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View Full Version : Cast and jacketed bullet loads for Marlin 336 .30-30?



Woodtroll
10-20-2008, 09:06 PM
Folks,

My daughter's boyfriend just walked in today with a Marlin 336 .30-30 as a present for her 18th birthday. (It was a good choice on his part, especially since his first idea was a horse, which I quickly vetoed for logistic reasons). I feel bad that the kid spent that kind of money on her, but he got a heck of a deal on it. Laughably, it came with a great big long Tasco 4x10 scope with a big 40mm or so adjustable-parallax objective on it. I quickly replaced it with a 2.5x Tasco Bantam that I just happened to have laying around extra; I'm not much on scopes.

Anyway, I am looking for a suggestion for both a cast bullet and jacketed bullet load for this rifle, with emphasis on deer hunting. My own 336 is in .35 Rem., so I have no mould yet for this .30 caliber. I'd like something that is accurate, with a flat point of course, gas checked desirable but not necessary. I will likely be casting out of a soft alloy like 30:1 or 20:1 if I can do so without leading- I don't have time to paper-patch for this one! I have various powders available- SR4759, Unique, IMR3031, H4198, H4895, W296, H4227, and RL-7.

I would appreciate any suggestions on a tried-and-true bullet and load combination that works well in your 336 micro-groove rifle.

Many thanks!
Regan

missionary5155
10-20-2008, 10:16 PM
If you are going to load cast... SLUG the chamber area and find out how much boolit you need to plug that hole and seal the gasses. Then the barrel...
With this info you will know what diameters you are dealing with. Even if you choose to use jacket bullets you still need to know diameters. A mold.. I would get that .002 over chamber size and at least 170 gr flat nose. I personally like the 180 grainers for 30-30. At 30-30 speeds I would not worry about a gas check design...

frank505
10-21-2008, 05:00 PM
I guess maybe you better like the boyfriend. I shoot 34 grains of 4895 in a 1936 carbine and 1955 Model 64 Deluxe. Either the Saeco #307 or the Lyman 31141 shoot very well. Speedy load and really makes a 30/30 do what it is supposed to do.

Junior1942
10-21-2008, 05:24 PM
Get the Ranch Dog 30-165 and forget jacketed bullets. Look below for the link.

DLCTEX
10-21-2008, 07:26 PM
My 336 likes Lee's 150 gr. FP WDWW sied .311 in front of 27 gr. R-7. I am still testing, but this load will take my first venison come Nov. 1. DALE

Woodtroll
10-22-2008, 08:18 PM
I certainly had considered the RD moulds, but he is out of stock. I may have to try a box of (ugh!) jacketed bullets, and get the mould when he gets some in.

I sure appreciate y'all's help!

MtGun44
10-23-2008, 09:52 PM
Lee 150 RN is accurate in mine, but the RN makes me single load it. Lyman
311041 works great and is a FN designed for the .30-30. So far, with only
a couple of tests, my RD 165 hasn't done well in my microgroove 336. Others
have had good results, so I will keep working with it, no where near enough
quit.

Bill

NickSS
10-25-2008, 03:28 AM
I have used various loads over the years in my Marlin 336 both jacketed and cast. My favorit jacketed hunting load is a Speer 170 gr flat point over 32 gr of H335 powder. Not a max load but accurate in several rifles I have tried it in. As for cast I have used everything from 115 gr 31108 3220 bullets to the 311041 bullet and have had loads that go from about 70 fps to 2000. If you plan to hunt deer try 29 to 30 gr of 3031 and the 311041 bullet sized .312" Workd for me well. In my Marlin it will shoot into under 2 inches at 100 yards with a reciever sight. My last group was 7Xs and 3 10s on a standard 25 yard istol target at 100 yards.

Tomkitty
11-19-2008, 04:17 PM
The Lyman 31141 170-gr FN works well in my 336. My favorite load is 24 grs Reloder 7 for about 1900 fps. This shoots as well as jacketed bullets in my 336 so there will be no more jacketed bullets.