Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions 358 Winchester in the 336

I have tried loading and cycling some 358 Win in my 35 Rem.....and it works!

The 358 won't chamber, of course, but it goes in the magazine and feeds like a fat boy at a buffet.

From the mag tube onto the elevator, it comes up and starts into the chamber like it was designed for the cartridge.

Just something to think about.......... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Ted

It's a fairly common conversion. Most folks convert to .356 winchester, but of course the .358 has the same dimensions except for the rim. Either will work. The company below advertises reboring a 30-30 which has the advantage of letting you choose the twist.



For $145 I'm going to give them a try when I pick up a donor.

Weagle

I have used 358 brass to feed the Nonneman conversion that I sold to BSAjoe a few months ago. It works fine, but IIRC, you need to keep the OAL at 356 specs, rather than 358 specs, to insure that it will feed in the Marlin 336 action. Although I wouldn't make a habit of it, I wouldn't have any safety concerns about running 358 factory loads through a Marlin 336 in 356 in a pinch. The Winchester 200 grain factory loads have a fairly round nosed ST bullet, so loading them in the magazine wouldn't concern me either.

Jeff

ahh man. I just got rid of a 760 in 300 savage. After selling it, I started thinking about converting a 760 or 7600 to 358 winchester.
Looks like I had a perfect donor, and let it go. Time to find another needle in a haystack.

OK, I can't resist. 260Remguy and weagle seem to think there is nothing wrong about using a 52,000 psi cartridge in a gun designed for a max. of 38,000????? Since when can a 336 take the pressure of a 358?? If it could why isn't it chambered for the .308 Win which is also a 52,000 Psi cartridge?? The reason is that the action is not strong enough! I can't believe I'm seeing anything this irresponsible in print!

Apparently it is ok for some of them, since Marlin chambered the 356 Win (maybe the 307, I don't know) and it operates at the same pressure as the 358.

Why do you say the gun is designed for a max of 38,000? Heres one of several marlin 336 ER's I have owned and it is chamber for the .356 winchester cartridge. The only difference in it and a standard 336 is the chambering.



As far as the .308, think about a tubular mag full of pointy FMJ surplus rounds and you'll have your answer.

Welcome to the board.

Weagle

Hi, thanks for the welcome! I did further checking and the pressures for the 356 Win also run at 52,000 psi. Question is: If the 336 ER is not modified in strength to take the 356 Win, why didn't Marlin just chamber the 336 for the 358 Win years ago? I know that the locking lug area of the 94 was beefed up to take the pressure. My understanding is that the 336 action is designed only for 38,000 psi which is the pressure that limits how hot you can load a 30-30 or 35 Rem. I have to believe that the 336 ER action is different from a 336 action! The concept of firing a 358 Win in a 356 chamber is simply a bad idea unless Winchester has specifically stated that it is safe.
Nice oak table, by the way, it looks identical to ours!

The 336 ER is a standard 336 action.

As far as making a tube fed lever action in .358, none of the manufacturers of tube fed lever guns were going to produce them in a chamberings where the factory ammo was loaded with pointed bullets. Winchester came up with the 307, 356 and .375 winchester rounds in their beefed up 94 Big Bore action. All were factory loaded with round nose or flat point bullets for use in the tube magazine. Marlin didn't need to beef up their 336 action so they released the 336 er in .356 and the marlin model .375 (336 action with a .375 win barrel).

Weagle

That's what I told ya. A little research is a wonderful thing before going on a rant, but your mileage may vary.........

I can't believe I am seeing anything this nonsensical in print.

Welcome to the board! You are going to enjoy it here. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Ted

Yes, forgot to mention that I had loaded the bullets deep enough that they would come all the way out of the mag tube. They are a bit shorter than what my wife uses in her Model Seven.

Ted

Ted, the conversion works very well, use a .358 win reamer, and .356 oal seating depth and loading data. I have converted a few.

The only 3 bullets that I can recall using in the Nonneman converted 356s are the 180 grain Speer, 200 grain Hornady, and 220 grain Speer. All 3 bullets were crimped in the cann groove and would work with either 356 or 358 brass. No problem. Of course, I would recommend cycling your reloads through the magazine and action prior to hunting with them, but maybe that's just me, as I like to minimize the potential for Mr. Murphy to show up at the moment of truth.

Jeff

I really am glad I visited here tonight. I have a 336 in 30-30 and wanted to do a 307 or 356 conversion...new barrel...something...ever since I picked it up last year, just for that purpose. I've been crawling all over the 'net looking for the scuttlebutt... and I just found it thanks to weagle. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I could kiss you if that wasn't unmanly and foreign to my self. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Thanks much. If I ever get to visit my kin in Atlanta I owe you and your family a night on the town. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I was leaning toward Paco Kelly's 358 or 375 conversions but was too cheep to do a new barrel and I have a back log of chambering projects going on now anyway. There are a couple of other 'smiths doing reboring but their prices are in the 3 "C" note range and I'm REALLY to cheep for that.

My other winter projects are going into hibernation until I get the 336 finished.

Thanks again Weagle

I'll be calling Jes tomorrow to set up an appointment. Maybe he can do a 375 JDJ for me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

By the way, I've been shooting pointy bullets in 94's for a long time, just load one up the gazingo and one in the tube. Works good for me and never had need for any more than 2 shots anyway. Besides if I ever think I'll need more than a few shots or the northmen come over the hill, I have plenty of multishooters to take over the small stuff. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Enjoy

Your raising concerns over nothing! Simply look at a loading manual at the OAL of the two cartridges. You should soon discover that the .356 is shorter than the .358 (2.56 vs. 2.78). 358 factory ammo may not feed reliably in the 336 action. two options: lenghten the receiver - major dedesign cost, or simply chamber for a round designed by Winchester for shorter actions and tubular magazines.

So Marlins had the two options: [*]One requires only a rechamber [*]The other requires a major redesign of the action.

Both have identical ballistics. One has pointed bullets that are dangerous in tube mags.

What would you do? Sounds like you would re-invent the gun!

.

JBLEDSOE: For your information, if you had read the first post in this thread along with many others that agree, you would know that a 358 round DOES feed through a 336. Secondly, the 358 has round nose bullets available as does the 308W and the 35 Rem. The 35 Rem also has a pointed 150 gr available. Using your "logic" Marlin shouldn't have chambered for the 35 Rem either, since a pointed bullet is available. Also, the only modification to reliably feed a 358 would be to increase the milling cut on the carrier, hardly calling for a "major modification"! Nothing like bringing back a thread from 5 months ago that was already beat into the ground.

Just think what a guy can do when Hornady releases the LeverEvolution bullets for handloads in 35 cal . . . .

Could be sweet,

BMT

I stand corrected, informed, and irresponsible! Sorry.

I have just converted a 336 30-30 to 308 and another to 358/356. The 308 feeds like a champ as long as the COL is no more than 2.56. The rifle shoots 2MOA with milsurp ammo loaded singly. I haven't done any handloading for it yet.
If you ever looked at the Marlin action and receiver you wouldn't have any worry about strength. For years I heard how the Savage 99 was a weak action-but it was chambered for 375 Win also-not exactly a weak sister round.