RD: The 100 yr. hunter

[dualsport]

For a good read check out Ranch Dog's new website. Go to the .359 molds for the .35 Remington. There you'll see "The 100 Year Hunter", a 6 page article/story about the mold, boolit, the old .35 Rem. and some Marlin stuff. Very interesting and entertaining too. Makes me want a Marlin .35, like I need another gun! I bought a used RD .323 mold a while back for my BIL's sweet ol' 94 .32 Special. I use the 265 gr. in my H&R .444, very accurate. And now I have a 6 cav. coming for my Bersa .380. That little gun is a whole story in itself, amazing accuracy and reliability. Ranch Dog has focussed on lever action cartridges, and pistols too. I can't wait to see where this story goes, how about a RD design for a 03a3, or a Garand maybe? Lot of surplus guns out there needing new toys to play with. Maybe call it the RD R&D Department.[smilie=w:

[JJC]

Ranch dog closed up just as I found out about him. Was verry disapointed I never picked up a mold. I am happy to see things rolling again.

[Matt_G]

Here's the link.
http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/store/bin/TLC359190RF/pdf/100_year_hunter.pdf

[madsenshooter]

Interesting reading, thanks for posting it. I opted for BaBore's 360-220gr to fed my recently acquired 35Rem 336. It's a perfect fit for the pre-microgroove barrel. The band ahead of the crimping groove is actually forced lightly into the rifling by the final closing of the lever. I did find however that BaBore's bullet shot more accurately when hollow pointed. I've ran across a few boolits that have responded to having their CG moved a bit by hollowpointing. If you do get yourself a 35Rem dualsport, give 2015 a try. In my limited experience, it's the only powder other than Blue Dot that I've gotten single digit standard deviations with, and 1.5-2" 100 yd groups came along with that low SD. Uck! How the h--- did that 06 case get in my coffee? Oh well, coffee was cold anyway.

[Bret4207]

Interesting. My 336SC 35 absolutely dotes on an old 358-180FNGC GB we ran some years back. As cast from my alloy they weigh close to 190 grs, 186-187 IIRC. I forget the load I used but it was a simple pickup load and the combo shot well under 1.5" at 60 yards (waters edge, stupid beaver!) with open sights and my foggy eyes. RD's pressure testing is particularly interesting to me as the 35 has been short loaded for years in deference to the ancient rifles still floating around.

I'd love to find a "beater" 35 336 for a tractor gun. My 336SC is just way too pretty to ride around collecting bumps and bruises.

[thx997303]

Uck! How the h--- did that 06 case get in my coffee? Oh well, coffee was cold anyway.

I had a spent primer find it's way into my office coffee maker.

Drank several pots of coffee from it before I noticed it was in there.

Didn't affect the taste of the coffee though.

[dualsport]

I saw a used Marlin in .35 Rem. in a gunshop in Auburn, Ca. It was priced at $400, I didn't even ask to fondle it for fear I'd fall in love. This economy has really cramped my style. The good news is I have a nice 1894c .357 to console myself with when I need to shoot .35s. A .35 Remington is on my wish list, and I'll get one sooner or later. It would make a good gun for my usual style of hunting, spot and stalk, with a deer and bear tag. Sometimes I get tired, just sit and watch a good spot. The truth is in 25 yrs. of buying bear tags it's Bears 25/ me 0! I like it that way, so a light handy rifle is a priority. Usually I say "I'm taking my gun for a walk." When I do get a .35 Rem. I have the powder, AA Data 68 used to be very cheap, supposedly same as 2015. I've tasted bear. When I used to keep horses my farrier fed his kids on wild game mostly, including bear. I guess it's an acquired taste. His sweet wife made bear steak and eggs for us before a big ride up in the Forresthill area. You gotta smear a lot of egg yolk, tabasco sauce, and pepper on the bear meat, then go to work and say 'thankyou ma'am'.

[madsenshooter]

I got my 1955 made 336 for around $250 off gunbroker. It's the "beater" Bret mentioned above, but I honestly believe it's been carried much more than it's been shot, maybe by someone with a bear/me ratio like yours. Buttstock was replaced somewhere along the line with one that's slightly cracked, and the wood color doesn't match the forearm, but I'm happy with it. It has 7 groove rifling, very deep rifling. I have one of those DP powders too, DP85, think I got about the last Powder Valley had. I'd rather have yours to feed my 6x45 and my 35 Rem.

[Bullshop]

How about a pristine bore pre micro groove pre D&T 35 Rem carbine, would ya like to find one like that?
Believe it or not a good friend ( even better now) gave me one, FREE!
Well there is a little glitch. It had a crack in the wrist of its stock, and it had laid in a damp place and got some pitting on one side of the receiver. The bore is perfect with deep cut Ballard type rifling. It does shoot too.
It wasn't perty anymore so he didn't want it. The perty part now is the way it groups boolits.

[dualsport]

Now that I gone and tol' the whole world what a lousy bear hunter I am I'm gonna have to knuckle down and go kill me a bar'. It's time. I did even cheat a little back in the day. When my son was 12 I took him on one of my 'bear hunts'. I put a little bacon grease on him, gave him a single shot 30-30, and told him to go in them bushes where the bears are hidin'. I just wanted to see if he'd do it. He went, I backed him up. Guess technically that's using bait, a big no-no in Cal. He didn't know there weren't no bears in there. I think I'll give him a call and see if he wants to go huntin'.

[6pt-sika]

How about a pristine bore pre micro groove pre D&T 35 Rem carbine, would ya like to find one like that?
Believe it or not a good friend ( even better now) gave me one, FREE!


I bought one (336SC circa 1952) about 5 years ago in a little gunshop in northeast PA . Gun was about 96 or 97% overall and the bore was spotless ! Cost me $250 OTD , shot alot of RCBS 35-200GC as well as a fair number of the RD 359-190GC . Gun liked them both very much and killed a couple deer with the RCBS bullet while using a Lyman peep .

When I started trimming back my Marlin accumulation I sold this one on GB for about $400 in 2008 .

[6pt-sika]

Now that I gone and tol' the whole world what a lousy bear hunter I am I'm gonna have to knuckle down and go kill me a bar'. It's time. I did even cheat a little back in the day. When my son was 12 I took him on one of my 'bear hunts'. I put a little bacon grease on him, gave him a single shot 30-30, and told him to go in them bushes where the bears are hidin'. I just wanted to see if he'd do it. He went, I backed him up. Guess technically that's using bait, a big no-no in Cal. He didn't know there weren't no bears in there. I think I'll give him a call and see if he wants to go huntin'.


I turned 49 in july of this year ! I killed my first bear in august of this year on a Damage Control Permit at a friends peach orchard . Killed the bear at 9-10 yards with a Marlin leveraction shooting the 444 cartridge and one of my 375 grain cast gas checked bullets . Shot that bear in the head and needless to say she was "dead right there" . I'll do the Damage Control Permits the next couple years if I have the time . But to be honest after killing that bear I don't have much desire to go on guided hunts or any of that for a bear .

[dualsport]

Likewise. I have no interest in shooting a treed bear over dogs or a bear coming to bait. Hunting over bait looks boring to me. I guess there's places where that's it or nuthin'. A friend of mine has a bear coming up on his porch at night to eat dogfood. He's a little naive, I advised him to stop feeding the bear before it gets rambunctious and comes in the house.

[Bass Ackward]

The 35 Rem has quite the biography and advantage for the lever shooter.

Superior performance on game over smaller bores and flexibility with multiple selections of pistol bullets and molds. Big bore results on game whether with cast or jacketed. Superior results to big bores if you won't load them up.

All of this without getting the h**l beat out of you in a lever platform and dealing with rainbow trajectories.

I kinda like mine.

[6pt-sika]

All of this without getting the h**l beat out of you in a lever platform and dealing with rainbow trajectories.


While everyone agree's recoil is a relative thing . My 444's loaded stout do not beat the heck out of me . And thats with bullets from 200 grains to 400 grains . My 45-70 however will work on you from the bench . But thats more because of the semi curved plastic buttplate on the back of that rifle more then anything . When I had Marlin 1895G rifles the same loads in them with the factory Marlin recoil pad were nothing to worry about either .

[Combat Diver]

I've always had an interest in the .35 Rem but never have taken the plunge yet. I did purchase a Ranch Dog .41 Mag mold for my Marlin this spring. Unfortunitely its still sitting in the box in my shop unused as I didn't do any casting during the two weeks I was home this summer. Hopefully next summer (when my 2 yr tour is up) I'll get some lead and do some casting.

CD

[excess650]

I loaded and shot RD's bullet over AA2015 up to 38gr. It is not a meek and mild cartridge with 195gr cast projectiles being launched nearly 2300fps. It is my hope to take a whitetail with this particular rifle this season.

I'm going to try a couple of other powders but have some baseline loads with AA2015 and AA5744 that can do what I need them to do. I'm hoping to get a load that shoots a bit more consistently. IMR4198 and H322 will be the next powders tried.

[Ranch Dog]

Good to here from you Combat Diver! You know I have a TLC225-50-RF, you and your friends could keep quite busy casting for those M4s! I also have a TLC356-135-RF, a gas checked 9mm bullet that can give those M9s the +P advantage. I do suspect you might have trouble finding wheel-weights to cast with. Mules generally don't need their hooves balanced!

http://www.olive-drab.com/images/army-horses-mules_afghanistan_400.jpg
SF mules in action! Drive them like they are stolen!

[Combat Diver]

I feel sorry for those animals, as I know how much those rucks weigh as I've carried those rucks too, too many miles. RD, I'll have to take a look at your other molds.

Training in Germany in 2002
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/023_18JAN01_bo.JPG

[Ranch Dog]

Nice sunglasses!

[82nd airborne]

Ill try to find my picture of 4 hadji's on one donkey. Poor guy. We were on a foot patrol one night and one of the guys wanted to sit on a donkey for a picture. The donkey took off and he bailed of its back about 3 blocks away from us. Luckily we found him before Jayish Al Mahdi did. It gave him a good scare and us a good laugh. Sorry to hijack.