Went to a local show today and an older gentleman had this rifle in his rack. Also had loaded ammo and dies to go with it. He wanted to trade me for my 35 Remington. Its a cool rifle but I don't think I want to get rid of my 35 Rem just yet.
IF the condition of the .219 was the same as your .35, I would've traded in a heartbeat. There's a lot of .35s out there to replace it with but darn few .219s.
Charter Member Ancient order of the 1895 Winchester
"It's an insecure and petite man who demands all others like what he likes and dislike what he dislikes." szihn
It depends on how much use you would get from the 219. If you like to hunt woodchucks along fence rows, and not long shots, then it would serve you well. It is high up on the "cool factor". I think the 219 brings more money but demand is limited. Check with the guys at Marlin Owners. https://www.marlinowners.com/forums/
I have an original .219 in "SC", from 1958, which was the only Factory configuration offered. I bought it because it was "there" on a GS table, reasonably priced & "minty". As the comment above, I had/have no use for such chambering but I was collecting 336 genre Marlins. Objectively, concurring with above comment, I'd not have traded a perfectly good 336 in 35 Rem either! As far as trades... Money talks and cash in pocket is ever better than trade hassles in most all contexts. These were "limited production" just as when Winchester intro'd the chambering pre WWII. The limitation "happening as poor sales for the chambering. Marlin with, as I recall less than 3000 resulting to Model discontinuation. RIP Wasp! Conversely, the .35 Remington, a decades over winner 'in its class'! Great collector piece potential, but that chambering, especially as long out of production, speaking strongly about the popularity... Lack!
Congrats on an uncommon "whale sighting" event! Best! John
It depends on how much use you would get from the 219. If you like to hunt woodchucks along fence rows, and not long shots, then it would serve you well. It is high up on the "cool factor". I think the 219 brings more money but demand is limited. Check with the guys at Marlin Owners. https://www.marlinowners.com/forums/
I used my 336 SC in 219 Zipper to hunt 'chuck in overgrown pastures near my boyhood home. Ranges weren't long, no more than 150 yards or so, and the 56 grain round nose bullets worked fine at those ranges despite their low BC. The lack of factory ammo for that rifle and a Savage 99G in 250-3000 was the thing that prompted me to start reloading.
In 1967 this rifle was very cheap because the 219 Zipper factory ammo had been dropped in 1964 or 1965. All of the factory ammo that I ever had was old when I got it, Winchester in the yellow and blue boxes and Remington in the green and red boxes. I remember that my Father thought that it was a dumb move to buy a lever action varmint rifle with a tubular magazine, but he did what dads do and drove me around so that we could buy all of the 219 Zipper factory ammo and component brass that we could find gathering dust on dealer shelves.
Paul Koller told me that his dad, Larry, rebarreled a Savage 45 Super Sporter from 30-30 to 219 Zipper and that it was Larry's preferred mid-range 'chuck hunting rifle despite the Super Sporters universally crappy triggers.
IF the condition of the .219 was the same as your .35, I would've traded in a heartbeat. There's a lot of .35s out there to replace it with but darn few .219s.
100% agreed. I wouldn't have had a second of hesitation on that deal if the condition of the Zipper was halfway decent.
