Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Old school Zipper

I've had this rifle for a while, a 1957 Marlin 336 in .219 Zipper, but haven't used it for anything furry until now. The bullet I found that shoots great and allows full use of the 5 round tubular magazine is the 35 grain Midway dogtown hp, loaded to about 3600 fps. I picked them up here on the fire a year or two ago during the component crunch. I do not planning on shooting any volume at that velocity, to preserve the throat.

It got a Leupold 1.75-6 and shoots under an inch with the little HP bullet. I found out yesterday that with the heavy barrel these have, they are a beast to carry for miles and miles. I guess that's the price you pay to make a Marlin 336 in a Zipper shoot well. I hear the earliest Marlin Zippers had a lighter barrel, but when accuracy didn't live up to Marlins expectations, the barrel was redesigned and made heavier. It has Marlin's famous Micro-groove rifling.

I don't remember how many Marlins were made like this, not a lot, but you come across them from time to time. I'd recommend one to a gun crank that can reload.

The Zipper cartridge was first offered in the 1930's, and is a necked down 30-30. Brass for the Zipper is easy enough to make, and is a fun project on a cold day. The Zipper appeals to me because it's unusual, effective, and brass can made from readily available 30-30's. The cartridge essentially works as a .223, (who uses a .223 to good effect?), but functions in a rifle made for a rimmed 30-30 size bolt face. The Marlin mechanism functions like butter. The only hangup so far is that the two hammer extensions I have don't stay on, so getting to the hammer under the scope is a challenge. I'm assuming I have the wrong one's for proper fit and that can be remedied. I believe the ideal rifle for this cartridge, if thinking levers, wouldn't be the Marlin, but would be a Savage 99. A Savage has no hammer to mess with, and would allow any pointed bullet with it's rotary magazine. That would open up a world of great bullet options, including the newer big game mono's.

I think improving this case would make a lot of sense, but not in a valuable and rare original Marlin Zipper.

Anyway, I was able to get one coyote and a couple jacks with it yesterday, so the old Zipper is a shooter.

Have a good week all.