Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions Marlin 336 Rebarrel--What Cartridge?

I have a a few .30-30's on hand. One of which is a Marlin 336 that needs some attention. I am really wanting to rebarrel it into something else and entertain some other modifications. What cartridge can I rebarrel this action to (aside from the .35 Rem), or better asked--what can the 336 action safely handle?

I would rather not send this one down the road just yet so lets hear some suggestions.

25-35 Win or 7-30 Waters...

.25-35 would be nifty, this little cartridge is much overlooked just because it was never put in a really accurate production rifle. During the 1930's there were several gunsmiths that made the 25-35 on single shot actions and discovered it made an excellent varminter. I myself have accounted for many, many prairie dogs with a Model 94 SRC and Lyman tang sight, 60 grain Hornady bullet at nearly 3000 fps! A 24" quality barrel on a 336 with a good scope or even a Marbles tang sight should be a ton of fun.

I would imagine that you could use any of the cartridges with the same rim dimensions of the 30-30. So, it would depend on what you are planning to shoot with the rifle when it's done. How about a .219 Zipper for varmints. With a 24" tube and a modern scope it ought to be accurate enough. I've always wondered what a .32 Special (30-30 Improved) would do in a scoped 336. How about a 38-55? Or a 32-40 if you're feeling nostalgic. You've definitely piqued my interest. Let us know what you decide. Thanks; Mike

Chrome nailed it with the 7-30 Waters.

+1.....had a contender in 7-30 and loved it

35 Rem or 356 Win.

Well, I have always been a .444 and .45-70 fan but I also get the vibe that there is no way these will work in the 336.

I would definitely prefer a bigger than smaller bore. The .38-55 definitely has some interest in it. I don't have anything handy right now (at work), would someone mind giving me some performance specs?

I understand that you can do a 375 Winchester in a 336 also.

Interesting, I would have thought that the operating pressure would have precluded it from the 336.

If that is the case, what would be the limiting factor for a .444 based on the 336?

If you go with the 38-55, you will only need a new barrel or current barrel rebored. You will not need to change anything else. The 38-55 is a cool old cartridge anyway, and still plenty useful.

http://www.35caliber.com/

Have you considered a re-bore from Jesse?

250-3000 with 117 grain Hornady RNs.

7mm STE, an improved 7-30 Waters.

307 Winchester, a simple rechambering job.

356 Winchester, a rebarrel/rechamber job with 336 35 Remington barrel.

Jeff

25-35

219 or 22 savage.
307/308.
356/358,

+1 on the 38-55. Grand old cartridge and inherently accurate when the bullets are matched with the bore. I sent a 336 30-30 back to Marlin a couple years back for re-barrel to 38-55. They seem to be in disarray now and dunno if Marlin will do that now. Here's a pic:

I think one of the guys here has a Marlin 336 that they
rebarreled to .25-35.

If it were mine, I would go .25-35.

I'm wondering if anybody has ever done a .357 maximum in a lever gun. It wouldn't really do any thing that a .35 rem couldn't do a bit better, but it would be different and unique. IIRC, rim diameter is slightly smaller than the .35 and don't know if that would be an obstacle or not.

If you reload, the .25-35 with the new nylon-tipped Nosler and similar bullets is safe in the magazine tube. So you can load with essentially the same bullets a .250-3000 or .257 would use. Probably shouldn't match the velocities of those ctgs. in a 336, but you can get a lot more horsepower and better ballistics than any factory .25-35 ever did. Puts it squarely into the deer/antelope rifle category, and it can also be reloaded as a small game or varmint rifle with different bullets/powders.

If you re-barrel, I'd go with the 24" barrel and a "button" magazine. 3-4 shots is plenty, and you'll love the balance!

I've always thought a .30-30 rebored to .35-30 would make an excellent cast bullet launcher but, so would a .375. If rebarrling, a .25-35 does sound like a lot of fun.

.35-30 is an excellent ctg. You can use just about any .357 bullet for a wide variety of uses, from plinkin' to big stuff at woods ranges. But it's entirely a handloaders' ctg. Case forming is easy; you don't really even need forming dies, just .30-30 or .32 Spl. cases and some cheap .308 or .321 cast bullets for fire forming. Shoot 'em in the .35 chamber and square up the case mouths and you're in biz!

I should have read further before posting. I am thinking 375. but the 25-35 would make for a neat rifle - I remember a Rifle Magazine article by Francis Sell about a conversion to 25-35 tomcat - IIRC it is a 25-35 Improved.

The 375 Win will get the most out of that bolt face. Should be no worries about pressure, Marlin chambered that cartridge in the 336 (they call it the model 375 though).

I always thought a 30-30 Ackely improved would be the ticket but it's not as traditional as a 38-55. kwg

i thought a 35-30 is basically a 35 rem. if you want an odd ball how about a 7-30 AI or 25-30 AI.

+2 on the 7-30 Waters. Great round, easy to find components, what is not to like.

...although the 25-35 is also a great round with little recoil and a lot of zip.

I am changing my old 336 to the 38-55 for a cast bullet round with some history to it and fun target round.

hornandy's new 338 lever cartridge, have laBounty or somebody do a rebore

I had LaBounty rebore one to 38/55 around 10 years ago and ever since it has been my goto deer gun for the thick stuff. I like it better than my 45/70 for that.

Boy, if someone can tell me how to rechamber my 1980 336C in 7-30 Waters and not have to sell my car to pay for it, I'm all ears.

"Boy, if someone can tell me how to rechamber my 1980 336C in 7-30 Waters and not have to sell my car to pay for it, I'm all ears."

I don't know how much your car is worth, but check this link.


http://www.leveractions.com/leveractions.htm

Thanks; I was aware of this. Probably cheaper than buying a M94 7-30 off of GunBroker.com but I still have a hard time spending $600 on a $150 rifle.

I'm not a machinist or gun plumber, but I have a question on rebarreling and headspace. If I made barrels--let's say only for the 336--couldn't I put up, say, 500 of them finish chambered for that gun in 7-30 Waters and simply install them for much cheaper than $575 per gun? I'd think you could buy the blanks relatively cheaply, blue them en masse then chamber each individually. Right now, I'd imagine a guy could sell all the 7-30 rechamberings he wanted to for a price point closer to $300 rather than double that. Possible?

The problem with your theory is the guy who makes 500 7mm barrels for a lever gun has a stock of 500 barrels sitting there, and without orders waiting he has a bunch of money invested and nothing back for it. The 7-30 is a great round but a 7mm levergun is very uncommon and nowhere near as popular as an of the magnum cartridges. You are paying for what will be a one off piece.

Buy blank, thread blank, cut chamber, install, tweak a bit, shoot. An assembly line will not work for this round.


micky

Some of Nonneman's work. The octagon Rebarreling, my friend refinished the stock (his rifle actually). How much do you charge per hour? I know my Plumber charges a heck of a lot for something I can do, why not a quality gunsmith.

War Eagle, how about a 50 Alaskan? That's a big chunk of lead. Fun to shoot and nothing it can't handle. Nonneman can fix you right up. Give him a call and he can help you figure out what trips your trigger-so to speak.

Supercrewd, that rifle is way to sexy for a guy like me to be carrying.

Thats what you say about all of them.

It is Hornady that makes the flex tip bullets. Don't believe they make one in 25 cal.

Is there a round based on the 3030 case, but necked down to .243(6mm) or .264(6.5mm)? That would be a cool 336.

you gave me an idea, I have a nice tapered octagon barrel remove from a Browning single shot(thanks Bricktop!) ,7mm mag, might cut the shank off and rethread it for a Marlin or Winnie.chamber to 7-30, or one of the 7 wildcats on a 444 case, most any 7mm takeoff barrel could be uused in a similar manner, since the 336 and 94 shanks are so much smaller, doing something like that is just like building a hotrod, unless you can do all or most of the work yourself, it is not economically feasible.

I might be interested in your take-off barrel if you get serious about that and don't need it any more.

I absolutely love my 32-40 re-barreled 336....Norman Johnson of N.Dakota did the work for the previous owner...he makes his own barrels...very,very accurate
johnny

375 win. Straight walled mini 45-70. Great cast shooter

33 Winchester?

38-55 or 375 Winchester.

25-35 splits the difference.