Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions Marlin - please make a 336 in a "small" caliber...

Something like a .243 or something in 6.5mm.
I think there's a market for it, don't y'all?

Marlin is stuck on tube magazine leverguns , not conducive to handleing pointed bullet rounds like 243.

Mike

They tried it once, in the 7-30 Waters.... and the sales didn't explode right off the bat, so they dropped the idea fast.

Personally, I'd love to see them come back out with the 7-30 Waters in the 336, or something similar, maybe even in the .25 or .26 bore, on that otherwise useless .308 Marlin Express case.... give it a reason to exist and something really different and useful while they are at it.

Won't happen, though....

I'd love a "25 express" maybe equalling a 257 Robts or 250-3000 but with 100 to 120 grain flat tip bullets.

a 6.5 on the .30-30 case, sporting the 160-grain round-nose hornady, would be the cat's meow, but alas, too long for the current receiver and works. a 140-flat nose MIGHT work.
hey, don't dis the .308 express. the rifles are built to handle it are sporting a tougher receiver and works, i hear, than the standard 336 fare, and the express brass is high pressure stuff. that MIGHT mean the sub-.30s are possible ...

'Nother vote for the 25 express.
I'd buy one in a heartbeat!(Big grin!)
Virgil B.

stroke it with that 117-grain hornady round-nose?

there is the 25-35, but with better brass ...

just found some articles from a few years ago when winchester briefly re-introduced the .25-35. one fella wrote he got 2,471 fps with aa2460 and the hornady round nose in a special run win 94 in aforesaid chambering. that ain't bad.
now, if only marlin would barrel it ...

Yep, even a 25-35 would thrill me!
In a brand new XLR or a pre-64 Winchester 94.
Have owned 2 pre-64 25-35's, and let BOTH get away. (kickes toe in dirt) Someday i'll learn!
Virgil B.

Wanted to add,
A 25 express should be about like a 25-08 in performance. 117 grain Hornady should work great!...2800 FPS????
Sounds very interesting!
Virgil B.

boy, an xlr in an updated 25-35, you know, based on the new .308 express brass. i might take one of those over a 6.5/express. that'd be a 250-yard deer round par excellance ...

Marlin,
Are you listening?????
'Dat would be the introduction of the century for a gun manufacture!
Virgil B.

I like the .25�s so I thought I would take a look at the .25/.308 Marlin Express. I left the shoulder at 20 degrees and shortened the neck slightly. This leaves a cartridge which is basically a .308 Marlin Express simply necked down to .25 caliber. This imaginary cartridge would have a water capacity of approximately 51.5 grains of water.
I like the 100-grain bullets in the .250 Savage and the .25-35. I chose the 100-grain JHP bullet which is .970� long and seated the bullet .390� deep for a COAL of 2.500�. This left a water capacity of about 46.4 grains.
Using a 22� barrel (affective length of 20.4�) and loading 42.0 grains of IMR 4064 I estimate 2,950 fps with a wag at 48,000 CUP.

This is some pretty rough math as I didn�t take a lot of time looking at it. I push the 100-grain bullets to 2,800 fps in my 24� .25-35AI without difficulty.
Personally I like the .308 Marlin Express, it�s not a .307 Winchester but it is close and the Marlin 308MX is a surprising rifle � quite accurate right out of the box.

William,
Thanks for "crunching" the numbers!
Sounds like an ideal lever round to me! (BIG Grin!)
Only problem is the "pointie" bullets in the tube mag.
Virgil B.

No there ain't. That myth has been debunked repeatedly.

And, just use TTSXs, NBTs, A-Maxes, etc., and you're golden.

if yer concerned about the pointy thing, just load one in the chamber and one in the tube. it's a two shooter that way, but hey, it's whitetail rig, not a bear rig ...

william: those are very impressive numbers. thanks.

VA,
Thanks for the reminder. Old myths are hard to let go of!
Virgil B.

Y'all could just get a Savae 99 in 250-3000.

I would prefer the 25-35 AI.

BMT

Yeah........but.........these new Marlin XLR's are so cool especially with the great accuracy they get!!!

but i like a flat-sided lever ...

I think the backthrust on the bolt face would be too much for the pressure of the .243 or similar cartridges because they are of much higher pressure than the .30-30, .35 Rem or .45-70. Thompson Center Arms looked at this years ago and that is why they came out with the Encore which is a beefed up Contender. The smaller case head like the .223 will handle the backthrust because the case head is so small, even though the pressure is very high also. I don't remember the formula but the large case head of the .45-70 causes less stress on the bolt face than higher pressure cartridges like the .243. Thanks...Bill.

we're talking the xlr here, not the regular 336 series, and we're talking .308 express brass for the smaller bores, not .30-30 series brass. the combination should be able to handle a pretty big jump in pressure ...

I'd be tickled with a 336 in 25/35....

i'd sure enough look into one one if they offered it. kinda fallen in love all over again with the marlin ...

I built one a few years ago, using a 26", 1 in 10 twist Douglas Premium barrel, and chambered for the standard 25/35. Brockman did the chambering and fitting of the barrel, and I did the rest. What might be of interest is the way the magazine tube and forend are fitted. The mag tube is floated in that it is retained with a single screw into a solidly mounted barrel band. The forend wood is screwed to a straddle block which is attached to the barrel.

The rifle is topped with a Lyman Alaskan scope with a post reticle. I have only fired Winchester factory 117 gr. ammo in the rifle, but find it capable of M.O.A. or better.

The 25/35 has a modified factory stock. Here is what I intend to do in the near future - whenever I get around to it.

Not a 25-35 WINCHESTER!

Make a 25-36 MARLIN AI.

Bruce

nice rigs.

A 25-35 would be totally cool. Maybe in .218 Bee and 32-20 and 25-20 again for those who missed out the first time around. What about a 475 Linebaugh or 500 S&W.

I'm about a nanosecond away from picking up a 30/30 and getting it rebarreled to 25/35.

Did I mention that I love mine?

do it, steelie, do it. go half mag. it'll be slicker than hog fat on teflon.

.454 Casull? .308 MX necked to (Gasp!) .260Marlin/Hornady something or other?

I just need to find a Marlin in 30/30 without a checkered stock. Marlins are as scarce as hen's teeth around here. Already made the phone call, 24" barrel, forend cap (no barrel bands) and 2/3rd length magazine.

Heck I might have to get me a '94 and get it re-barrelled to 25-35. Gotta be cheaper than those I've seen lately. The mid-seventies '94s are still pretty cheap.

.219 Zipper!!

I have been looking for one. Now I am looking for a barrel maker that wil match the contour on my 336 so I can rechamber it and own one.

Bobbed stainless magazine tube, Stainless barrel, blued action black synthetic stock. HELLO COYOTES!

Can't pointed bullets be used in a tubular magazine like the one Remington developed for the 14/141 pump action, with a helical rib the length of the magazine to tip bullet noses away from primers? Surely the Remington patents have expired by now.

220 Swift 257 Roberts

I love the idea of a 25-35 (see no reason to mark it 25-36)...

I think some folks live on a different planet. Using the Marlin for calibers like the 220 swift, 257 Robts. 250 Savage is madness IMO....somebodys going to come up short an eye if they are lucky and maybe a head if they get unlucky.

That's for sure!

I have a couple of Win. SRC in 25-35..I shot my first 3 or 4 elk and probably more than a 100 deer with it over the years..Used properly its a great deer gun, just don't shoot over 200 yards max and don't gut shoot anything or you will never find it. A 117 gr. bullet in the heart/lungs puts them down pronto.

I think a 336 carbine in 25-35 would be outstanding..I would scope mine with a 3X Leupold in Stith mounts if I could find them. I don't have a scoped 25-35..

I use it today for hunting mule deer behind my house..It brings back days past and good times of my youth. It still works today just like it did back then. I hunt with my grandson, on horses and I usually shoot the first legal buck I see and we love deer meat chicken fried, with salsa, white gravy, pinto beans and biscuits, it just doesn't get any better than that. In fact, for me, it beats all my hunting in Africa or the rest of the world..I leave the big bucks for him or some other needy kid. I have already shot my share of the big boys.

Mr. Atkinson,

That is a class act Sir. Thanks...Bill.

Just curious, but how does a .357 Mag. compare to the 25-35? Velocity-wise, energy-wise, etc.?

They are pretty close with nearly same weight bullets. The 25-35 will have the sectional density advantage. The 357 can use heavier bullets.

Best Hodgdon loads:
25-35
117 GR. HDY RN H380 30.0 2357 34,900 CUP

357 Mag Rifle
110 GR. HDY XTP H110 23.0 2398 37,200 CUP

Bruce

Thanks, bcp.

http://www.browning.com/products/ca...alue=003B&cat_id=034&type_id=006

they already make blrs in 243, and used to make them in 223 and 257 roberts

How hard would it be to rebarrel a Marlin lever? To my thinking, easy conversions would include....

.357 magnum to 256 Win
30-30 to 25-35
35 Rem to 25 Rem

Trouble with 35 Rem to 25 Rem conversion... The 35 Rem case is a larger diameter then 32, 30, and 25 Rem case (which was really only a rimless 30-30 case).

So it could be called a 25-35 Rem instead of Win and would be rimless.

You sure about that? I can't put my finger on them but I am pretty sure I have seen a couple different pics of just such a occurrence.

I love the way a 1895 Cowboy so configured holds in the hand compared to their other model with beefier fore ends and checkering.

It will never happen. Marlin is too much like a government agency. Their motto should be "... do as little as you can possibly get away with..." They don't innovate because they don't have to. They do ok with turning out the same stuff year after year (most of which is actually ok, but rifle nuts want something different), except for some guns with trivial, mostly eye-catching changes, the demand for which doesn't seem to last.

I tried to get them years ago to re-tool to come out with the .25-35 in the 336, no dice, they tried to tell me ammo wasn't available. I think their workforce must be a bunch of old guys who should have retired years ago, no marketing insight, no finger on the pulse of what the shooting public would like to see, and no willingess to make a few waves.

The one effort they did try turned out to be lukewarm, as it was a long-action bolt action rifle, and was something any serious shooter could have told them would be a flop, as each of us have had a .30-06 or .270 since we were 15 years old, and now have probably a couple of each. If they had brought out the Model 7 in a .222, a hornet, a .225, a .220, or a 7x57 or any of the classic small bore centerfires, they might have had something.

I like Marlins, and own a couple and have had a couple of others, but man are they dull.

forepaw