I bought a Marlin XL7 and had it rebarreled to 35 whelen. I love the gun.
It is pretty much a savage barrel swap type deal, and savage barrels will work in it. So for on the cheap you can get a savage 35 whelen barrel and just screw it on the action and tighten the barrel nut to spec.
The thing you will need to have done by a competent gunsmith is have the front of the action honed appropriately so that when you try to chamber 35 whelen ammo it will work.
The 30-06, of course uses 30 cal dia bullets. (yea I know you knew that) The action is set up to feed the 30 cal just fine, but when you go to a larger dia, like 35 cal, it won't work.
What will happen is the nose of the cartridge will be pushed over too far due to the "feed lip" (which is part of the action not the mag well) being too fat. The front of your cartridge will be jammed into the side of the barrel and not go into the chamber like it's suppose to.
I hope this makes sense.
My 35 whelen has a stainless shilen barrel on it in 35 whelen and fully loaded with scope wt's exactly 8 lbs.
