Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions 35 Remington range day

I picked up a '52 SC last year and this year found a '62 and '63 Texan model, all in 35 Rem. The Texan guns were made the year of mine and my brothers birth year.

I bought a case of factory ammo and loaded ammo for him. I've got them all set up and decided to sight them all in before I give him his for his birthday.

Seemed like a good day at the range.

pic upload

Excellent shooting!

Nice shootin'. The 336 in 35 Remington was never as popular as the 30-30. Most hunters did not know how good the 35 is.

Some of us tried it and found the only thing it did better than our .30-30's was empty our wallet.

For me, the 35 doesn't have to be better than the 30-30. I now have two, simply because I wanted them. Same goes for the 32 WS.

You're welcome to my share. I now have three .30-30's and no .35's. I decided long ago that I prefer the cartridge that's easier to feed and kills just as well for half the money. It's called practicality. I like that in a cartridge. Apparently a lot of other folks do too, since the .30-30 has long been far more popular and remains so today.

Fine shooting Aboltfan. I've got an old ballard rifled Texan in 35 Remington thaat loves Sierra's 200 grain SP at 2150 fps. Three of them at 200 yards while dialing in the sights with Yeller dog photobomb.

Good shooting.

I also have two Marlins chambered in 35 Remington. Both love 200 gr. Core-Lokts but to be 100% honest, they shoot everything I feed them well.

BH,

I've got 3 30-30s as well. One, a '56 Win. 94, that I killed my first deer with. A 7 pt. at the family farm in Varnado, La. the day after Thanksgiving 1975. Including other family, I'm loading for five 30-30s. I'm looking right now for another one for a nephew. If practicality were the only consideration, we as sportsmen would only need three long guns.

Sarge,.

Dang fine shooting with iron sights. Yeller dog looks like he is thinking, I knew you could do it. I had the SC first, I found the Texan and liked how it felt and handled. They feel like a 94 in the hand. I'm sure that's what Marlin was going for.

JDK,

I bought the SC first and thought I would sell it when I bought the Texan. I then realized I liked both enough that I wanted to keep both. The handload was originally worked up for the SC and that group was the first one shot with the '63 Texan after getting it dialed in. They do seem to want to shoot, a fact that's going to work for my brother. I'm giving him the case of handloaded ammo to go with his Texan. I had a single box of Rem. 200gr. CL that I used to get all three rifles on paper. From what I could tell, they all would have grouped well with that ammo too.

I think the .35 Rem. has got to be the most over rated cartridge out there. I can't count the times I read an article in a gun rag when I was a kid where the author stated enthusiastically that it was a better deer killer than the .30-30. Then I got one and started shooting deer with it expecting great things. Having already killed a bunch with a .30-30, it was then I realized those gun writers were full of shyt. Not only did it not put them down any quicker, my deer tended to run a little farther on average after a solid lung shot. If that weren't enough, it cost twice as much for ammo that was much harder to find on gun shop shelves and .358" bullets cost half again as much as .308" bullets for reloading. To say I was disappointed in the .35's performance would be an understatement. My dad didn't raise any fools and thankfully taught me the value of money and being practical. The .35 was sold and I've never regretted it or been tempted to buy another. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned. I've killed nearly 100 deer with my .30-30's since that .35 went down the road and have always been completely satisfied and content with it's performance.

Happy for you. Happy you've been able to get that off your chest. Now that you've had your say, we who like the 35 Rem. can get back to sharing our guns and shooting.

Thanks.

Looks like you found a pair of good shooting rifles.... should get the job done dandy 👍

Was that LVR/RN group a best of the bunch load, or intitial experimentation?

That load was made up for the SC model that I bought last year. It was the first load I tried out of it and I got five shot groups in the 1.5 in range. I'm not trying to make sniper rifles out of woods lever guns and so I called it good. I'll include a picture of that load fired from the SC below.

I bought the Texan model for my brother for his birthday and I'm giving him that case of hand loaded ammo to go with it. Fortunately, it also shot well in his gun. Where we hunt in Miss., there's rarely a shot over 100 yards, so he's good to go. Giving him that ammo became possible because my local dealer got in Hornady FTX ammo and I bought a case of it for $36 or 38.00 per box. Can't remember for sure.

LOL, old BH. He's kind of "special" you know.

Have a couple of SC 35's from the 50's both ballard rifling that shoot well. Have a couple others that shoot 35 also. The places and the way I typically hunt 35 Remington works well.

Jeeper, for sure.

In the posting above is the picture from the ballard rifled SC and in the first post is the picture using the same load from the micro-groove Texan. I felt fortunate and pleased that it worked well out of both types of rifling.

Any deer seen where we hunt in Miss. are in danger with any of the three 35s!

Truth is, at my spots in Vermont and NH, they're just as good there.

Dude everytime somebody posts about how much they like an old gun in 35 Remington,you seem to take it as a personal insult.

I can only add that I have 4 marlin 336s in 30-30 and three in 35 Remington and enjoy them all.

Two JM marlin 336C models in 30-30,as well two Remlin 30-30s. The Remlins are a 336T Deluxe,and Marlin 336 Dark that is factory threaded for a suppressor.All four are excelent guns.

The 35 remingtons are all JM guns and two are presafety rifles. Two of the 30-30s are scoped but all of the 35s have ghost ring reciever sights.

I prefer the 35s when guiding for hogs in thick cover. I have used the 200 grain round nose corelokt to kill a big mean wounded boar that was charging and intent on
bodliy harm of me or my client.

The big bullet did what it always does, stopped the charge and kiiled the boar. We were able to weigh this boar on scales and he weighed 292 pounds. The bullet went through the thick gristle plate and destroyed the vitals instantly killing the boar at less than 5 yards.

I can tell you from experience that the 35 kills as quickly in such situations as a good 45-70 load, and that is saying something.

I hunt deer with both 30-30s and 35s and personally had to blood trail a well hit buck with a 30-30 in which there was no exit and little blood. So far I have not experienced that with the 35s.

All I can add is that if I run across a good 336 Texan in 35 Remington,it's going home with me. The 35 Remington ammo costs more because it's worth it. My family hunted with Reciever sighted Marlins in 336 in 35 Remington when I was growing up. One of my cousins killed over 70 whitetail bucks with his 35 and never lost a wounded deer. If you don't want one,don't buy one,but never imagine for a second that it's not one of the best woods cartridges ever made

I started because of retired3100's post above where he said most hunters don't know how good the .35 Rem is. I simply pointed out that some of us have actually used it and found it simply isn't all that it's cracked up to be. No need for any weepy vaginas here. I understand that some folks are just sentimental enough to pay more for nostalgia in spite of inferior performance. I just didn't want a bunch of nostalgic old Fudds misleading folks with grand tales of the .35's mystical killing power like those old gun writers used to do.

See my post above. Oh and try some 170 grain bullets in your .30-30 next time. In my experience they routinely out penetrate 200 grain .35's in meat and bone as well as in various test media. I have yet to recover one from a deer except on a lengthwise shot, despite having put them through both shoulders of big Northern bucks several times. I don't know anything about killing hogs as we don't have them here but deer never seem to be nearly as impressed with big and slow as some hunters are and I say that after having killed a couple truckloads with various 12 gauge slugs, .44 magnum and 50 cal. muzzleloader bullets in addition to 200 grain .35's. Maybe the .35 would do somewhat better with some hot handloads but 200 grain factory loads are not terribly impressive.

I never saw enough difference between the 30-30 and 35 to keep both. So I kicked the 35 down the road and got a 45-70

My .35 got replaced by a Remington 760 carbine in .30-06.

That's all my Dad would hunt with

They were very popular here in the Catskills back in the '70's.... 760's, 742's, 336's and 94's ruled. You couldn't hardly swing a dead cat in the woods without hitting somebody carrying one or the other. Bolt actions were a rarity at that time. I eventually traded that 760 carbine for a 22" barreled 7600. The muzzle blast and flash from the carbine were fierce.

I wonder how many bar fight have been started in PENN when the debate was 30-30 WIN vs 35 REM

I actually heard a lot of 35 Rem vs 30-06 arguments back in the day. Those two seemed to be the dominant choices

We've killed a bunch of deer with the 30-30, 30-06 and 7.62x39. Deer ain't hard to kill. I've killed another dozen with various 44 & 45 revolvers & four with 40 & 45 autos.

The problem with deer is they don't hang out on the Internet and consequently, aren't educated on which rifles or pistols are supposed to drop 'em like a lightnin' bolt. I blew the heart out of a little 110 pound doe with a 30-06 once and watched her saunter off 20 yards, jump a four stand fence and hit the ground like a wet sack on the other side.

I might not have tried the 35 Remington at all, but I stumbled an old straight stock Marlin made before micro-groove. I gas it up to about 40,000 PSI with the Sierra 200 grain bullet, which expands perfectly at 2150 fps.



I've shot it into water jugs, 5 gallon buckets etc to 200 yards and the bullet is still working out there. I hit a doe in the near shoulder, quartering in, at 130 yards with that load and it sat her down hard.

The 35Rem does good work on deer and I like the fat heavy bullet for anything bigger. I intend to shoot a black bear with it at some point. If it eats me I'll get on here and own up to it, so y'all can make fun of my antique-ass old rifle and cartridge. I don't GAS what factory ammo costs because I never shoot it. I stocked up heavy on reloading components before the Stoopids, so I can shoot for S&G and still have hunting ammo for at least ten years.

I've had several 30-30's and 35 Rem's. I'm down to one 35 Rem in a 336 made in 1955. I have several 30-30's, a Marlin made in 1949, and a Mossberg, and a Remington 788. Over the years I've had '94's, and a 94.
The Mossberg has a mounted scope (for my wife). It is very accurate. The 788 wears a scope too, but so far, I have pretty much kept it in the safe.
That waffle top 30-30 is pretty nice and I've shot nice groups with it.
Example: 30-30 Marlin 336, 150 grain Core Lokt, 33 grains H335, 0.2" - 3 shot group at 54 yards for example.

I cast bullets for both and with cast bullets I think the 35 has the advantage. But why anyone would dislike one or the other, IDK? Maybe they had a bad experience with one? As far as one is much worse than the other, I disagree. I think that bullet selection makes a bigger difference than the caliber. Back in the day I think the 35 had the advantage, and probably it still does.


As far how much it costs to shoot one or the other - sort of 6 of one and a half dozen for the other. But I rarely buy factory ammo. I have all the brass I need for either and for the rest of my life.

If I only shot factory ammo, I'd prefer the 30-30.

I had one in a 336 SC but it went down the road. Now have A very early 760 and m141 in 35 Rem. I have some 200 gr ww power pts and some 200 grn. Roundnose rem as well. Have any of you use the 150 gr Remington ptd corelokt in your 35's an how did they do?.mb

Yes. I shot an 8 point buck with the 35 Rem 150 grain Core-Lokt. Even at 100 yards it went to pieces. It made for a quick kill but I don't know how it would've went if the range was much shorter

i know this a Marlin site, but in my younger days i killed alot of deer with my 1972 Winchester m94 in 30-30 with 150 and 170gr factory loads. one shot / one kill was the rule. Back then i loved open sights but now, my eyes ain't what they used to be. then about 25+/- years ago, i put her in back of my safe and i just pllain forgot about her. about 5ish years, i sent the m94 to JES Reboring and it came back a 35/30-30. then i use 200gr RCBS FN GC with 2400/tuft of dacron and it goes 1726fps. i know the bullet goes slow and there is no recoil to speak of........but in the past 4 years, she has spoke 3 times. 1 buck and 2 does. the buck was at 53 yards and the two does were 20-30 yards. i don't alot of fps to put the deer down.

brass is simple to find and all you need is a 35 Remington dies. i use 35/30-30 CH4D dies and 30-30 Starline brass. i gave all of my 30-30 brass (Federal, Remington, Winchester...) to my son to use in his Savage m340.

i did, however put a Williams FP aperture sight on it. i couldn't see the open sights and the target.

After a day at the range this week, my SIL was in a spasm to buy a lever gun. I ended up selling my '52 SC 35 Rem. to him at a discounted price.

I threw a new load together to give him an option on what we're going to set him up with. His gun now, so he shot for groups. I thought I could tighten up on this load and asked to shoot the last three rounds. I'll file this one away for future loading. I mislabeled the target as a '53, it's a '52.

I've owned 3 rifles in 35 Remington and still have two. I've carried them hunting a fair amount and have taken 4 deer with them. A solid hit and they fold in their tracks. I've actually had a doe run farther after a hit from my 35 Whelen. I can't speak about the 30-30 Win for hunting because I've never owned one. Back when I stocked up 30-30 ammo was $20 per box, and 35 Rem ammo was $28 per box. I've seen it lately for sale for closer to $50 per box, but that's not a deal breaker for a good box of shells. If the difference in this cost empties your wallet I'd be finding another means of employment.

I still have a 336 in 30-30 and one in 35 rem. I never carry the 30-30 any more. I have never been impressed with the cartridge. I can see it as a truck gun on a ranch to shoot a crippled or hopelessly sick cow in the head. Maybe use it to take out an armadillo or a possum. But for deer? Naaaa, the 35 just works better.

Someone in this thread called the 35 rem the most overrated cartridge of all times. LOL! It will never be that as long as the 30-30 is still out there. The deer I have shot with a 30-30 did die but it was like poking a hole in their lungs with a long number 2 pencil. Never had deer run so far and bleed so little despite being shot perfectly behind their shoulder in my life. My advice to new 30-30 hunters is wear a good pair of hiking shoes and bring a tracking dog and a ball peen hammer to finish the animal off with. Maybe the 30-30 is fine for northern states with snow on the ground during deer season. That white snow would make it more easy find the 4 drops of blood that will leak out of the pencil hole a 30-30 pokes in a deer. Those 4 drops are harder to spot in a southern briar thicket however.

But just to show I'm not all negative about the 30-30 I will say this. It is definitely an eat right up to the hole cartridge because it doesn't do enough damage to bloodshot any meat. So no wasted meat. Well unless you count the spot on their head were you have to hit them with the ball peen hammer.

I have always liked the Marlin 336 and have owned one since 1967. My favorite is an SC model in 35 Remington. Someone had tried to convert it to a Texan and really screwed up the job. That was good for me because I could make the conversion by correcting the problem areas without ruining the collectable value of an original SC. I got it at a low price too since it didn't work at all. I have the standard Texan model as well as a Marauder in 35 Rem, all shoot great, but this SC is by far my favorite.

That's a nice one. The SC is my favorite too.

The Speer 180 grain FP is hard to beat for any 35 cal. They shot really well in any 35 Rem that I owned. Currently shooting them in a BLR 358 Win and a Rem 673 350 Rem mag.

I finished sighting in the Texan today and it's ready to hunt. The first picture in this thread was with factory FTX in the original brown box. Today's FTX ammo is in the new packaging. It was more accurate, amazingly so.

This rifle thinks it's a lever sniper rifle.

Mine is a 1951 or 52 waffle top with a Lyman peep. It will soon be making its appearance in the woods.

I own 2 Marlins: a 1964 Marlin 336 and a Marlin/Glenfield 30 with the impressed deer head “checkering” and the 3/4 tube; both in 30/30. I started deer hunting in the mid 60’s because Mississippi didn’t have much of a deer population except on the west side of the levee on the Mississippi River. You had to be rich to be able to join the exspensive clubs there. My college roommate had a Marlin in .35 and we both killed deer with our respective rifles of choice. His 35 had more smackdown power as one would expect. I used the 30/30 exclusively with some old Remington 170 gr HP and still have a handful that I sparingly use when I take the Marlin out for old times sake. My son has borrowed the Marlin/Glenfield so that my 10 year old granddaughter can kill her first deer. No luck this past season but that’s cos he just moved back here and he’s gained access to some good hunting spots. He killed a total of 6 this year- 2 bucks and the rest does with his Remington Model in 6mmRemington. One was killed Christmas morning while he was taking the Christmas wrapping to the trash can at 7:00 am. A 9 point was chasing a doe in the the pasture behind the house and he retrieved his rifle and killed while still in his holiday pajamas! A great story and Christmas tale to be remembered. I smile every time I see the picture. Does anybody else remember the the old REM 170 grain Hollow Point 30/30 cartridges?

Just yesterday I saw a box of 100 of those bullets (not cartridges) for sale on GB. Almost bid on them, just for old times sake!

I used to use a bunch of the Winchester 150 gr HP in 30-30. Worked great on deer.

I had my 35 Remington 336 for sale a couple of times. First time it seemed people thought that the price should have been the same as it was 10 years ago. The second time someone accused me of refinishing the stock??? I looked at the stock more carefully. It might have been refinished sometime in the past, IDK.

I think the 35 belongs in the woods. Not so much on the prairie. Great rifle for the Black Hills. I’ve hunted in the Ozaarks and upstate New York, both would be perfect for the 35. I have not drawn a tag in the Black Hills in over a decade. I’ll probably have it up for sale again, since I need to cut back on rifles. Rather than selling it on line, I’ll be bringing it to Tulsa.

I've posted this picture in other threads, but I will post it again, since this thread came back up.

First blood for the 35 Texan was this pig in January. As it worked out, a pig was also first blood for my brother's Texan as well.

Was in a LGS yesterday and saw that they had 15-20 boxes of 35 Remington ammo, Hornady FTX 200 gr. $50 per box. This is one of the first times I have seen it locally in a long while.

Great round and great combination with a 336

2 of the last 3 shops I've been in had it on the shelves. Hornady and Remington. First time I've seen it in a couple years.

I have a bad love/hate relationship with the 35 Remington. I have always reloaded for it with the Speer 180 JFP bullet. I have owned several but for some reason always find myself wanting something more. I think it is my excuse for buying a different gun. Even now I find myself lookiing at Remington 141s and Marlin 336A rifles.
My last one was a 336SC that I felt needed replaced with a Marlin 356. That led to a couple of bolt guns in 350 Remington Mag and a BLR Lightweight in 358 Winchester. They are now gone too.
The 35 Remington with the 180 grain Speer, especially loaded with LVR, is still quite effective on deer.

After finding my brother and I matching 35 Texans last year, I loaded him 300 rounds with the 200 gr. Hornady RN and LVR. During the season he used it on one doe and a pig. Short tracking jobs and exits.

I've picked up some more brass and am thinking about loading him up a 100 rounds with the 180gr. Speer. Any thoughts on that bullet vs. the 200gr. RN?

I prefer the Speer 180. It was accurate on all of my various 35 rounds...35 Rem, 356 Marlin, 358 WIn, and even 350 Rem mag.

Got two .35s, a May of '79 production Remington 760 and just picked up a nice 1981 production Marlin 336. The Remington wears a Leupold M8 4x and I mounted an old Weaver K 2.5 on the Marlin.
Sub inch 100 yard groups at 100 are not uncommon with the Remington. Her smallest to date is 3/8ths. At 200 she's usually under 2 & 1/2 inches and her smallest, shot last week, was a 1 & 3/8ths. She likes 200 grain Core Lokts and FTXs over 45 and 43 grns respectively,of LVR. Good work with her came easier after I installed a Timney trigger upgrade. MORE THAN WORTH THE MONEY!
Got 2 deer with her last year. A 9 point, at 7 feet, got the bullet back and it weighed 154 gr. Hit him doing 2280 fps. Got a rib going in, the tip of the right lung, the left was... ABUSED, and 3 ribs on the left. Found it under the hide. Perfect Core Lokt mushroom. The second, same load, was at 75 yards. Front quartering shot, and he ( shed antler spike) didn't make it far. His chest was rather gooey.
Haven't shot the Marlin yet, but I expect it to do well. Never had a 336 that was a poor shooter and in my experience, it's a little easier to get good loads developed for the .35 than the ol' Double 30. Nothing would live on the difference.
The .35 also has a certain " cool" factor to it. Lots of folk assume my 760 is an '06 and a lever gun is a .30-30 right?
I also have a .357 Ruger Marln 1894. Sweeeet little booger!