just a precautionary note to anyone considering a rebore project, specific to the 38/55. I am using Starline 38/55 brass of the 2.125" flavor, and trimmed back to 2.080" out of an abundance of caution. Using loads with 250 grain-class bullets, 1880s velocities (1300-1350 FPS) cause no issues of any kind. The Lee plain-based 250 grainer shot great (1.00"-1.125" 5-shotters at 50 yards), and 40 rounds did not leave a hint of leading. Throat and grooves are a narrow-for-caliber .376", bullets were sized to .377". Pushing velocities to the 1500-1550 FPS level with both the RCBS 375-250 and Lyman #375449, accuracy was not quite as good--1.25" to 1.50" at 50 yards, and the gas checks made leading a non-issue. Brass was in good order after firing--primer pockets remained snug, and no inordinate expansion was observed. Proceeding to the 1700-1750 FPS level with the two gas-checked bullets and two powders (IMR 4198 and RE-7) using Ken Waters' data from "Pet Loads" ( The Wolfe compendium), I got loose primer pockets and one primer leak in 20 rounds fired (5 of each possible combination). I stopped firing the rifle at that point (rebored Win 94 in the 1.5MM serial range).

The rifle seems unaffected. I mic'ed the fired cases' base areas and found no differences between the high-pressure brass and the medium- or low-pressure fired brass. The 20 high-pressure brass cases all had loose primer pockets, and one showed a primer leak. Not good. These were discarded, a thing I despise doing with new brass fired once. The remaining high-pressure loads (80 of them......) were disassembled and the components salvaged or recycled.

What Does It All Mean, Mr. Natural? I dunno. My guess is that 38/55 brass by Starline might have been meant for either black powder loadings or more docile smokeless powder work. Perhaps 375 Winchester brass is of more stout construction, and better able to weather the higher pressures present in the 375W environment. I haven't posed the question to Starline, and haven't compared SAAMI drawings of 375W vs. 38/55 M&B to see if the newer-design cases would fit in a tightly-bored 38/55 chamber. These questions might be good to have answered before proceeding. I am not disappointed by the outcome--a 250 grain/37 caliber bullet cast as a softpoint will collapse critters pretty darn well at 1525 FPS or so. My layman's opinion is that relative (and caliber-appropriate) brass weakness might be the culprit that prompted me to de-load 80 rounds of lovingly-prepared 38/55 ammunition The Hard Way--not through the rifle muzzle.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

interesting, I always thought starline was thicker than most, guess I will be trying win cases next time. also I was already thinking it would be safer to do aa 32spl or maybe bore it (336 30-30) out to 338. that would be pretty cool, and would have much better sectional density. does this JES have a website I can visit>?

[dragon813gt]

http://www.35caliber.com

Do you already have 375 Winchester brass? If not it's going to cost you about $2-$4 a piece. It goes for pretty much the same price as loaded ammo, $4.

[Texas by God]

I have (and love) a JES rebored .358 Rem 700 that shoots sub MOA groups. His phone # is 541 942 1342. Call and leave a message and he will call you back to discuss your project. Best, Thomas.

[BAGTIC]

A lot of cast bullet shooters like longer necks so they can keep all the lube grooves inside the neck so the lube doesn't contact the powder.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Starline has .444 brass. If you must rebore, the .35-30 is probably your best option. I would just look for a good Marlin in .35 Remington. Hornady brass can be found. A Marlin in .356/.358 Win is pushing the limits. You may carefully load reasonable 'Marlin OK' loads, but someone else might run standard factory or reload data through the rifle. It won't explode but over time the rifle will be damaged. Yes Marlin made a .356, but not many, OK for the box a year guy, but maybe not the box a week guy. If you want something 'Special', make a .35 Remington RIMMED, just narrow the rim of a .303 British, trim, and fireform. Standard dies, a rimmed case(better for moderate/light cast loads) and 'common' brass. You could also use .35 Remington cartridges in it.

[44magLeo]

In Cartridges Of The World, They state the 35-30 was one of the first wildcats. A lot of the early 30-30 and 32 specials were not taken care as well as they should have and barrels got corroded. It is an easy rebore and rechamber.
Leo

[leadman]

I had a early Contender barrel in 375 Win. These were cut long enough to also use 38-55 in them. There was a big difference in the strength of the 2 cases with the 375 easily taking more pressure. I don't remember the brands as it was about 20 years ago I owned it.

If I had a 30-30 that had barrel issues I would go with the 30-35.

[rr2241tx]

Just a word to the wise, Ken Waters' Pet Loads is known to contain some load data that is not suitable for every gun. While it is a valuable reference, one would still be wise to work up carefully to his published data.

[9.3X62AL]

Just a word to the wise, Ken Waters' Pet Loads is known to contain some load data that is not suitable for every gun. While it is a valuable reference, one would still be wise to work up carefully to his published data.

Yessir. As described in my text.