Hi All,
My friend inherited a very nice Marlin 336 in 35 Rem (jealous) and if you shoot 35 Rem you know brass and ammo is near impossible to find. Some came into stock on Grafs the other day and was gone in minutes. So I have offered to help him form some brass to get his old gun up and running and killing deer and bears. After some looking, it seems a lot of people, including some here, have gone through all sorts of work to convert 308 to 35 Rem...not something I can do on my press. However, my internet search also brought me to the 6.5 and 7.35 Carcano cases as candidates, as they have much similar rim and base sizes, albeit a few thousandths undersized in the rim and base. Further looking shows that the 6.5x54 MS is even closer in dimensions. Looking at cartridge drawings, a run through a FL die should set the shoulder back where it needs to be. Given I can expand the case necks from 6.5 to 358 (i know they'll be thin), I should have brass pretty close to SAAMI spec for 35 Rem after just passing thought the FL die. A light or mid range load should fire form the few thou they need at the base and serve as a load to help find zero at the same time.
This seems too easy, and I can't believe I haven't seem more on this conversion in forums. It has me thinking I might be missing something. Anyone see anything wrong or dangerous with this process? I think the biggest challenge will be successfully expanding a 6.5 neck to 358, but I have done 270 that was fired a few times to 358 successfully. I'm using new brass now so I'm hoping it is possible. The base only has to expand a few thousandths, so I believe that will be ok. What do you think?