Marlin .35 Rem

[Sam1911]

I think I probably tend to leave my scopes on the high mag settings. The ultimate end use is always something to remember.

Best practices, for most shooting conditions, is actually the opposite. You can hit what you need to hit out to at least 150 yds. with a scope set on somewhere between 1x and 3x magnification, easily. And at those low magnification levels, you have the maximum field of view and highest/easiest speed onto the target, so if something pops up close, and/or moving, there's no "hunting around in the scope" to try and get the crosshairs on it. Look through the scope (best with both eyes open), see the crosshairs superimposed on the target, press the trigger.

If at some point you see your game animal appear at greater distance, you're much more likely to have all the time you need to roll that magnification ring up and zoom in on it, if you feel you should.

 

[cdb1]

Delete

 

[cdb1]

Of course irons are becoming a lost skill. So is going up on the roof to fiddle with the TV antenna . There are better options today.

Agreed.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

i have irons and scopes on some of my rifles and can tell you at dawn or dusk the irons just don,t make it in the hunting woods. as stated in earier posts, match the scope with the conditions and game. a 1.5x-2x scope will let you shoot with both eyes open, you can,t go wrong. plus as you age your eyes will most likely change and will not be able to focus on irons very well, i know mine have and at 71 open sights as not to good unless the target is big or very close, peep sights are better but i fine the aputure hole must very small to clear up the front sight for me and that slows me down on a quick shot. eastbank.

Never gun hunted with a peep, but lot's of bow time. And I learned the hard way a fine aperture is worthless in dim light. For the same reason you reduce the aperture on a camera on a bright day-it reduces the light hitting the film.

 

[AStone]

Two words: ghost rings.

 

[eastbank]

tho the ghost receiver sight is a good sight, the ghost sight ring around the aputuer may let you see the aputuer it,s self in poor light, but its the hole size that realy matters. two words, hole size. on my m-16 in vn i put white model paint on the front sight post and it did help to a degree in low light conditions and in triple canopy that could be 1200 pm. eastbank.

 

[jrdolall]

I have a 336 in .35 Remington that was made in 1970. One of the 100 Year Anniversary guns. I got it at a pawn shop maybe two years ago for less than $300. Close to perfect condition and I have maybe shot it a dozen times but I do plan to scope it because I really like the way the gun shoots. Marlin 336 in 30-30 has been a great deer gun for me for 40 years.

As far as irons vs scopes is concerned I LOVE iron sights. I also love actually hitting what I am shooting at so I use scopes on everything I hunt with. There is no way in the world that I can hunt deer with iron sights any more and I don't care what kind of aperture/rings/ghost/magic sights I have. I wish it wasn't that way but Mother Nature decided about 5 years ago how my eyes would work. I had lens replacement which allows me to read my cell phone without glasses but I still can't shoot with irons.

I generally use a 3x9 or 4x12 scope. My 30-30 has a Leupold 3x9 that I generally keep on 5 power while sitting in a deer stand and I adjust up to 7-9 if I plan to shoot a deer. I have been hunting deer in Alabama since the 70's and with our liberal bag limit I have killed way more whitetail than most people. Not because I am a great white hunter but because the limit is about 220 per year. Until I was 40 or so it was common for me to kill 10 or more deer every year. I DO NOT shoot at running deer and rarely shoot at walking deer. I have never missed the opportunity for a deer because my scope was set too high. If a deer shows up too close to use the scope effectively I just let him walk away and then shoot him. It has happened on occasion when one showed up standing under my climber(was I asleep or was he just real quiet).

 

[BSA1]

Stargazer65,

I hope you are still following this thread. We really took off discussing about what scope and iron sights to use. As you can tell there is a lot of love for the Marlin 35 Remington.

And I learned the hard way a fine aperture is worthless in dim light.

That's the reason the hunter should remove the screw aperture sight and just sight through the large sight base hole. As eastbank says it is the size of the hole.

i have irons and scopes on some of my rifles and can tell you at dawn or dusk the irons just don't make it in the hunting woods. as stated in earlier posts, match the scope with the conditions and game. a 1.5x-2x scope will let you shoot with both eyes open, you can't go wrong.

I, for the life of me, can't remember what the product name is but someone makes a sight base that puts the scope over the barrel instead of the receiver like on a scout rifle. I think this arrangement with, as you say, a 1.5. - 2X scope will make a really fast handling woods gun.

Since I have acquired a Winchester 30-30 I have toyed with the idea of doing this to my Marlin. However I set the Marlin up for hunting hogs (the Win. 30-30 is for deer) so I not sure how good of a idea it is.

plus as you age your eyes will most likely change and will not be able to focus on irons very well,

Anything that keeps you shooting is a good idea. I just hope I keep kicking that long.

 

[Sam1911]

I, for the life of me, can't remember what the product name is but someone makes a sight base that puts the scope over the barrel instead of the receiver like on a scout rifle.

XS Sights Scout rail: https://www.xssights.com/Products.aspx?CAT=8282

I have one. It is a nice piece of gear. I don't know how I feel about the ultimate merits of forward vs. normal scope mounting for low-power optics, but it does work very well.

 

[Stargazer65]

I am still reading this thread daily from a quiet but interested perspective. It's great hearing your thoughts about this rifle which I formerly didn't know much about. I did have an inkling that putting a scope on a lever action would cause some frowns, so I was not disappointed in that.
The irons are still intact, and the scope has quick release rings so someone could switch back easily. Probable not me however. I'm not great with iron sights, and these particular OEM sights are really hard for me to see. This scope compensates for my eye and skill weakness. Set at 1X I can put the crosshair on target pretty fast with both eyes open.

 

[W.E.G.]

Scope on a Marlin looks right to me.

I'll take a scope over any iron sight in low light hunting conditions every time.

 

[ECVMatt]

That is an awesome Marlin! I don't have a .35, but I saw that one on the rack I would have scooped it right up! I am glad you gave the old girl a dance before sending her out to the porch. I love traditional iron sights, but don't have a problem with a scope on a Marlin.

Enjoy that Classic Marlin!

 

[natman]

Ha, ha. That is the same thing my two buddies thought until they could not find their deer in scope because it was too close.

Then the problem wasn't that they had a scope, it was that they had too much scope. It's not hard to find your target quickly at 2x. 6x, not so much.

With that said if I was going to use a scope I would use one of the mounts that places the scope forward of the receiver and over the barrel aka scout rifle. The longer eye relief will make sighting it quicker.

I've got a Marlin 336 with a scout scope and it is indeed very fast on target. It's an excellent combination.

 

[herrwalther]

I have a Marlin in .35Rem as well. It is a very forgiving cartridge to load for and was a blast experimenting with recipes looking for an accurate load. Hunting season starts in a few weeks down here and I plan on filling the freezer a few times with deer and hog from that rifle.

Mine is scoped as well. I went with a 1.5-5 power scope. The .35 is not a reach out and touch something from 500 yards kind of round so something low power works best. The low power setting is almost shooting with a red dot.

 

[Desertrat357]

Congrats on a fantastic rifle! Aren't you glad you decided to shoot it before selling I was actually going to start a thread asking if the 35 Rem was still a viable option. I have a marlin in 30-30, and am seriously considering keeping my eyes peeled for a clean used 35 Rem. After reading through this thread I see there is still a lot of love for this medium bore. Not trying to steal the show, but how available is ammo and or brass?

 

[eastbank]

i have quite a few marlin lever actions and take one or two out on a no work rain day to mess with. i have had this 1958 SC 35 rem since last fall and after reading on this post i decided to take it out and run a oily rag over it, that being done i decided to get rid of the see thru mounts and leave it bare for now, maybe later i will mount a low set of rings and add a 2.5x used leupold on it. eastbank.

 

[natman]

i decided to get rid of the see thru mounts and leave it bare for now, maybe later i will mount a low set of rings and add a 2.5x used leupold on it.

See through rings are one of those things that seem like a good idea until you actually try them. They put the scope too high and the last thing you want if presented with a quick shot is having to decide which set of sights to use. If you're really concerned about possibly needing the iron sights, use quick detach rings.

A 2.5x Leupold in low rings would be a good match to the 336.

 

[CoalTrain49]

Use of iron sights is becoming a lost skill

I agree. For anything <100 yds iron sights are adequate and in some cases prefered. I have a 100 yd rifle and I put a 1-4 variable on it. I seriously considered a ghost ring receiver sight but wanted to experience a scope again. I bought my last one about 25 years ago and never used it much. It was sold with the rifle a few years after I bought it.

I have rifles with ghost rings so I'm still shooting irons. The 1-4 is a good option though. The field of view can be pretty wide.

 

[Hookeye]

Low power scopes work great.
But they have to be set right, and the gun fit.
Too many have the scopes mounted too far back or too high, or don't mod the comb of the stock as needed.

I've blasted movers through timber with fixed 4x. And variables with low ends of 2 or 1X. I like them better.

But I've also blasted movers with iron sights, peep and regular.

I'm no slouch, be it rifle, MZ, shotgun or handgun.

I'll take a scope with a good eye relief and FOV.....too much eye relief usually shrinks FOV. Remember the optical triangle.

My .35 Rem TC Super 16 in rifle form wears a 2-7X Leupold. That scope will be swapped to my Ruger #1 when it's rebarreled to .35 Rem. Cool cartridge.

BTW, I shoot both eyes open, on everything. Used to have excellent vision (lenses and tracking) but as one gets older things change (not always for the better). Couple of yrs back I did have to look at the sights on my Python 3 times before zapping a deer facing away just past 50 yards. Hit spine where aimed and bullet stuck in nose.

Unfortunately my eyes have gotten a bit worse. Might take 5 tries if I had that shot again. Or one, as I'd whip up my Leupold scoped rifle and just nail it.

 

[AStone]

My first 336 -- at age 23 -- was a .35 Rem.

I sold it years later during grad school because I needed to eat and pay rent.

My current 336 is in .30-30. Similar enough, at least in action.

 

[BSA1]

See through rings are one of those things that seem like a good idea until you actually try them. They put the scope too high and the last thing you want if presented with a quick shot is having to decide which set of sights to use. If you're really concerned about possibly needing the iron sights, use quick detach rings.

This one of those true funny hunting stories.

A buddy and I went deer hunting. He had one of those see-thru scope mounts on his Marlin 30-30. The day turned out to be very windy which caused the deer to bed down. We came to a large area where all of the grass was short except for a patch of high grass about 25 yards wide. I walked around the outside of the patch to get a shot in case my buddy flushed a deer. He walked into the grass a short distance, stopped, raised his gun and took aim. After what seemed to be the longest time he finally fired a shot and killed a deer that was bedded down a short distance in front of him.

When I asked him why it took him so long to take the shot he said he got excited and exhaled on the back lens of his scope fogging it up. He couldn't see the deer in the scope so he just shot it point blank. When I asked him why didn't he use the see thru base for the iron sights he exclaimed "I forgot about using it!"

The scope and mount came off the rifle that night.

 

[Hookeye]

My Hawken Silver Elite ran a peep for years (tang).
Ruger fingergroove .44 mag wears peep.
TC and Remington deer rigs wear scopes.
Bow? Compound w release........peep.
But I mostly hunt with no sights, or wheels..........

I like peeps on some rigs, scopes on others. Detest scoped revolvers.
But consider a specialty pistol OK w scope.

Kind of redneck and silly, how folks claim scope users might not know how to shoot irons. If anything, it seems as though it's the other way.

Many who shoot irons use the same sight picture and hold for drop in.
There are other ways. Esp when handgunning out a bit. It pays to burn the ammo and experiment.

See through rings..........don't even get me started on that garbage.

 

[Stargazer65]

Desertrat357 wrote:

how available is ammo and or brass?

I don't know about brass, but getting new ammo is not too hard. It costs a lot, about 33 dollars a box of 20 at Cabelas. They don't have tons of it, but I've never heard of a run on .35 Rem like there is when they put out bricks of .22lr. So if you call them and they have a couple of boxes, it'll probably still be there when you go to the store. They might not carry it at some places, I've haven't seen it at the local Wallyworld.

 

[Hookeye]

Used to be that Meijer carried 200gr Win ammo.
Checked this yr.........none.

Reloader guy says it's been hard to get (commercial reloader- some folks trim cases to be Indiana deer legal- cartridge spec we go by- he does a fair amount).

I have about 30 new Rem cases I got from a guy that shot a TC handgun. Have about 80 Winchester that I've been using. Eh, Contender in rifle form doesn't really burn through 'em.

.35 rem trimmed kinda popular.

 

[rbernie]

By the way, A STRAIGHT GRIP 35 IS VERY HARD TO COME BY! Don't sell it for a 30-30 price tag, it is worth at least 2x that.

Just wanted to reiterate this.....