Got the Marlin 336C back yesterday. I had sent it to JES Reboring to be opened up to 38-55 since the bore was in bad shape when I bought it. Jesse's turnaround is real quick compared to most, 3 weeks including a week+ each way for shipping. His work is every bit as good as his turnaround. He gets some flack from some of the traditionalists since he uses a .366 bore,.3755 groove, so you can use modern jacketed bullet. The original specs were for .377-.379 groove. I have no plans at all for jacketed bullets in this rifle, so didn't really care which way it went.
I had cast some Lee 38-250RF bullets while waiting on the rifle, PC some, pan lubed others with Winds Wonder Wax(5 parts bees wax, 4 parts Crisco, 1 Part Vaseline). Had loads made up with both at 9 grains Unique and 10 grains Universal.
The rifle came in yesterday and even though the temperature was in the high 90s, working up to 100, I had to give it a try. Mounted an old Vari-X III 2.5-8 for load workup and setup at 50 yards in my backyard.
The two loads with PC didn't work bad, both Unique and Universal turned in nice groups.
10gr Universal-Lee 250
9 gr Unique-Lee 250
The pan lube didnt do quite as good, wondering if it was the heat.
Got out this morning while the temperature was still in the 80s and tried 10-Unique with the pan lube and got 5 in under an inch, take out the fouler and it had 4 in half an inch. Don't know if it was cooler temps or better concentration on my part.
Loaded up some with 28-3031-250-Pan Lube and I'm guessing I found my target load.
Freak group I'm sure but it got me thinking about leaving the scope on for a while!
Alternated back and forth with pan lube and PC and all groups were 5/8 or under. Velocity was 1362 with the pan lube, 1417 with the PC
I still want to try some 4895 and some loads around 15-1600fps, but I could stay with the loads I've already tried for most anything I'll ever do with it.