Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Longer barreled lever actions

I'm considering buying a new gun. I would like a side eject lever action, with a pistol grip. This Will be used primarily for pigs from a stand under 100yds. I would like a 35 Remington (bigger hole), but will consider a 30-30. With the info that I have learned here I have eliminated the 308 and 338 Marlins. I have tried the savage and didn't like the feel. I also don't like the feel of the twenty inch barrels. I would prefer a 24" or longer. Are these available? The reason I am a little gun-shy (pardon the pun) is that in the past, I believe that I read an article by either MD or Boddington, in which he stated that the 30-30, 170gn bullets did not perform very well at 100yds are so. If I didn't, I apologize to both. Any help on a longer barreled lever action would be appreciated. Thanks captdavid

Marlin 336-As and Winchester 64s with 24" barrels and 2/3 length magazine tubes balance nicely, but the longer barrels make them a little less handy when moving around on a stand or in a blind.

I don't know how Barsness or Boddington feel about using the 170 grain 30-30 factory loads over 100 yards, but I shoot that ammo from Fed/Rem/Win and can't think of any reason not to use it as far out as I feel comfortable shooting things with a 30-30.

BTW, there a two Marlin 336-As, the older 24" barrel rifles chambered in 30-30, 32 WS, and 35 Rem, and the newer economy model with a 20" barrel.

I have a 26 inch barreled 30/30 Winchester... I bought it on a close out year ago.. think it was some sort of "Legacy" Model....got it for like $300...

they quit making them for a year....

and then they came back out for like $1250.00....

since my eye sight requires a scope, I have a Weaver 2 x 7 Rim Fire Scope on top of it...

its well balanced for the gun, and Weaver's customer service said the 22 scopes are just as heavy duty made as the regular V series...

I prefer 150 grainers in mine....Speer Flat Point are real accurate....

The 170-grain .30-30 bullets perform fine from the 20” barrel at 100-yards.
Granddad was a pretty smart old man and the 26” barrel 30-30 delivers surprising performance in a well balanced off-hand rifle.
Remington Factory 170-grain .30-30 ammunition will break 2,300 fps in the 26” barrel.
Handloads using Alliant Reloder 15 will push the 170-grain bullets above 2,450 fps from the 26” barrel.
If we handload the Speer 170-grain bullet to 2,300 fps we have a point blank range on an 8” circle of 112-yards with about 1,790 fps left at 200 yards. The bullets will work fine at this velocity.
Put hair under the bead and squeeze the trigger.

Either in one of his articles or books Craig Boddington wrote about the 170g bullets not being good in a 16" trapper barrel due to loss of velocity. With a 20" barrel he had better results. I believe he said he would prefer 150s with a 16" barrel. This was after losing or almost losing a Texas Whitetail with the above mentioned combo.

I have had excellent results with Hodgden LVR and the 170g bullet from a 24" barrel getting ~200 more velocity than standard 24" barrel loads. This might give an advantage to the shorter barrels too. Another one that worked good was CFE 223

The 1950s and 1970s Marlin 336A 24" rifles balance superbly and the examples I have owned have been quite accurate. Top either with a Leupold 2-7 scope and you have a winner. Anyone who thinks a 170 grain 30-30 cup and core bullet does not work well on deer sized game at 100 yds has not shot many deer with them.

American Hunting Rifles, pig 104

marlin 95 cowboy. 45-70 with 26" barrel

marlin xlr's have 24 inch barrels
and can be had new if i'm not mistaken

I have a 70's 336 A with 24"bbl.with 4x Leupold that shoots and handles great.Shot it 5 times this season with 130 gr.Speer handloads and killed 3 deer and 2 coyotes at 90,90,125 yrds(deer) and 147 and 221 yards(coyotes).

captdavid,

As you discovered, it was Boddington who had troubles with 170's in his short-barreled .30-30.

I've owned two longer-barreled lever-action .30-30's, a Marlin 36 (not 336) and, right now, a Winchester 64, both with 24" barrels. Haven't killed anything at 200 yards with either, but came close with the Model 36, using a 170 Speer, if I recall. It worked fine.

My longest-barreled .30-30, however, was an old Sauer outside-hammer drilling, a 12x12/.30-30 made for the American market. It had 28" barrels and with factory .30-30 ammo got very close to .300 Savage velocities.

16" button mag 30-30. Yep, they don't work.

I have owned only a couple 30-30 lever actions. Two 94's and a Marlin 336. I've shot both 150's and 170's and have never had any issue killing deer or black bear within 200 yard with either load. The first 94 I had was my grandfathers which was a late 40's early 50's vintage and it shot very well. The second was from the first couple of years they did the "angle eject." That was sold within a year as it didn't shoot worth a damn. The Marlin 336 was a shooter.
I personally don't think you gain much by stretching the barrel on a 30-30 and lose a bunch in the handling department which is the whole point of a 30-30 lever gun. If you are going with a 24 inch barreled rifle in .30 gal for pigs just get a .308 Win pump or semi-auto. Just my two cents.

I am guessing that you want side ejection for scope mounting purposes . Is this an accurate assumption? I have owned several longer barreled levers in the past and they are some of the best feeling rifles I have ever held. I have had a winchester 94 rifle with a 24" octagon barrel that was a joy to shoot. I also had a Winchester 64A that again was a very nice handling rifle and I certainly would pity anything that took a 170 gr bullet from either and I would extend that range to well over 100 yds. Both of those rifles however had top ejection. I also have owned a couple of marlins that had side ejection. One was a Zane Grey commemorative that had a 22" octagon barrel and would fit the bill for your wants pretty well. Marlin also made several rifle versions of the 336 in the 50s and 60s that sported longer barrels and half magazines. some of theses were drilled for scopes and some not. I would suggest to you that imho I never liked a scope on a traditional lever as to me it upsets the balance of the rifle so I tended fit my levers with a receiver sight and that worked well for me out to about 200 yds . As to "rainbow trajectory" comments and admonishments to limit a 30-30 to 100 yds I always say nobody questions shooting a 30-06 at 300 yds but given equal sighting arrangements on both rifles ( open sights or scopes) I would rather have to hit the 200 yd gong with a 30-30 than the 300 yd gong with a 30-06.

I've killed deer with 20" barreled .30-30 carbines beyond 200 yards a half dozen times and at 300 yards once. All died quickly and from the looks of the wound channels I'd have to say I got at least some expansion on all of them. Can't go by the looks of the bullets themselves because none stayed in the deer. The one at 300 yards was shot with a 150 grain bullet and so were three that were shot between 200 and 250 but the rest were with 170's. It has always baffled me that so many would limit a .30-30 to 100- 150 yards on deer sized game yet would think nothing of shooting varmints at 200 yards with a .22 hornet. The 200 yard trajectories of the 150 grain .30-30 and 45 grain hornet are practically identical.

I've owned a few 30-30's over the years. Killed my first deer with an M94 made in 1911 at age 11. Bullet was a cupro-nickel jacketed 170 gr. bullet. Only God knew how old that ammo was but it killed the deer just as dead. I still have one box of that ammo stashed away someplace.
I took quite a few deer back then with various M94's as I was always horse trading around and have always had an M94 carbine handy.
One usually rode somewhere in my truck after I left San Francisco and one rides to this day in my current truck.
On bullets, I've always used the 170 gr bullet, usually the Speer Hot Core in jacketed loads. Frankly, I haven't shot jacketed in my 30-30's for years. I shot some along with 170 gr. cast bullets into wet newspaper and mushrooms were for all practical purposes the same. Been killing deer and other stuff with them ever since. Currently I use an RCBS #30-180-FN bullet that casts out at 190 gr. in my alloy. At 1950 FPS it kills deer just fine and is accurate in my guns. Duplicates the old .303 Savage round.
Paul B.

My close friend has a 35 rem 336 marlin. We call it the hammer. The pickup truck full pile of TX hogs its killed is OK, but the deer that have fallen to it is a tribute to the caliber and the gun.
It has a scope, I think 3x9.
Shoots very accurately and brings home the dinner.
All with the moderate length barrel.
Inside 200 its game on.
I would not call it a long range gun, but just how far do you have to shoot?
I bet if you used a 30-30 with good 170 bullets and made the shots you would find its also effective.

Any interest in the Browning BLR? It's side-eject, available with a pistol grip, stainless or blue, and available with up to a 24" barrel, depending upon chambering. No 35 Rem, but 358 Win and 450 Marlin are available, along with the WSMs and various other more 'standard' chamberings. Just a thought.

i am probably wrong, but i think i remember ken watters in pet loads liking the 170 over the 150 in a 30.30.

We can laugh about this. I remember it the other way around. I'll look it up. I sure prefer the 170-grain bullets with the Speer Hot Core being hard to beat.