Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Marlin 375 is one worth the trouble?

If you handload and particularly if you cast it is a good cartridge. You can use 375 brass, 38/55 brass or form from 30/30. Powder consumption is modest and it's more gun than a 30/30. I load a 300 gr cast at 1850 fps and 250 gr cast at around 2000fps.

I also have a Marlin in 35 Rem and performance wise they are very similar.

I droped a deer off at the place that has the 375 yesterday as it was 70 temp, they still have it I asked about it the shop is going to see if the owner has any ammo or brass for it, flip side is he also has a 35 rem. with a scope Marlin old one for the same price as the 375 go fig!

Love my Marlin .375. Very accurate. And I have enough rounds loaded for it to last me a long time.

I've had great results on deer with the 250 gr. factory load and with the 220 gr. Hornady. I shot an average size doe head on in the chest at the base of the neck. The 250 gr bullet penetrated full length and exited near the tail.

For cast bullet loads, I use fire-formed 30-30 brass. It is thinner than .375 Win. brass and works well with slightly over-size cast bullets. Mine works well with .379 Laser-cast bullets. They grip the micro-groove rifling better than .377 cast bullets.

I have what is probably a life time stash of factory ammo and 220 gr. Hornady bullets. I still like to experiment with other bullets. I've found that the 260 grain .375 Nosler partition can have the nose filed off a bit, to get a flat point. It is accurate if you get a consistent length.

I also use 38-55 brass from Starline. It is thicker than fire-formed 30-30 but thinner than .375 brass. It works with cast bullets. I've found that the chamber on my Marlin is long enough that 38-55 brass doesn't need to be trimmed.

I think I may have a deal worked the marlin 375, guys going to throw 40 reloads, but be next week before I can get back there! Thanks all that gave info!

Short answer: yes! Long answer: oh hell yes! I have one, and love it. Everything the 336 is but shoots a small freight train at deer. Yea, factory ammo is hard to find, but I use the Buffalo Bore .38-55 Heavy load (11C/20) just fine.

yup classic!

I have a 375 and I like it.

I have a custom Remington 788 in 375 that shoots unbelievable. It has a Douglas barrel and timney trigger. It was originally a 30-30 so it feeds great as a repeater. I love the round. I shoot 200 grain sierras with 1680 powder. But here in Ohio I find a ruger bolt action 44 about perfect for lightweight hunting gun. The ruger won't shoot nothing like the 375 but it is good enough for deer. I can regularly clover leaf groups with the 375. Not so much with the 44

The OP's already seen it, but here's a little .375 carbine I recently finished up. Originally it was a 22" brushgun with the straight stock and lever, and the wide beavertail forearm. The front sight had been removed and the bluing trashed for a few inches toward the end of the barrel, so I chopped it to 18 1/2" and crowned it using basic tools. Also the straight lever was removed and the rifle fitted for a curved one. That took a couple hours of careful fitting! The buttstock is a 1950's 99F lightweight, and the forearm is a 1940's 99R piece. Both required lots of fitting as well. The scope is a Weaver 2.5x. It shoots fantastic using Sierra 200 grain FP or Hornady 220 grain FP. Being short, it is much easier to carry and shoot. The curved lever and grip make cycling the lever easier. I will spend a great deal of time packing this little Savage for deer and bear.

Sweet setup, great woods rifle!

I ended up buying Fireball2s 375 Savage99 not the one he just made up! waiting for the weather to warm up to shoot it tho! getting antisy!

i have been mostly shooting a cast lyman 246grain bullet at about 1900fps which works for me at this point.
but just from memory, brian pearce had a remark in handloader throwing I THINK a 200 grain or 220 at about 2250fps using aa1680.
I am eventually going to try a few of those.
there were only 16000 roughly of the marlins made over just a couple year period.
i tripped across four boxes of factory winchester about a year ago for 50bucks a box, but i can't bring myself to shoot it.
the cast bullets shoot a pretty good group.