Captain*kirk
Member
My son just picked up a NOS (never fired, in original box with hang tags and stickers still attached) mid-nineties Marlin 336CS in .35 Remington...a near twin of mine. Since .35Rem ammo is 'unobtainium' these days, I offered to load him up some handloads. I've been using the Sierra Pro Hunter 200 gr (#2800) in my latest handloads, so I loaded up a dummy round with this bullet to check freebore and he closed the bolt on it. Seating the bullet with the bolt (zero freebore) puts the case mouth very near the upper edge of the cannelure, and is even less than the Sierra COAL recommendations of 2.475". How much freebore is the norm for this rifle? Just as a comparison, I also tried the same dummy round in my 336 and it checked zero freebore at the BOTTOM edge of the cannelure...quite a difference at 2.500". I'm wondering if he should maybe go to a different bullet profile, as in a Speer 180 or 220 grain bullet that might give a little more freebore to work with at recommended COAL settings? I'm wondering if factory ammo (provided he could find any) such as Remington 200gr Core-Lokt, or Winchester or Federal 200gr RN would even chamber in this rifle...?
FWIW, I have a half box of the Speer 220s and have loaded up a dummy round with this bullet for him to try.
