Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions 336 35 Remington

This Marlin 336 SC in 35 Remington has become one of my favorite deer rifles. I don't recommend converting a collector Marlin 336 SC to a straight grip. But when someone else has started, and screwed up the conversion, I didn't mind finishing it correctly. It turned into a slim and very handy 35 Remington that is very accurate.

Loads are good.

I gave the bedding a go through the week - just a slim smear on the two "rails" of the forestock (that's all the contact area available). Made it a good tight fit.

Tried it at the range yesterday - with tight mag screws I still got the vertical stringing, with loose mag screws I got general overall less acceptable group sizes.

The vertical stringing is typically a tight cluster with a shot or two going high or low. The first shot on a cold barrel is always going be the worst offender - more often than not, high.


I don't know what happened but it used to like loose mag screws.

I've tried it with the mag tube off previously but it didn't completely eliminate stringing or improve accuracy reliably. I might just try it again with the mag tube off.

I know you said loads are good. No way the sizing die could have gotten screwed in a little further and changed the headspace ? I don't know if that would even matter.

My FLS die is set to neck size only - I've not had the need to FLS any brass yet, and haven't yet set the die to suit my rifle (haven't had any fired brass that was tight enough to need FLS). Brass life has been good - 14 reloads so far and counting.

It's definitely a bedding issue - I can switch it reliably between "string mode" and "pattern mode" by the tightness of those magazine screws now.

I have one that shotgun patterned that I relieved the forearm wood that touched the barrel and bedded the ends of the wood on the forearm at the receiver and at the end cap. This was a SC model with the short mag tube and end cap. It shot a little better after that. The wood was really tight before that and I had to fight to get the end cap on every time I took it down. The gun was an old one that hadn't been shot much if at all. After about 200 rounds through it, it started shooting really well and still does.

I neutral bed the forearm to the barrel, bed forearm to receiver, butt stock to receiver, barrel bands tight on every lever action I own and they all shoot good this way. My Marlin is a solid, consistent, sub MOA shooter and my Winchesters are 1-1.5 MOA.

The cost of Marlin's has exploded, sad but true. Here is my 336A and she didn't look like this when I brought her home from the pawn shop.



Refinish thread...

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...h/true/finished-336-project#Post12392227

My Marlin 1895 in 45-70 did the same thing when it started getting hot. I just accepted it as a lever gun thing. I only used it for hunting deer, so it didn't matter. I always sight in my hunting rifles with a dead cold barrel anyway.

It wouldn't. Headspaces on the datum line

You bedded a floating fore end? To what. Who told you to do that?