Thinking of retiring my .35 Rem Marlin rifle. Other alternatives?

[jaysouth]

Stick with the .35 Remington.

For a little variety, find an older used Rem Pump or mortgage the farm and have a custom bolt action made up for it.

I have .35s in all three actions and love them all, however, I carry the Remington pump in the woods and fondle the bolt action at the range. My bolt action is made up on a Swedish Mauser action with a hart barrel and custom walnut stock. Far too pretty to take into the woods. The Marlin is a 336RC with the old fashioned straight stock and a williams peep sight. Great gun, but I like the pump better.

For a short range varmit cartridge, load a 158 gr. .357 JHP pistol bullet at .35 Rem max velocity. Talk about a hummer!! Groundhogs evaporate at up to 100 yards. I hunt squirrels with a 158 gr. copper plated swc loaded to about 1200 fps. I mount a 4X scope on the Remington pump for small game hunting. For deer, I mount a 2.5X scope.

 

[jdseven1]

I was thinking of going boar hunting so I dug out my old Mod 8 remington .35 cal semi-auto. I was able to shoot about 2" groups at 50 yards and it shoots about 3" high. Is this enough gun for boar hunting????

 

[Gordon]

My favorite under 150 yard nd under 400lb cartridge is the .35 Rem! I have an RemingtonXP-100R pistol with a 2X Leuopold pistol scope that shoots 180 grain Speer bullets into 1.5" at 200 yard!!!! My favorite wood roaming gun is my 141 Remington pump with its Lyman peep and Pachmeyer Lowswing scope mounts with a 2.5 X Weaver with post. I shoot my Model 8 Rem. for nostalgia and the tang sight lets it be effective to 150yards or so! I WANT a Marlin 336 RC!!!!! The 200 grain Corelock'td Remington load is good. A Hornady round Nose 200 grain is good as is the Speer 180 Semi-spitzer over Reloader 7. These loads bore a 3/4" hole thru any thing below Elk.

 

[MeekandMild]

The 200 grain Corelock'td Remington load is good.

I use these for deer and agree they make nice straight holes all the way through the critter. But comparing a .35 hole with a .45 hole all other things being equal there is a better blood trail with the .45. Much shorter trail, more like a puddle.

 

[Gordon]

My experience has been .68 to ,75" hole with mushroomed corelokt's at 2100-2200fps and ..80-90" hole with 300-400grain 45-70 light construction soft points at 1800-2000fps. But the .35Rem is adequate with less buck and snort!

 

[MeekandMild]

I've spent the time to study wound channels in several deer (depending on how early or late in the day they have been harvested and how good the light is when I dress them out) What I've seen with the 35 Rem 200 gr. is that the wound is generally a more or less straight line which allows easy insertion of my fingers and tight insertion of a broomstick. OTOH I've only shot one deer with a .45 (actually a sabotted .45 from a .50 cal muzzle loader) but in that one deer you could drop a quarter through the wound.

 

[Gordon]

Meek and mild : Fingers are about .60 and broom sticks .75, so we agree! BTW I just (like NOW) bought on line a 1950 336 SC .35 Rem for $255(plus ship) looks to be very clean and nice with outstanding wood. I am excited to see 1950 Marlin Craftsmanship , I have an early Straight grip 1895 from late 70's and a 1895 GS ported in 45-70. I really had my eye out for a 336 30-30 Texan for years , but I give up I'll stick to .35 Rem which I proressive load for quite a bit. Now to find a Lyman or redfield peep sight.

 

[MeekandMild]

I got a bonus at work last week so will be able to keep my .35 while getting the .45-70. My .35 is a 1970 vintage, but to tell the truth the modern ones I looked at have pretty good workmanship too. I notice the triggers don't have the play my old one has. Never saw a 1950 model.