I just shot my shortened Marlin 336CS that JES re-bored to 35-30, for the fist time with a scope, yesterday. It has 3 grooves, and I can't tell the difference as far as accuracy. I'm still working up loads, but so-far, I'm convinced I did the right thing listening to his suggestion. I could easily hit a squirrel in the head at 50 yards, so I can't ask much more from a lever action 17" barreled Marlin. Since I'm hunting deer with it in dense woods, my confidence has gone pretty high, and I'm not even through developing a load for it at this point.
Thanks so much! This and the previous reply from MooseMike were exactly the answers to my original question about the choice of barrel grooves I was hoping for.
I am psyched to get these two rebores back and kind of casting about amongst my collection for other potential rebore candidates.
Thanks again friends,
Rex
[EDIT: That said, I am still very interested if anyone can provide good reasons to choose 4 or 5 grooves over the standard 3]
