Why did Marlin Decide to Chamber 35 Rem. in the 336?

[earlthegoat2]

As I casually search for a 336 in 35 Rem., the overly simplistic question of "Why?" overcame me. What was the motivation in the early 1950s, to chamber their flagship rifle and direct sales competitor to Winchester with the only rimless cartridge they ever chambered in a 336? Its not like it was a hot new thing either. The 35 Rem cartridge came out in 1906 or so. Barely 10 years after the 30-30.

I am very caught up on the rimless thing though. It was a pure anomaly in its day for a lever gun with a tubular magazine. Maybe they were trying to compete with the Remington 14/141 but the 141 stopped being made in 1950 and the 760 didn't come out until a few years later of which 35 Remington was one of a few cartridges chambered in that rifle to include: 270, 30-06, and .300 Savage. The 35 is downright anemic compared to 30-06 which has a much longer effective range and able to shoot the same weight bullets.

My only reasoning for it is they wanted some delineation from Winchester. Remington touted, since the 35s introduction, that it was more powerful than the 30-30 which, objectively, it is. How material that is could be subject of a long debate.

 

[someguy2800]

Perhaps they saw a market demand since the remington offerings had been discontinued.

 

[jags]

I guess I never really wondered why. I'm just glad that they did.

 

[Walkalong]

I guess I never really wondered why. I'm just glad that they did.

Yep.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

if I remember right, the 30 30 was orig black powder round that could be loaded with smokeless. and the 35 was totally a smokeless round?

anybody remember that?

 

[gotboostvr]

Whatever their motivations were, it's a great pairing.

 

[Starter52]

Pennsylvania hunters and 500 lb bears.

Oh, and the .30-30 was always a smokeless round.

 

[George P]

Growing up in NYC, one of my friend's dad had a Marlin in 35 as well as 30-30 and another in 32 ..................always open sights at the deer camp upstate.

 

[Antihero]

if I remember right, the 30 30 was orig black powder round that could be loaded with smokeless. and the 35 was totally a smokeless round?

anybody remember that?

You are thinking of the 32 special being a black powder round

 

[Swampman]

I'd never really put any thought into this until you posed the question, but I think your theory that they did it to differentiate themselves and their product line from Winchester is probably correct.

They probably figured it would be cheaper to redesign their rifle for an existing well established round than to try and introduce a new 35 caliber cartridge of their own.

Looking at Winchester's later introduction of the .356 and it's rapid demise makes Marlin's decision seem like a pretty good one.

 

[Ironhand54]

The Remington model 8 and 81 had proven the 35 and created a following. There was probably customer demand for the gun and ammunition was available. Plus they could have a new gun that didn't require them to stamp the name Winchester on a Marlin gun.

Ironhand

 

[Old Stumpy]

Perhaps because it had a popular following that Remington no longer served with a brush gun.
And, because it offered a significantly more powerful cartridge with a larger caliber than .30-30.
And, because it was sized correctly to function well in a Marlin 336 with little modification.
And, because it had a modest pressure of 33,500 CUP that was compatible with the 336 action.
And, because the Winchester Model 94 was unable to function with a rimless cartridge, allowing Marlin a competitive edge.

 

[jmr40]

I'm guessing they saw where there was an open niche where they could sell a few more rifles. With black powder bullet velocity was pretty much the same regardless of caliber. The only way to make a round more powerful was to make it bigger. Smokeless powder completely changed the rules and it took decades for many shooters to figure that out. Some still haven't.

When introduced in 1895 the 30-30 considerably out classed the 45-70 with loads of the day and proved to be the better big game killer. The 35 rem never out performed the 30-30, but there were enough shooters then as now who simply refused to accept the smaller cartridges advantages. There was a market niche that needed to be filled and Marlin filled it.

 

[Sistema1927]

I'm guessing that they made them because they could sell them.

 

[shootstraight57]

I am glad they did! I bought my first Marlin 336 in 1975 and have used it in North Eastern Pa. for deer and bear. Boy what a cartridge! Taken many deer and bear with it throughout the years.
I never ponder why just because they can.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I guess a fella would have to look at what was available in what, 1953, when the .35 was adopted in the 336.

At the time it was a relatively established, relatively high volume round ready to be accepted in a tube-magazine.

Seems like a logical upgrade for a gun envisioned to fire these intermediate rounds of the day, I guess.

I'd love to hear a more historically-minded individual here give a run-down of what the *general* mass-produced options were at the time. I guess old catalogs would be a good source for that.

For folk like me naturally biased against .30-30 (and its sorry-sister the .32), the .35 is the cat's pajamas. Don't bother asking WHY I don't like it as I won't respond. Just take it on faith that I don't and leave it at that.

Todd.

 

[Jim Rau]

Perhaps because it had a popular following that Remington no longer served with a brush gun.
And, because it offered a significantly more powerful cartridge with a larger caliber than .30-30.
And, because it was sized correctly to function well in a Marlin 336 with little modification.
And, because it had a modest pressure of 33,500 CUP that was compatible with the 336 action.
And, because the Winchester Model 94 was unable to function with a rimless cartridge, allowing Marlin a competitive edge.

BINGO! Give the man his cigar!

 

[Enfielder]

Because there wasn't a .36 Remington?

 

[Laphroaig]

I guess a fella would have to look at what was available in what, 1953, when the .35 was adopted in the 336.

Well Winchester Produced the Model 71 in .348 Win until 1958. Maybe it was Marlin's attempt to step up into that class. Similar caliber, with scopeability. Approximately 5 year overlap between the two. Only the Marlin survived!

 

[BSA1]

I have read that the 35 Remington was introduced for use in woods in eastern part of the U.S. The belief at the time was the heavier round nose bullet was a good “brush buster.” Well we don’t have much in the way of woods here but a Marlin 35 Remington is a awesome hog killer.

 

[someguy2800]

It’s a great cartridge well suited to the rifles and hunting style of the day. We tend to look at cartridges through a distorted perspective of what we have available today. In 1950 optics for rifles were expensive and fragile and not generally used on hunting rifles. When you take optics out of the equation things become quite different. Suddenly when you can only shoot as far as you can see and line up iron sights, having a cartridge that shoots flat to 500 yards is a a pointless advantage. The average person that doesn’t shoot recreationally can’t shoot better than maybe 6” at 100 yards with iron sights so in the context of the average person in 1950 hunting at 75 yards with iron sights, a Mauser type rifle in 30-06 hold no advantage over a lever action in 35 Remington. A lever action in 35 Remington would have been a superb rifle at the time for anyone hunting deer, elk, black beer, ect... It’s still a good choice within its range limitations.

 

[entropy]

The Rem. Model 81 stopped production in 1950, right about when the 336 was chambered in .35 Rem. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[Gordon]

Yup the .35 Remington had a good following on the East coast at that time and for good reason. The round fits well in the action and operates at the right pressure. It WAS considered a "brush buster" and a step up from the smaller bore "deer" cartridges.

 

[Speedo66]

Perhaps because Winchester had their .32 Winchester Special, introduced in 1902, and Marlin wanted something larger than 30 caliber to compete with that.

Winchester sold 7 million copies of the 1894. We think of it as a .30-30 gun, but it was originally chambered in .32-40 and .38-55, both black powder cartridges.

 

[22250Rem]

Many years ago I heard old timers extolling the virtues of the 35 Remington so my first impression of it was very favorable. Since then it's always been in a favorable light as a great woods cartridge. So it always had a loyal following and even back in the 1980's there were a lot of T/C Contenders sold in 35 Rem. around these parts. It's been proven in the field for years and lots of folks like it so the marketing guru's figured it would sell.