35 Remington Buck

[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

[GooseGestapo]

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…

[35 Rem]

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.

[Jedman]

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

. ^^^^^^^^^ 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