Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions .356 Winchester from a .35 Remington...

I have heard of the conversion from .35 Remington to .356 Winchester but have not been able to find any information on what gunsmiths may perform this conversion.

Now that Marlin has a stainless 24" XLR I was thinking that with a receiver sight is would make a great rifle for the woods on those many rainy days I seem to be hunting lately..

Anyone have one of these conversions or know of a smith who does the work?

Thanks...Bob Makowski

You are looking for Regan Nonneman. Try leveractions.com for his website.

Britt

Thanks...sent an email to him and will also call Jesse Ocumpaugh who I found on another tread.

Bob

Bob,

Contact "260Remguy", He has a converted 336 in 356. He'll give you all the info.

Ken

Thanks Ken...

260Remguy's been a big help to me also in my thinking about something similar.

Goto Beartooth bullets, Marlin Talk, Graybeard, Leverguns, and Accurate Reloading and do a search for 356 W. All those sites are full of information concerning the 356 W conversion.

Happy Holidays

'Njoy

I've had Nonneman do 3 conversions for me; a 30-30 to 307 and 2 35s to 356. I don't know what he is currently charging, but I think that I paid around $125 per rifle for the rechamber work and for him to tune the triggers. Nonneman is a master 'smith when it comes to Marlin 336s and if you pay him a little extra to tune the trigger, I think that you will feel that it is $$ well spent.

If you want to dialog off-line, shoot me an email at remguy260msn.com,

Jeff

Thanks for all the help so far...

Jeff...have you chronographed any of your .356 loads? How long are your barrels? No feeding problems I take it? Accuracy?

Have you ever tried just plain .308/.358 Winchester brass as Paco Kelly has?

Thanks again...Bob

My current 35 to 356 is a Deluxe Sporting Carbine and my 30-30 to 307 is a standard Sporting Carbine, both rifles have 20" barrels and 2/3 magazines. I'm very happy with the conversions and wouldn't change a thing. I have used 308 and 358 brass in place of 307 and 356 brass and find that it works fine, as long as you maintain 307 and 356 OAL specs. I don't shoot either of these rifles very often, so I don't expect to wear out too much brass and currently have enough 307 and 356 brass to last me for awhile. I think that you'll be surprised how fast you can shoot the 180 grain Speer FNs from a 356 and how quickly they expand on deer sized animals. The 220 grain Speer FNs are slower, penetrate much deeper, and are (IMO) too tough a bullet for deer that you don't intend to shoot via the "Texas Heart Shot". If given the opportunity, I think that an accurate 356 shooting a stout load behind the 220 grain Speer FN would be a heck of a choice for 200+/- yard elk or moose.

Jeff

...I have so many rifles nothing CAN get shot too often.

I have put the word out to several friends to be on the lookout for a used XLR in .35 Remington. In the probably 30 deer taken by the group I hunt with, the longest shot, except two, were under 75 yards. One of the others was about 90 and the last 250...but that was a friend sitting on top of one hill in Vermont and having a deer come out over on the next hill... Other than that 99% of the shots have been in the woods. With a peep sight on board this should be the perfect rainy day rifle...

Thanks for all the information....

Bob

The only downside to the 35 Rem to 356 Win conversion is that the 35 Rem barrel twist is 1in 16 whereas the 356 is 1 in 12. Consequently, 225 gr. is about the limit to stabilize in the 356.
You didn't want to shoot 250's anyway, right?

I OWN A WIN..356 AT FIRST IT WAS HARD FINDING CARTRIDGES AND CASES. SO I BOUGHT THEM WHEN EVER I FOUND THEM. I ONCE NECK UP 308 CASES AND PLACED SPEER'S 180GR. BULLETS ON THEM BUT, READING ABOUT THE CASES OF THE WIN. 356 AND CALLING RELOADING COMPANIES I FOUND OUT THE WALLS ON THE CASES OF THE WIN. 356 ARE THICKER THAN THE WIN. 308.. THIS IS BECAUSE THE ACTION ON THE WIN. 94 IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH FOR THE PRESSURE OF THE CARTRIDGE AND BESIDE THAT, THE WIN. 356 IS A RIM CASE, THE HEAD SPACE IS AT THE RIM AND THE WIN. 308 IS RIMLESS IT HEAD SPACES AT THE SHOULDERS. SO IF YOU ARE USING WIN. 308 OR WIN. 358 CASES IN A CHAMBER MEANT FOR A WIN. 356 I BELIEVE YOUR PLAYING WITH A BOMB.

frankly, I don't see the reason for doing this conversion.

The 356 Win case might have a slightly stouter case at the bottom but both cartridges are rated at the same pressure...52 KPSI. As long as you load to the receivers rated pressure you wont have any problems...it's only those who lose their minds that lose other parts of their anatomys.

As far as the headspace goes all you have to do is headspace on the shoulder of the rimless case just as done in all rimless cases and which you should do anyway...you won't have any problems either. In point of fact many reloading dies are listed as 356/358 Win, being that both cases have identical dimensions except for on being rimmed and the other being rimless. Check out the drawing for each just to be sure.

Each have their own tastes and interests. I think it is a very good conversion or OEM chambered rifle.

My Ocumpaugh conversion has a 1-16 twist and shoot the 220 Speer very well but doesn't like the Beartooth 250 gr LFNGC at all and I haven't tried any other 250 gr bullet die to most being too long to be really effective in my Marlin 336. The Speer 220 does a good job so I probably won't go bigger or smaller.

Happy Holidays

'Njoy

In the Marlin, no I would have no interest in 250 grain bullets. The Speer 220 has performed so well for my friends and I that anything heavier or more expensive is just a waste of money for the size of game we shoot.

I have three .350 RMs, a 660, a 600 and a MKII. I shoot 250s in the MKII because of the 1/12 twist and the fact that I have a tons of 250s hanging around. Also have a Frontier in .358 Winchester that I am changing over to 180 grain bullets from the 220 Speer just to get a little more velocity from the 16.5" barrel. 2200 fps is about all one can muster from that short tube and 220-225 grain bullets.

Bob

Having Nonneman convert a Marlin 336 is probably the least expensive performance boost that you could find, in terms of performance gains per $$ spent. The 35 Remington is a nice cartridge, but it just can't do what the 356 Winchester can do, assuming that you use the same bullets and maintain the same pressure levels. Same/same for the 30-30 to 307 conversion. I also believe that the heavier cases of the 307 and 356 add a degree of safety over the thin cases of the 30-30 and 35, but that is only an opinion.

Jeff

I want to make clear that there ISN'T any problem with the Beartooth 250 gr LFNGC, the "problem", which isn't a problem at all and easily correctable, is the nose profile of that particular bullet and the throating in MY rifle. I wanted to seat the bullet out farther than SAMMI specs and all I would have had to do is throat for the BULLET profile.

I worked up several loads to 2200 f/s plus or minus 50 f/s but the accuracy wasn't there. Not too shabby in a 20 " barrel and at the pressures I was loading too. I also turned the nose profile to allow the bullet to be seated to the point I wanted, but I still didn't get the accuracy I wanted and I may have upset the rotational balance in the process of playing around. I tried several powders from AA2015 to RL15 but just didn't hit the right combination. I will probably try the Hornady 250 RN around 2100 f/s by trimming the nose flatter, just to see if it likes another jacketed bullet...or one of the Kodiak or Hawk bullets. With a 250 gr bullet at levergun velocities, walking the path between just right and DAY-YAM DOOZ BOOLITS...NO WAIYNO POR CAGADA is tough.

The 1-16 twist will stabilize just about any .358 cal FN 250 gr bullet of 1.250" length or shorter at 356 velocities without a problem.

Again...this wasn't a problem with the Beartooth bullet...it is an excellent bullet to use for .35 cal in rifles that like it and is an excellent hunting bullet. I wouldn't have any qualms about using it anywhere, anytime.

Happy Holidays

'Njoy

The marlin rem.35, is there a real need to rechamber a rem. 35 to the win. 356. Hornady now products the leverevolution cartridge for the rem.35. Hornady shows a ballistic chart that makes the rem.35 as good as the win. 356.
35 REM 200 gr FTX LEVERevolution 82735
Velocity (fps) / Energy (ft-lbs)
Muzzle 100 yd 200 yd 300 yd 400 yd 500 yd
2225/2198 1963/1711 1721/1315 1503/1003

Trajectory (inches)
Muzzle 100 yd 200 yd 300 yd 400 yd 500 yd
-1.7 3.0 -1.3 -17.5
With ballistics like this why rechamber, just buy a box hornady leverevolution it's ABOUT $20 online and the win. 356 is over $30 a box or more if you can find it.

If all you're hunting is deer, sure the 35 and those 200 grain squishies is plenty. Bigger game is a very good reason to rechamber to 356. You should be able to get more from a 220 in the 356 than you can get with a 200 in the 35, and those 220 Speers are a stouter bullet than any 200 Hornady or Remington ever was.