Which Caliber ?

1895ss · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:21 pm Post subject: Which Caliber ?

I am wanting to buy another gun and I have two calibers in mind, the 35 Remington and the 30-30 Winchester. Both calibers are available in the Marlin Model 336c which is the gun I want of course. Which one would you buy and why?

Handloader · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:03 am Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

Either will do an excellent job. Unless you handload, finding ammo for the 35 Remington will be a bit more difficult.

Hornady's new Leverevolution ammo is available in both chamberings.

Al_Sohlstrom · Member Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 75

Hi

I have two Marlins: an older model (I don't recall the model, and it's locked away right now) in .44 Mag and a new model (1894 Cowboy) in .357 Mag, and I've had several in the past.

The old one's a charm. The new one's a curse.

The, "Letting In Two," problem is RAMPANT (specially with the rifles in less-than-45-caliber), from what I've read, and Marlin is apparenly having the end-users do all their Quality Assurance testing for them.

While all you have to do to get it fixed is to send it back to Marlin, YOU [HAVE TO SEND IT BACK TO MARLIN!

My thinking is that, if you buy ANY new-manufacture Marlin lever-action rifle, you're probably going to have to send it back to Marlin almost as soon as you get it.

...and they STILL haven't fixed that sharp-edge-on-the-lever problem that kills the timing pretty quickly, so you have to send it back every now and again anyhow.

So, you can count me in the Unhappy Customer subset.

I gotta say, though, that the new 1895 Cowboy in .45-70 really looks like it'd be worth the effort....

As for the cartridge, count me as a big fan of the .35 Rem. I've had it in rifles and in a pistol (is the Contender REALLY a pistol?) and it's never failed to deliver. There's nothing WRONG with a .30-30. I just like the .35 better.

1895ss · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:16 am Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

I forgot to mention that yes I do handload all my ammo........ Smile

515034s10ring · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:28 am Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

Your first problem is not adding a Winchester to your selection Mad

but nonetheless i think you'll appreciate the thurdy thurdy a bit more in the long run.....as long as it's a Winchester Cool

Flint54 · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:38 am Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

I guess I have to put my vote in for the .35 Remington. I can't definitavely say that it is any better than the 30-30 but the heavier bullet penetrates a bit better and seems to anchor the deer quicker (IMO). Also it makes a bit better Black Bear round. Cool

jameslee · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:34 pm Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

I have both of these for my contender and have gotten deer with each one. To chose one over the other would be hard for me. If I had to chose it would be the 35rem no the30-30. The 35rem would win out. I like the 180gr Hornady ssp bullet for the 35rem. JIM Cheers

jameslee · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:35 pm Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

I have both of these for my contender and have gotten deer with each one. To chose one over the other would be hard for me. If I had to chose it would be the 35rem no the30-30. The 35rem would win out. I like the 180gr Hornady ssp bullet for the 35rem. JIM Cheers

moose2 · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

18995ss-- another gun I'd throw into the mix is the 38/55 that Marlin made. Very accurate for a leveraction and a good deer rifle also. Maybe alittle hard to find anymore. Marlin only made a limited production run of them. Did see one a month ago at a gun show. It was $500 NIB Also just cool looking with the Octagonal barrel. Have fun shopping--tr

shrpshtrjoe · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

Howdy the 30-30 is a tried and true round and works very well for deer if your huntin anything bigger the 35 get's the nod with the heavier bullet. Hell just buy them both there both great calibers Very Happy

.
Joe

peepsight · Rookie Member Joined: Jan 08, 2006 Posts: 16

never used 35 but big fan of 30-30 win

Gil Martin · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:03 pm Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

It depends. When I could not decide, I bought one of each. All the best...
Gil

roklok · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:11 pm Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

Personally I would buy a 35 Remington,because I really like 35 calibers and I already have a 336 in 30-30.It seems everyone and their brother has a 30-30 but a 35 isnt as common. As far as the new Marlins needing factory attention I just bought a brand new 1895 45-70 last fall and simply love it.No problems with this rifle.

1895ss · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:08 am Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

Thanks guys for your input, I was leaning toward the .35 rem to start with but I wanted your opinions. I think the .35 would be better as well because of the bigger bullets available. I do plan on using it as a backup for Elk hunting, not that I probably need it as I have my 45-70 and a 30-06. My son usually uses my 30-06 though so another gun would be nice. I'm going to see what I can find at our local gun show on Apr 1 & 2 . Marlins are hard to come by out here for whatever reason but you do see a few. As for the 38/55, yep I wouldn't mind one of them either, but they're very hard to find here. As for buying the .35 and the .30-30 at the same time, well that is a great idea but they have to come one at a time because funds are not readily available for that sort of thing. Besides my wife might use one of them on me if I did that all at once. One at a time I can get away with but not two. Very Happy

If I'm lucky and find a .35 I was thinking of loading the 180 gr FN Speer bullet. When you run that into the Point Blank Program near max vel, it looks darn good for a bush gun.
Thanks again guys for your input.

515034s10ring · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:27 am Post subject: Re: Which Caliber ?

Hmmmmm, 35 is a good one i guess......but since Marlin Yuck

(thank goodness) isn't widely available.....there is a better company you should look into Very Happy

Ohhhh, lets say WINCHESTER , or maybe Winchester and how 'bout lookin into WINCHESTER ....these other three companies may be a better chioce and more available to purchase Cool