Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .338 marlin express ?

Any body heard about this ?
I swa a blurb on another sight, suposedly a guy saw it on guns an ammo TV. 200 grain leverution bullets at 2600 FPS.
Suposed to be bases on the 376 styer with a belt.
Sounds like a fun one to me.
Would be a great one for elk or black bear.
Give to me in an 1895 with wood and blue steel, agood set of peep sightes , & lets go hunting...tj3006

I added the 308ME to my list of toys a while back.It really is pretty impressive when compared to a 30-30 however I would like a selection on ammo.

You pretty much know as much as anyone else. I think G&A was not supposed to announce the cartridge yet as hornady has said they planned to release the info in January.

One thing, it did not have a belt but it did have a rim.

Makes complete sense since there are so many FN bullets designed for lever action speeds (read, you are stuck with Hornady ammo)

well, I think there are really quite a few bullets you could load in such a cartridge. There are RN from a few companies in the 200 grain range, (I think).
Any wat its kind of a neat idea.
something I have thought would probably sell prety well would be a marlin 1895 in .348 Win.
I think the .308 is based on the 45/70 case, Are the preasures to much ?
...tj3006

Its true that there arent alot of bullets out for 338 caliber leveractions. Hopefully hornady will bring thier 200 gr. flat point back out and I am sure there will be a few cast bullets designed specifically for this round.

I would have prefered a .358 marlin express but I will still buy the 338 marlin.

.338 Federal Rimmed? .338 Federal Rimmed Short? .338-.356 Winchester?

OK Dokay...

Might just as well, for them that wants one...

Dennis

358 BLR mfg. now

Great cartridge in a misbegotten package.

I think the world needs and deserves a rimmed short .338 levergun round -- I'm talking about one for real leverguns here... .

Why the hell not ?

Dennis

I vote 348 win.

Its proven, but no one ever asks me.

BMT

In my industry we call things like this (338ME. 300ME, 30TC, etc.) "building tomarrows closeouts today"

10 years form now, heck 5 year, try to find any one of these rounds on the dealers shelves or a gun chambered for it on anything but the discounted used gun racks.

Well if it dies out in 5 years, I guess I will enjoy it for 5 years. And I guess I will just have to reload for it when it dies out, oh wait I already load for everything I shoot.

Honestly, I think the gun companies should just shut down, whats the point, the rifles I have now wont ware out in my life time so why should they even bother to make new ones.

Marlin is short sighted. Bring back the .348 Winchester, and skip all this silly crap from Hornady.
I spent years in management in the Pharmaceutical industry. What I see now with rifle makers, and ammo makers mirrors what the Pharm industry did.
Bring out a new generic, knowing that it has a SHORT life, milk the profit, and then screw over the consumer.
Reflect on the fact that most of what Hornady brings out cannot be reloaded by Joe Sixpack. They will not put the powder and the bullets into the marketplace for the reloader. That is BS.

Great cartridge (338), but I'll stick with the 358 Win.

I too would love to see the 348 Win, but I believe it's too long for the Marlin action. Personally, I'd like to see the 450 Marlin or 45-70 necked down to .358, but then the 356 Win didn't set any sales records so that's probably not an option for Marlin/Hornady. I do believe there is a niche to be filled between the 30-30/308 Marlin Express and the 444/450/45-70: more powerful than the 35 Rem but flatter shooting and more versatile than the 356, 375, and 38-55. A round that approximates the ballistics of the old 348 would be about right. Maybe this new round will do that.

JV

I considered buying a 356 Win several times at gun shows, but decided against it every time. When I need a levergun with more whallop than my 30-30, I'll just use my 45-70. And if I need more reach, I'll grab one of several bolt actions.

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The 20� barrel .356 Winchester will do anything the 20� barrel .348 Winchester will do and from a lighter, scope ready outfit. I�ll grant you the esthetic charm of the Model 71 pulls at our heart strings but the Big Bore Winchester or ER Marlin deliver the same performance.
Marlin - Hornady could not use the .307 Winchester because the action will not handle the cartridge overall length with the pointy bullet, so the shorter .308 ME. The same holds true for the .356 Winchester case.
The availability of the pointy bullet will only help the handloader of the .308 Marlin Express. The Hornady bullet tapers quite quickly above the cannelure and this will cause problems for those who attempt to use the bullet in the .30-30 and the .307 Winchester.
The .307 Winchester is gone for good so I am a big fan of the .308 Marlin Express both for its power level and its accuracy, but I�ll admit I am scratching my head over the choice of the .338 ME. Marlin needs a real good ad campaign and so far their advertising agency has not been up to the task.

I have heard the 348 Winchester cartridge will not work in the Marlin action because the case/rim is too wide.

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Remember, Remington owns Marlin now. What can you expect from a company that sells M98 Mausers as Remingtons.

I would be willing to give it a try. I know that my local sporting goods store can't keep the 308 Marlin Express ammo in stock, and the rifles sell as soon as he gets them in. Same goes for the 30-30, 35, 444, 45-70 and 450 LE ammo. I really think that these are selling much better than people are giving them credit for. I would lay even odds that at least the 308 and maybe the 338 will still be fairly popular in 10 years.