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

Have you ever considered that the 45-70 might just be a flash-in-the-pan and might die out in 5 or 6 years? Then you (and those with trapdoor Springfields) will have orphans on their hands, just like 338 Marlin owners!

A cartridge will only survive if it has a useful purpose that is not met by other avaialble cartridges. I agree that some of the current hot-shots will not make it, but 30-06, 45-70, etc. will be here long after we've departed the scene.

I ended up trading for a 308 MX XLR (with some boot on my part) when I took my M94 30-30 to a gun show. Yeah, it's a niche kind of gun, but it is very accurate and I am very pleasantly surprised with how much I like the gun. It gave nice groups at 50 yds with open sights and when I finally scoped it (Weaver V3), it was a one ragged holer at 50 and <MOA at 100 yds. This is with the Hornady ammo. Speed varied from 2593 to 2613 fps for the 10 rounds that were chronied. Not exactly the 2660 they advertise, but it's at least in the ball park and with a 160 gr bullet it does way out perform a 30-30, but it ain't no 308 Win. A 338 with similar performance from a 200 gr bullet would be a hoot and it sounds like it would be very close in performance to the 338 Fed.

Hate to be a nattering nabob of negativism...can this .338express do anything a .35Rem or .45/70 or .444marlin not do?

What can it do?

There were plenty of times that I would leave my 35 rem at home and take a bolt gun in 30-06 because there was a possiblity of a 300 yard shot. Now I have never needed to shoot 300 yards but there was the possiblity. I just dont care for bolt actions so the 338 marlin will let me take a leveraction and have a rifle that shoots flat enough and has a bullet designed to expand on deer at longer ranges. I know that the 308 marlin does the same thing but I just prefer larger bore size, thats why I like the 35 rem and 45-70. Sure you can take 200+ yard shots with the 35 rem, 45-70 and 444 but the bullet drop ends up being over 20inches at 300 yards and you start to have problems with bullet expansion.

I'm glad to see the 338 Marlin Express,I've owned 356 winnys ,375 Winnys,
But i never could see much improvement over a well handloaded 35 Remmy (2250 fps.).,..the 356 winny went a little faster ,but those ole 200gr. Cor-lokt bullets worked so well at 35 rem. Vel.

These 200gr. 338 bullets with a SD of .250 as compared to a 200gr. .358 bullet to SD of .223
the longer slimmer .338 bullet 200gr. will be travlin @ 2600 FPS. It will truely make a hard hitting long range Levergun round. And be a good performer at close range with its .338 Dia.
Those .358 slugs just don't fight the LAW (gravity) as well as a longer slimmer 200gr. 338 bullet.
I have been debateing on gettin a 35 Whelen . but this 338ME maybe the ticket.

As for comparing it to a 30-06 ,(everthing is compared to the BEST) In real world the 338 ME ,does not come close ,I'm not knocking the 338ME ...but its not a fair comparison, the 30-06 is a longer cartridge ,operates at a higher pressure ,and the 180 gr. .308 bullet has a SD of .271 and can be pushed to 2800 fps... the .308 bullet has less frontal area ,but those .308 bullets are made to expand perfectly at 30-06 Vel. the cartrige has been around for over 100 yr.s and the bullets have been truly perfected,,like no other (sans the 270 win.)

As I mentioned how well the 200gr. Cor-Lokt works in the 35 Remmy. thats how the Power Point,Cor-lokts .308 bullets work in the 30-06. They work perfectly.

The 338 ME should be compared to other levergun cartridges the 308 ME, .356 and 375 win. and the great 35 Rem. ,,,which hands down it truly will out perform all three.
But it is not a boltgun cartridge and shouldn't be compared in that group.(even though it gives a bunch of'em a run for their money)

There is really no NEED for a new cartirdge, the market seems to be covered with the current crop from 17 Fireball to 458 Lott. But new cartridges sure stir the imagination and keeps the juices flowing. Unfortunately, every time a new cartridges / riflle is introduced, I've lost interest by the time it is generaly available (about 2 years from introduction) and, I stick with the 30-06 and 308 Winchester!

SAAMI specs show the .348 has a rim of about 0.610". The .45-70 rim is 0.608, so it's likely not the rim width that prevents use in the Marlin action. The .348 case has a head diameter of 0.553, while the .45-70's is about .506; it may be this difference presents the problem.

The .348 is at least 0.20 inches longer than the .45-70; this is another difference that could cause difficulties.

--Bob

The 348 is to long for the 94 Action and the 336 action...the 348 uses a 348 Dia. bullet (limited) the 348 really doesn't offer much more than the 356 Win. the Marlin 338 concept seems to be a dandy ...

Anytime a new tradional levergun cartridge comes out I'm happy (keeps the Levergun alive)

Let's see-- the .356 Winchester was dead on arrival and the .338 Marlin sounds a lot like the .356.

I guess I should not be saying such negative things, seeing as I just bought a .356.

I'd have been more tickled if they just chambered the damn things for 356 Winchester again.

I was talking with the sales person at Dicks Sporting Goods in Rockwall Texas today.I dont believe hunters and shooters realize how many Marlin lever guns are sold.He sales about 15 30-30's a month.That is just the plain jane Marlin 30-30.He sales about 6 of the stainless a month.Now I dont pretend to know what is normal but that seems like a lot to me.He can not get enough to stay stocked,keeps running out every month.

re to Skidrow

Remington don't sell only Mauser as Remington but also Russian gun known in Europe as Baikal. But don't you know also that a lot of powders you use to reload in the USA come from Europe or Australia or Canada...The Ramshot ball powders are mostly french powders made in Eurenco/SNPE factory "Poudrerie de Clermont" in Belgium and most of your RL powders come from Sweden except the new RL17 that come from Switzerland..But leaving in France i like my Remington 700Titanium for mountain and my 700BDL in 8mmRem Mag for heavy and big critters. If i had chance to try it i would like to test a 338Marlin to compare it to my 94 in 356 (very good on running hogs) or my Browning 71 in 348Winch...Even for an european (more than that a french guy): life is too short to hunt with only one gun or caliber!

Personally I'll be looking forward reading an article on it John.

Hornady has it up on their site....see link below

338 Marlin Express on Hornady Website

Looks intriguing.

And add the 300 WSM to the querry about what can be doen that isn't already by the '06 or Win mag....




Certainly!

And why doesn't Ruger just chamber their #1 for the 225 Winchester? Their factory loading upon introduction was virtually proprietary in the accuracy it was producing for a factory load at the time.

Why not just neck down thw 444 marlin case. It has more capacity than this offering. I use a similar round, the 358 ALPO, which is a 444 ran through a 35 Whelen Imp. die, and in the weak T/C action it is more impressive than this 338.

The Marlin action could have launched 250 grain 358 caliber bullets at 2750 fps easily. With the new Evolution bullets that would have finally given us an honest 300 yard lever action Elk rifle. (Appologies to the BLR, which does this, sort of.)

At least this 338 shouldn't kick to much.

Hornady's web site discusses the 338 Marlin. At the muzzle, it produces 2921 ft. lbs. of energy and at 200 yard, this drops to 2099 ft. lbs. with a 200 gr. bullet. This is a little disappointing to me. I was expecting it would be at least 3500 ft. lbs. at the muzzle, or about that of the 444 Marlin.

The new 338 marlin does not use the same case as the 308mx, it is based off of the styre case so it is will have a larger capacity than if they had used a 444 case. I would have liked to see a 35mx but I guess they wanted to have a higher ballistic coef than the 35 would have allowed.

It is looking like they have come up with just about the optimum performance when you are trying to have a flat shooting, high energy cartridge that is in a very limiting action.

My thoughts as well. Looks like it should easily be a honest 300 yard elk capable rifle in a honest lever action.
If the 308 MX rifle/cartridge combo is any indication of how the 338 will shoot it will be an easy MOA lever rifle at that.

ANOTHER GREAT FLOP.
what bullet are they going to use? the 200 grain flat point was discontinued years ago (Hornady offered a 200 grain flat point Interlock bullet (#3315).
so it looks like another leverolution line of calibers.
great if your a ammo company.
a rifle that only shoots factory bullets? great addition to the already endless chain of useless calibers.
there isnt a suitable .338 caliber bullet being made to reload into a .338 caliber gun that will expand below 1800 FPS. thats pretty limiting if you ask me.

why not just bring back the 348 Winchester or the 33 winchester or the .307 Winchester or the 356 Winchester or the .358 Winchester or the .32 Winchester Special ?

because they dont say MARLIN on the headstamp they say WINCHESTER, thats why.

"Big Bore rifles and cartridges"
.33 Winchester 200 gr Hornady
charge...........powder.........M/V
(fps)..........variation..........E(ft/lbs)
47................IMR4064........2467...............73...................2688
45................IMR4895........2471...............128.................2710