357 Rossi or 30-30 Marlin brush gun?

[Bzcraig]

You made a great choice. The .30-30 is so very cast friendly. I would take a Winchester 94 any day. Now for the .45-70, too much recoil/pain for me in a lever gun.

He he took the words out of my mouth!

[TXGunNut]

I have Marlins in 30-30, 35 Rem and 45-70. I'd like to have a Rossi in 357 someday but will never trade one of my Marlins for it. I doubt seriously a deer inside of 100 yards properly shot with a suitable load from either rifle would ever know the difference so either gun would work fine for your intended purpose. OTOH if you don't like your Marlin and won't take it hunting you might as well trade it off. If you're wanting a pistol cartridge levergun to use for a "hammer" I think the 44 Mag or possibly 45 Colt would be a better choice but that would apparently involve mould, brass and die purchases. Hate it when that happens.

[303Guy]

Sounds like a great swap, in my books anyway. Otherwise I was going to cast my vote for a 35 Remington. Heck, my Dad used to hunt Cape Buffalo with a 35 Remington! One day he shot two with one bullet. The bullet went through the heart of the first one, hit no bone on its pass through and broke the shoulder of the unseen buffalo behind the first. He's braver than I am! You don't shoot buffalo with a 35 Remington at long ranges! The second buffalo needed to be shot again.

[freebullet]

I've never been impressed with anything that said rossi on it. I've owned a couple, started a few youngsters out with a 410/'22 combo. Their revolvers are not something I'd want.

[Pilgrim]

With JES reportedly doing good work, the .35-30 is another option. It solves 2 of your Marlin issues. First, the caliber issue, and second it eliminates the microgroove issue. FWIW Pilgrim

[davidheart]

With JES reportedly doing good work, the .35-30 is another option. It solves 2 of your Marlin issues. First, the caliber issue, and second it eliminates the microgroove issue. FWIW Pilgrim

I seriously considered the .35-30. That way I won't lose all my 30-30 brass (about 250 pieces plus loaded ammunition too) and I would have a larger boolit and the ability to use small 158gr pistol boolits to plink/small game with. However the only reloading dies I found were the Redding set on Midway for $200! So $200 for the rebore, $200 for the reloading dies? Ouch and no thank you.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/467...-30-winchester

[KLR]

However the only reloading dies I found were the Redding set on Midway for $200!

$83.20 here: http://www.ch4d.com/

[Blammer]

have you thought about a 444marlin?

[davidheart]

I have thought about it. I think about a lot of things.

[220]

Have marlins in 357, 30/30 and 45/70 had a Rossi in 44 for a while as well.
I love my 357 but wouldn't get rid of my 30/30 to own one.
I found myself going the opposite way to you, started taking my 30/30 more and more in preference to my 7mm Rem Mag, have shot the 30/30 out to 700y on steel. Rarely sees cast for anything other than plinking but with J word it will shoot moa, flat enough to hold dead on medium game to a bit past 200 and a 300y shot isn't out of the question. 99% of my hunting is less than 200y so 7mm now has a new home.
45/70 is my main lead hunting rifle, still very effective even when driven at moderate velocity and pleasant to shoot.
If the 30/30 has to go and your sold on a Rossi for hunting with lead, then the 454 might be the best option.

[sparky45]

I agree with your choices, but I would also include the 44-40. I have a Rossi in 44-40 with a 24" Hex barrel that I absolutely love.
S45

I have Marlins in 30-30, 35 Rem and 45-70. I'd like to have a Rossi in 357 someday but will never trade one of my Marlins for it. I doubt seriously a deer inside of 100 yards properly shot with a suitable load from either rifle would ever know the difference so either gun would work fine for your intended purpose. OTOH if you don't like your Marlin and won't take it hunting you might as well trade it off. If you're wanting a pistol cartridge levergun to use for a "hammer" I think the 44 Mag or possibly 45 Colt would be a better choice but that would apparently involve mould, brass and die purchases. Hate it when that happens.

[TXGunNut]

I agree with your choices, but I would also include the 44-40. I have a Rossi in 44-40 with a 24" Hex barrel that I absolutely love.
S45

Personally I'd prefer the 38-40 or 44-40 but my tastes, like yours, are a bit off the beaten path. I prefer the old correct BP cartridges even though I have dies for 43 Mag and 45 Colt and plenty of moulds for the 45 Colt. Most days I don't recall having a 43 (and generally won't admit it ) but I know it's a popular caliber with many good boolit designs.

[Centaur 1]

Traded my Remlin with a friend who wanted a Marlin for his Winchester 94 30-30 plus $150.

Going to keep the 30-30 caliber in a more cast boolit friendly gun. (read, not micro-groove)

The 94 is friendlier on cast boolits, but not because of the style of rifling. I've never had any problems with micro-groove and cast boolits that are properly sized. The real advantage with the Winchester is the twist rate, it has 1-12" versus the Marlins 1-10". There's not much difference under 2000 fps, but the slower twist rate makes it easier to find success when you start pushing 2200 fps. My Marlins top out between 2175 and 2200 fps, then my groups open up to the point where it doesn't make sense. I've been getting 1/2" to 3/4" groups at 50 yards at 2175 fps, at 2200 fps the group will open up to 1.25", and at 2225 fps I get 2.5" groups. That 50 fps doesn't help you when group size quadruples. I also have a Rio Grande in 30-30 and it has standard rifling with a 12" twist like the Winchester. When I do my part the Marlin is the more accurate rifle, but the Rossi seems to shoot good no matter what load I use.

[redbullitt]

Really like the rossi 357 for an all around fun gun. I have not hunted with it, but it shoots well enough AND I shoot it enough that I would grab it without hesitation. Handles great, seems to love cast bullets, HANDLES GREAT, and is plenty accurate for anything I would ever do with it.

As far as your trade... I am not sure I would do it. Couple reasons. First off, you can load the 30 30 down to act just like the 357 at any of its power levels. Cant quite do that with the 357.

I had to do a lot of messing with the rossi to get it were it needed to be... it was a pain. Your 30 30 is already running good I assume, so for me that would be a big pause for thought. You will also have to be a bit pickier about your shots with the 357 compared to the 30 30, but not so much that I would shy away from it. After all, you said you have a bigger hammer to use if you need to work at longer ranges.

I shoot a lot of 357 and 38s, so the rossi gets out to shoot all the time and makes much more sense for me. I gave the 30 30 to my dad to hunt with since I basically replaced it with the 357 carbine.

Saw mention of sights on the rossi, Steves guns makes a nifty little peep sight that replaces that goofy safety lever. I really like mine, though it is a bit more wobbly than I would like. Might be worth a look.

[taco650]

With JES reportedly doing good work, the .35-30 is another option. It solves 2 of your Marlin issues. First, the caliber issue, and second it eliminates the microgroove issue. FWIW Pilgrim

I seriously considered the .35-30. That way I won't lose all my 30-30 brass (about 250 pieces plus loaded ammunition too) and I would have a larger boolit and the ability to use small 158gr pistol boolits to plink/small game with. However the only reloading dies I found were the Redding set on Midway for $200! So $200 for the rebore, $200 for the reloading dies? Ouch and no thank you.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/467...-30-winchester

Could JES modify a set of 30-30 dies to when he does the barrel? Probably so but that might be even more $$$ than ordering them from midway. Nevermind, my mind is wandering again. Moot point anyway since you've just declared the 45-70 the choice of your affections.

[Gunnut 45/454]

I have both a Marlin 357 '94 CBL and a Real Marlin 336W 30-30! I got into the 30-30 after picking up a ton of brass -so I had to have a gun to shoot it. Got the 357 mag for the wife as she is a petite woman and didn't like the recoil of the 30-30 for deer hunting. Both are mostly shot with cast loads both are more then capable of being used as Brush guns though mine are scoped for my aging eyes. I'm confused by the OP's comment though? The 30-30 is not a WEAK cartridge ! With range limits it's more then capable of taking anything in the lower 48! It has been used on everything! The 357 mag is also capable of the same with more range limits. Would I hunt Griz or Brown with either -probably not! But then again folk hunt them with bows! They are braver then I!

[A pause for the COZ]

Ok I am gona add my two bits. mainly because I have both of these guns.
I have a 1958 marlin 30-30 with Ballard rifling and a Rossi M92 in 357 mag.

I purchased the M92 to be my brush gun since my Son owned into my 30-30.

It was not successful for me. For the M92 I wanted to use heavier cast bullets 180 gr.
I could not and have not ever been able to get these bullets to stabilize out of the 1-30 twist Rossi.
The Rossi is optimized for lighter bullets. 125hr LEE rnfp's are very very accurate 100 plus yards.
158gr shoot ok to 50 yards they really start to open up at 100 yards.
the 180's I cant keep on a pie plate at 100 yards and they tumble.

Not saying it cant be done. Just going to take allot of work to find the right bullet and the right velocity to get them to stabilize.

I gave up and Purchased a Marlin Model 1941 in 32Win special for my Brush gun for cast loads and a AR10 carbine in 308 win for a faster load.

If you really want a 357 for a brush gun. i think a Marlin lever in 357 would be a better choice. It has a 1-16 twist rate.

[Gunnut 45/454]

A pause
I haven't shot anything over 158 gr out of mine either - not even sure what the twist rate is on my Marlin CBL. Now the 158 gr will group just fine out to as far as I want or would shoot game. Easily an honest 2" grouper at 100 yards about 4" at 150 yards which is more then accurate enough for deer and such.

[BAGTIC]

"...increases its lead in power as the bullet goes downrange,.."

How much "downrange" is there in woods hunting?

[Ramslammer]

G'Day
I voted for the 30/30 BUT if I'd known the Mighty .35 REM was in the mix there wouldn't of been any other choice!!! My 35's make me happy every time I use them.
Juddy