This is an interesting thread to me.
I had a marlin 336 in 35 Rem years ago. it was a half mag and 24" barrel with a pistol grip and a peep sight, and I was very fond of the rifle. I should never let myself get beat out of it, but I did.
I loaded my own ammo with 220 grain Speer bullets and I killed a few Nevada, Idaho and Montana mule deer with it, and I loaned it to a friend who killed a bear with it. The powder I used was H380. None of my kills were past about 125 yards and a few were at about 35-40 yards
I always had excellent luck with my load, and I don't think it topped 2000 FPS. I never did chronograph it, but that was my guess. I could keep them under 2" with that rifle at 100 yards over a rest.
So when I hear of a lack of effect on deer I must admit I am a bit surprised. I always thought my rifles seemed to kill better than is should have and I got exits on all but one deer. Almost all my deer dropped at the shot, and one ran about 15 yards.
But having said all that, I am not a 35 Remington expert. I only ever owned that one, and I killed 7 deer with it total. All were killed with that same load and the same bullet and all were shot through the chest but at various angles. 7 kills gives me a good idea of what that load will do, but only that load.
If I ever get a chance to get another long barreled marlin 35 Rem I will do it, but learning from the experience of others is a better way then learning from my own mistakes. So please keep the reports coming in.
As far as the 358 goes, I have made a few of them for customers and I never heard any of them say a thing bad about the shell. But most are using spritzer bullets, many of them are shooting Nosler Partitions and most of them are using the rifles on elk as well as deer. I have never kept a 358 for myself, so all I know about the terminal effects of the 358 Win are from satisfied customers, but as I said ALL are satisfied so far.
