Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin Talk Mod. 62 .256 Mag

Passed on one today with 4 boxes of .256 Mag factory fodder, dies, and about 40 rounds of brass.

$500.

How bad did I screw up?

VAnimrod,

Sweet little levers. I have a mint one in 30 carbine. I believe the 256 is a little harder to come by from what I have seen (I have not seen any). I would have jumped on that one (decent price) depending on how fat my wallet was at that time. Nahh, I would have found the nearest bank and that baby would be mine. That just me I love those oddball guns and cailbers. Theres a Universal on GB in 256 for $550.00 but I just have'nt pulled the trigger on it yet. That one may be to high.

I have one of each(256 and 30) and like them. A thing to factor into your purchase is that factory 256 ammo runs over $50 a box, these days, so the Mod 62 was only $300, If your in to rationalization math?
.256 Mag. $475 $375 $325 $275 $225 $195 $175

Dang, just sold mine. I do have dies and a full box of factory ammo so PM me if you get the rifle. Brass is a bit hard to find and making the stuff out of .357 brass is a major PIA. I found getting .22 Rem Jet brass easier and just necked it up, fired a round and ended up with a nicely blown out case. Keep loads mild as the brass tends to stretch in the Marlin 62 and case separations are common after just a few firings. I'd size the cases just enough to chamber but still had some problems. Ward

Marlin made about 15,700. Somewhere around 8000 were .30 carbine and 7700 were .256. Interesting note, Numrich only lists one magazine for both rounds. Odd thing for me is that the .256 has always been the easiest to find in my country.

I have had a Marlin 62 in 256 Win Mag and currently have a Marlin 62 in 30 US Carbine, plus a Marlin 62 barrel in 256. I shot a number of 'chuck and turkeys with the 256, using the 60 grain Winchester/Olin bullet for the 'chucks and the 86 grain Remington 25-20 bullet for turkeys. The only things that I didn't like about the Marlin 62 were that the barrels aren't threaded into the receiver, they are held in with a cross-pin, and that the triggers are about impossible to get light and crisp. I think that Marlin would have sold a lot more that 16,000+/- of the 62s if they had chambered them in 44 Magnum.

Jeff

I owned a mint .256 levermatic for years; never shot it. The ammo is obsolete, EXTREMELY difficult and expensive to find, and reloading, according to Ed Matunas, is impossible to do satisfactorily. The cases head separate with one or two loadings. The action was a great engineering triumph of a short throw action. Problem is that the action is weak. As pointed out, the barrel is pinned. Bad idea for the pressure level of the .256. Many model 62 actions developed cracks in the receiver, very bad! In all, the Levermatics were great for rimfire cartridges, putting a .256 in them was just asking too much from the design.

I was just thinking about why I sold all my Levermatics, then I remembered. I contacted the Marlin factory to ask about parts and service on the Levermatics. I could actually sense that the individual in Service looked away and rolled his eyes when I mentioned Levermatic. There is NO service or parts available from Marlin, period. All the parts were sold long,long ago. The actions were assembled on jigs and they too are gone. Numrich bought the parts and years ago I bought the last model 62 stock they had. If you want to use the gun for varminting, find an 1894 in 218 Bee. Way, way better choice in every repect. I was VERY glad when I sold the .256. I still have the Model 62 stock if anyone needs it.

Parts issues stopped me from picking up a Savage 24 I wanted. Tough call sometimes. BMT

I've wanted a Levermatic .30 Carbine for YEARS but haven't found one yet.Anyone out there have one for sale or know of one?

Saw a Marlin 62 in .30 Carbine several months ago at Rocky's House of Guns in Wenatchee, WA. That's not current info but might be worth looking up their number and calling.

Double30, I saw a model 62 in 30 carbine for sale in the latest issue of Gun List. Don't remember price/condition, wasn't paying much attention but remembered that sombody was looking for one.

I'd take issue with the comment about .256 being difficult to reload. I had a Martini Cadet custom in .256 and got 10+ loadings out of the brass. I did neck size only after the first firing and didn't try to make a .25-06 out of the thing. With 75 grain spitzers, the gun would do an honest 2400 fps (chronographed) and hold 0.7-0.8" 5-shot groups at 100 yards with consistency.

I suspect the problems with reloading .256 brass are related to the springing of the Model 62 action, not an inherent weakness in the design.

Just my $0.02.

Agree with 40X. I wrote a piece on the .256, and loved the thing. My only complaint was that I could find nothing but a 10-inch Contender barrel for it, and the round really could use a few more inches of tube to perform at its best. A Contender carbine 18" barrel would be sweet.

I had no trouble at all forming cases from .357 brass. I used the seater die as an "intermediate form die" and then the regular FL sizer. Hardly ever lost a case. Two strokes of the ram and I was done. Using Imperial Sizing Die Wax probably helped a lot. I don't think I lost any cases to separations, and I FL sized them ever time.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

If that Model 62 Levermatic stock is still available, I'd be interested. Please let me know one way or the other. Thanks.

I'm sorry BDL, shortly after I posted about the stock, I was contacted about it and sold it.

I quoted Ed Matunas about reloading the 256. I believe that the springiness of the Model 62 action was the contributing factor to case problems, as stated earlier. It's unfortunate that the 1894 action was not available since it is MUCH stronger than a 62. The 256 WM would have had a chance in the 1894.
I thought they were neat guns but, was disappointed about problems with the .256 chambering and the lack of factory support.

Thanks, XLTF4; I thought such might be the case. Now I can contact the folks in Yuba City, CA with a clear conscience and order a nice after-market replacement!. The previous owner "refinished" the factory stock and it's a bit of a mess, to put it kindly. Incidentally, this is probably the rifle mentioned earlier as being available from Rocky's in Wenatchee as that is where I picked it up. If anyone is thinking of following up on that tip, don't bother.

I, too, have heard of problems with the .256 (mine chambered for .30 Carbine). Some years ago one of the annual gun books (Gun Digest, Shooter's Bible, etc.) had a piece on accurizing the 62 in .256. I had a copy but seem to have gotten rid of it and can not remember the date or the publication. Perhaps someone on the list will recall the vitals and tip me off?

PM sent your way

hell, the damn ammo is worth that much! i have a 256 in semi auto, grandpa has the mag, havent shot it in forever!

I have loading data for the 256 mag if anyone needs it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />