35 Remington Buck

I got a buck yesterday with my Marlin 336 in 35 Remington. Load was 38.0 grains IMR 4320 under an Accurate 360-200A bullet cast from 50/50 CoWW/Pure plus 2% Tin. Range about 130 yards. It was a classic end to a deer hunt. Had started the day off hunting from 1st light on a cool 24 degree morning with a nice frost. Saw so many deer that I lost count throughout the day. Finally at 4:28pm as I sat in a 1.5 acre clump of trees in my corn field looking towards a woodline I saw a thick body deer step to the edge of the woods and stop just before coming out into the cut corn. Swinging the rifle around to take a look through the scope I knew for sure it was a buck because of the size in spite of not being able to see the head at 1st. Then I saw antlers poking up above the brush that was blocking my view of the deer's head. That was all I needed to make up my mind. I shifted around in my folding hunting chair and crouched down to shoot under some limbs right in front of me, held just behind the shoulder and squeezed. Recoil made me lose the sight picture but a hit was confirmed by the loud thwack echoing back from the woods when the bullet hit meat. By then it was about 15 minutes after sunset and as such blood was not really red anymore, the whole world was black and white. And I didn't remember to bring my flashlight of course. Well it took about a dozen minutes of walking around in the dark but finally ran across the deer laying on his belly with his chin on the ground almost as if he'd simply dropped down to sleep. Not a bit of white hair showing anywhere. He ran about 40 or 50 yards. The bullet hit right behind the shoulder and exited at the rear of the ribs on the offside. I'm guessing he is a 3 year old based on size, muscularity and main beam thickness. He's only a 4 point because he had no brow tines, which is common for the area. Some people call this type antler a "Crab claw" for obvious reason. I'm happy with him along with the 5 point I got about 500 yards across the field earlier this year with my 32 Special. Both with cast bullets. Very satisfying getting them with bullets you made yourself. Pardon the dark picture but that's what you get after sunset.

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Congrats! Fresh venison is always good!

Congrats on a successful hunt!
Rick

Well done.

Nice job! Appreciate the story as well!

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Nice, I got my first of three deer this year with my 1960 Sears model Marlin 35R.
About 60 yds., a 200 gr rcbs bullet over some 3031. Like you right behind the shoulders.
He went around 100 yds.
Congrats.

RP

Thanks for letting us hear your story. Well done!

Nice one…

Congrats. Gonna be some good eating there.

Great Story! & Thanks for sharing. Would like to see that rifle though (In the light) Ha.

Nice shootin'! Especially with your home brew ammo. I have a soft spot for 35 Remington even though brass and ammo are scarce. My old backup truck gun is a $20 Remington 760 swamp rifle in 35 Remington. Bought it at a Jacksonville pawn shop. An old alligator hunter sold it to the pawn shop for $10 because it didn't work anymore. I saw it standing behind the gun counter. When I asked about the gun the clerk reached for the rusty hulk and handed it to me. He said it was only parts. When I pulled the slide a pair of cockroaches jumped out from under the forearm and hit the floor running. The shop keeper said: "quick stomp on them before they get under the jewelry case. I dispatched one right away and had to run a few steps to lay my size 13 shoe on the other big bug. The clerk handed me a paper towel and said: " quick, pick them up before the owner sees em" ! I said "well looks like I will have to buy this cockroach rifle". He said gimmie $20 and its yours! I handed him a General Jackson. The trigger assembly was held in with a bent nail. The hammer would not drop. Safety was stuck. Just a ball of rust. When I got back to my house I dropped it in a big solvent tank after removing the wood that looked like decking lumber. A couple of weeks later I pulled the ole rusty hulk and started dismantling it. Got it all cleaned up and working. Had to buy a magazine for it as the prior owner used it as a single shot. The blued magazine was the best looking part on this ole 35 Rem. The bore was a bit rough. Several rounds down range cleaned it up a bit. A couple of years ago my grandson and I went hunting on a buddies farm. I forgot the .358 Norma ammo for my rifle. I thought about the old 35 Remington under the back seat of my pickup. Had a couple boxes of reloads too. We hunted all afternoon. Dropped a fat doe at 80 yards with the old cockroach 35 Remington. My grandson said "pap why don't you get a better gun than that old rusty gun"??? I had to tell him the story about this old truck gun. Sometimes I think the story is worth more than the gun! Yeah for 35 Remington!

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Originally Posted by 35 Rem

I'm happy with him along with the 5 point I got about 500 yards across the field earlier this year with my 32 Special. Both with cast bullets.

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Maybe I'm mis-interpreting this one...but tell us about this 500 yard shot?

I'm guessing you mean you shot another deer just 500 yards away from where you got this one...but if it isn't the case...do tell.

redhawk

Congratulations!

Thanks to all for the congratulations. Versa06, I'll try to get a picture of the rifle this weekend. I recently replaced the junky see through mounts it had when I got it with a set of Leupold mounts so am no longer ashamed to let somebody see it. :) RockinDaddy I love that story about the roach filled Remington 760 in 35 Remington! When they get down to $20 you don't have a lot to lose and it sounds like you got a real practical rifle that is perfectly useable. I like old beat-up stuff that performs well beyond expectations. And to me, the 35 Remington is the perfect balance of enough power without excessive recoil for a woods deer rifle. RedHawk0, yes I got a buck at 500 yards with my 32 Special. I held well up over him so that he was almost out of the scope and at the shot he walked into the bullet which hit him directly in the top of the head as it descended from the stratosphere, it exited through his lower jaw and shot a hoof off. :) HAha! No, seriously, your other guess at my statement was correct, I shot the other buck at another place on the farm about 500yards from where this weeks buck was standing. The earlier buck was shot at a range of about 40 or 50 yards at most. I'm becoming a lever action, cast bullet addict for deer hunting.

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Originally Posted by 35 Rem

RedHawk0, yes I got a buck at 500 yards with my 32 Special. I held well up over him so that he was almost out of the scope and at the shot he walked into the bullet which hit him directly in the top of the head as it descended from the stratosphere, it exited through his lower jaw and shot a hoof off. :) HAha! No, seriously, your other guess at my statement was correct, I shot the other buck at another place on the farm about 500yards from where this weeks buck was standing. The earlier buck was shot at a range of about 40 or 50 yards at most.

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Hahaha...that's great...I knew there was a story there.....anyway...congrats on a nice deer. I took a nice doe 85 yards, downhill shot, through brush this year with my 35 Rem...but it was a Sierra 200gr RN bullet. I've yet to take one with a cast out of this old Marlin 336. Had some Bambi (momma) meatloaf for supper tonight... It is always nice to see another 35 Rem lover.

redhawk

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Here is my rifle. I got it for a low price mostly because the photos in the Gunbroker ad were very poor and it did have some dings. That seemed to scare people away but I wanted a gun to hunt with so took a chance and got it for $305 plus shipping. This was 2016 or 2017 the best I can recall. It had a horrible trigger that was off the scale of my RCBS gauge. I ordered a Wolf low power hammer spring and installed it. The pull did go down, don't recall the exact numbers any more but it was still very high. But as so often happens when you start modifying anything, another problem crept in. I was getting misfires. Lots of them. So I got some of the little washers they sell for PopRivets to put on the hammer strut rod to preload the spring. It seemed to help but going from 50% misfires to 30% misfires is hardly a solution. So after several iterations of adding different washer thicknesses to the hammer spring strut with none of them giving 100% ignition I put the original spring back on. I had a 10+lb trigger pull of course but at least it went BOOM every time again. Then I saw an ad for the Wild West Trigger in a Brownell catalog and got one. Sucess! Pull weight was something around 4lbs which is fine for a lever action hunting rifle. Everything went well for several years until suddenly this Fall when I got it out to shoot some and all of a sudden, I was getting 50% or more misfires. Dadgummit!!! Most would fire on the 2nd attempt and all on the 3rd. On most of those I was also getting shoulder setback because the primers were protruding. How this suddenly happened after about 4 years of 100% reliability I'm not sure. Again I did some searching and found that Wolf makes Extra Power Hammer Springs for the Marlin 336 so ordered a couple. Not only was the spring stiffer, it was significantly longer than the original which took some creativity to get it installed. I had to use a large vice, two 1/4" sockets and a nail with the head sawed off along with a piece of small wire to compress it enough to install. Once installed it was immediately obvious that it took more thumb power to cock the hammer. I've shot it about 50 times or maybe more with the new spring and it has worked perfectly. I tell all this because a good friend who is also a gun nut warned me to not get a 35 Remington because of all the stories he'd heard like mine with 35 Remington chambered rifles. Many blame the tiny shoulder and say that it causes headspace problems. I can't pooh pooh that accusation either when I think back on my primer backing out problems a few weeks back. However, for now I have my 35 working reliably. For my money even if you do have to jump through some hoops to get a 35 set up, it's worth it because of that great balance between power with minimal recoil.

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Originally Posted by 35 Rem

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Here is my rifle. I got it for a low price mostly because the photos in the Gunbroker ad were very poor and it did have some dings. That seemed to scare people away but I wanted a gun to hunt with so took a chance and got it for $305 plus shipping. This was 2016 or 2017 the best I can recall. It had a horrible trigger that was off the scale of my RCBS gauge. I ordered a Wolf low power hammer spring and installed it. The pull did go down, don't recall the exact numbers any more but it was still very high. But as so often happens when you start modifying anything, another problem crept in. I was getting misfires. Lots of them. So I got some of the little washers they sell for PopRivets to put on the hammer strut rod to preload the spring. It seemed to help but going from 50% misfires to 30% misfires is hardly a solution. So after several iterations of adding different washer thicknesses to the hammer spring strut with none of them giving 100% ignition I put the original spring back on. I had a 10+lb trigger pull of course but at least it went BOOM every time again. Then I saw an ad for the Wild West Trigger in a Brownell catalog and got one. Sucess! Pull weight was something around 4lbs which is fine for a lever action hunting rifle. Everything went well for several years until suddenly this Fall when I got it out to shoot some and all of a sudden, I was getting 50% or more misfires. Dadgummit!!! Most would fire on the 2nd attempt and all on the 3rd. On most of those I was also getting shoulder setback because the primers were protruding. How this suddenly happened after about 4 years of 100% reliability I'm not sure. Again I did some searching and found that Wolf makes Extra Power Hammer Springs for the Marlin 336 so ordered a couple. Not only was the spring stiffer, it was significantly longer than the original which took some creativity to get it installed. I had to use a large vice, two 1/4" sockets and a nail with the head sawed off along with a piece of small wire to compress it enough to install. Once installed it was immediately obvious that it took more thumb power to cock the hammer. I've shot it about 50 times or maybe more with the new spring and it has worked perfectly. I tell all this because a good friend who is also a gun nut warned me to not get a 35 Remington because of all the stories he'd heard like mine with 35 Remington chambered rifles. Many blame the tiny shoulder and say that it causes headspace problems. I can't pooh pooh that accusation either when I think back on my primer backing out problems a few weeks back. However, for now I have my 35 working reliably. For my money even if you do have to jump through some hoops to get a 35 set up, it's worth it because of that great balance between power with minimal recoil.

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Wow! I never had to put heavier springs in any Marlin to get it to go off. I would look into either the shoulders have been pushed back with your size die, excessive headspace or take a look at my firing pin. Possibly your locking bolt isn't coming up high enough to line up the firing pin connector. My current 35 Remington Marlin has never even hinted at misfiring. Original springs and all.

I considered all that and checked it out trust me. :) I took the firing pin out both times I was having misfire problems and cleaned the bolt hole with solvent then lightly lubricated it with automatic transmission fluid. Verified both pieces of the firing pin were free to slide in the bolt. Firing pin protrusion from the bolt face was comparable to several other rifles that fire 100%. Considering head space, I have a double assurance that isn't a problem besides knowing the sizing die is adjusted properly. My bullet (Accurate 360-200A) has a driving band in front of the crimp groove that jams into the rifling when chambered. The case doesn't even require a shoulder to stay in contact with the bolt face with that bullet. As far as the locking bolt not rising up high enough to lift the rear part of the firing pin into alignment with the front piece, that seems very unlikely to be an issue. That's one of those features that if it was ever correct shouldn't change. It's not an uncommon problem apparently to have this misfire issue with Marlin 336's in 35 Remington if you do an internet search. I'm still not sure why and as I said before I like the combination well enough to still have enthusiasm for the gun and even promote it as one of the very best woods deer guns. The little bit of work I had to do to make it 100% reliable was well worth it for me.

I have owned four 35 Remingtons. The roughest and oldest was a 58 model. It had a rough barrel, had been sanded down and refinished with cold blue so it had an odd patina. The stock when I got it was split down the middle front to back and my first problem was the locking block wouldn't line up the firing pin connector. It woud not go bang. Had to buy a new one and fit it. After Gorilla gluing the stock back together and relieving the tang so it wouldn't happen again I found the somewhat pitted microgroove barrel shot pretty good. My first loads were made from used brass I had been given and sized by someone else for his rifle. I couldn't use it because the shoulder had been pushed too far back for my chamber so I necked it up 375 caliber with a 375 magnum die and sized it back down to 35 caliber leaving a shoulder set to where I could just feel resistance when it closed. That fixed my problem and the next firing I adjusted the die down just a hair for easy chambering. I have never had a 35 Remington that needed the size die set to bump the shell holder, on the other hand I have rarely fired factory ammo. Could be there is some out there that is short.

Nice Rifle!

Congrats on your deer harvest and 35 Remington experience!

I have a early 50's Waffle top Marlin (336C) 35 Remington that I have not shot anything with yet.

Three44s

If you’re getting misfires and primer set back, you’re way, way over sizing the cases.
I size my .35’s, just enough to allow easy chambering.
Some dies will set the shoulder back too far, and the extractor won’t hold the rimless case tight enough to prevent the miss fires.
I’ve never experienced missfires with a Marlin. I’ve got nearly a dozen including the .35…

I hear what you are saying but there are several reasons why I don't think it's a sizing die adjustment problem. First, I never follow instructions on sizing die adjustment where they tell you to turn the die down so that it rests against the shell holder then tighten further. I always leave a gap to avoid overworking the brass and to avoid headspace problems. Second, this problem started occurring with a gun I’ve owned over 10 years with the same ammo that was firing 100% in the not so distant past (few months ago). Third, the bullet I use (Accurate 36-200-A) has a driving band in front of the crimp groove that is jammed into the rifling on my rifle. When you extract a loaded round from the chamber you can see rifling marks on the bullet. What I think may have happened with the setback primers is that the repeated blows from the hammer (usually 3 to get it to fire) actually shoved the case forward enough to set the shoulder back as it drove the cartridge further into the chamber just a tiny bit. Looking at the cases here now I doubt that tiny bit of movement had anything to do with the misfires but was more of a product of the problem. At most it’s barely a few thousandths. Compared to the typical firing pin protrusion from a bolt face, I’d say it’s not more than 5%.
Whatever the cause was, it's fixed with the new hammer spring. Say what you will but internet discussion boards are full of stories of people having trouble with Marlin's misfiring in 35 Remington specifically. Those stories didn't bother me obviously because I knew I could fix whatever the problem might be and make the gun work. Of course, those discussion boards are made up of shooters with varying levels of gun knowledge and mechanical abilities so I'm sure many of the problems have nothing to do with the gun itself.
Oh yeah, another point regarding oversizing cases, if that were the problem there would be a difference between one of my loaded rounds and a fired case. If anything the shoulder looks further forward on a loaded round than a case fired in the rifle. I think the hammer spring had just been weakened over time or maybe somebody had messed with it. The gun had a horrible trigger pull when I got it. Way off the scale of a gauge. Anyhow, as I said, it's fixed now.

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Originally Posted by Three44s

Congrats on your deer harvest and 35 Remington experience!

I have a early 50's Waffle top Marlin (336C) 35 Remington that I have not shot anything with yet.

Three44s

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. ^^^^^^^^^ The same for me, I have a first year 336 SC in 35 Rem but it has a receiver sight on it and I haven’t got to use it yet for deer. Nice story and nice to take him on your own property, Thanks for a great story and classic ending.
Jedman