A first for me with a Marlin 30-30

[NHlever]

Well, I've owned, and reloaded for more 30-30 rifles over the years than most folks, but I ran into a new situation with my latest purchase. I picked up a 336CS in 30-30 for $225, and was pretty pleased with the deal. It was just on the edge of neglect doing some damage, light surface rust on the outside of some areas, etc., but the wood is nice, and the bore looked good. A little oil on some 0000 steel wool cleaned the rust right up with no damage to the blueing, and I was even more pleased. Time to check things out a bit closer using some quickie methods. The bore is .301, and the grooves are .3085. So far, so good. Try chambering a resized case, and the lever won't quite close.......... hmm. Marlin chambers aren't usually this tight. Since I have more than one set of 30-30 dies, I try a set that I know is a bit tighter, and that works. This marlin has a tight chamber in the body area at least, but what size boolits will it accept? I make a dummy round up with a Lyman 311316, and it does chamber, but is a little snug in the neck area (blued up case) Everything sure is looking good with this one. :D My Lee 150 FN mold drops a boolit with a nose that is .299, or just a couple of tenths over, and I try a dummy round with that sized at .309, and that chambers fine. Next up is the Saeco 30-180 FN dummy round. NO GO! The lever stops when the nose section hits the rifling. The nose on these boolits are .301, so I try one in the muzzle, and it slides right in as a good bore riding boolit should with just a trace of resistance. Of course closing the lever on the tight boolit reveals that the nose is engraved on one side by the rifling, but not on the other. It appears that the chamber is eccentric with the bore by about .001, and is tight enough to keep the boolit from centering the round in the bore. If the neck didn't accept a somewhat oversized boolit, I would almost suspect that the gun was rough chambered, but not finish chambered, but that is not the case. Anyway, this is a long ramble, but I hope some find it interesting. I sure have never seen a lever gun with a chamber this tight! It will be interesting to see how it shoots. Hopefully this coming week I will find out.

[Randy in Arizona]

This rifle might benefit from having a gunsmith re-chamber after setting up the barrel in a four jaw chuck while indicating from a piece of bore fitting drill rod to allow him to truly center on the bore, not the barrel exterior or chamber.

I would be up to you what he chambered for, standard 30-30, 30-30 Ackley Improved, etc.

039

[runfiverun]

for that scenario i would opt for the ackley version.
have you checked to make sure the length of the cases aren't too long.

[WHITETAIL]

:coffeecomI would call Marlin and see.
They may want it back to fix.

[NHlever]

Thanks for all the input. So far, it sure doesn't want to shoot the way I know Marlins can so I'm debating between trading it off, or perhaps boring it out to 38-55. I have a couple other 30-30's in the safe. It is a CS, so perhaps Marlin would rebarrel it.

[jimkim]

As far as the tight neck goes you can ream it out. This was posted on the CBA forum last year.



linoww Wrote:
I am loading for a Marlin 336 CS 30-30 with Microgroove barrel.Its been about 10 years since I played with one like it.It seems like my last one preferred rather big(.312) bullets.I cannot chamber anything over .310 in this chamber.I haven't shot it yet,but was surprised by the "tight" neck in the rifle.Are others similar to mine?

George


Ed Harris answered:
Many are. You will need to cast the chamber, but .330-.332 is normal for a .30-30. That limits you to .310 bullets unless you turn necks VERY thin, less than 0.010 which makes them too fragile to be practical. Use a .32 H&R Mag. reamer and run it in just enough to enlarge the neck to .337-.339 and rethroat the existing forcing SAAMI cone. That enables .313 bullets and 0.012 case neck wall thickness.

[NHlever]

I don't have any problem chambering boolits that are .312/.313 in my Marlin, and have tried the Lyman 3118, and 311316. My problem is that the chamber is not lined up with the bore so any boolit with a bore riding section won't chamber.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

You need a gun smith that understans how to trim/ fit/align the barrel to the action face, or get rid of it....