[StretchNM]

My Marlin 336SC is here! I broke it down and cleaned it up last night. I've got 100 pieces of Winchester brass for it, 100 FTX 265grain bullets, plenty of powders to go with Hornady's suggested load data, and I'm planning on starting with some Wolf LR primers I received a couple of three weeks ago. Pacesetter dies should be in any day now.....

I cannot find any 200grain Remington round noses in stock anywhere! I would surely like to load some of these up, despite all the good that's said about the FTX bullets. Maybe I'll dig around and see if anyone has some Sierra 200 grain bullets.

I've heard about problems full-length sizing this brass. I can;t yet find an in-stock Lee Collet die to neck size with. What are your experiences with the .35 Rem brass?

Can you fellows recommend any other bullets that are popular enough to be generally available for this rifle? My initial plans are hog hunting, but of course I won;t limit the rifle to that.

Why oh why is Marlin finishing their walnut on these rifles to emulate plastic?

Thanks for any thoughts.......

 

[MikeG]

I neck-size cases (carefully) using a Hornady .357 pistol sizer. Well, I'm not recommending that for everyone, but it works for me! Use a Lyman "M" die to expand, and a Lee Factory Crimp die to, well, you know, crimp!!!

See if Marshall can whip up some 180gr. FNGC "+p" handgun bullets, and go to town. All the Varget you can get in the case should be a good load.

My Marlin has a 100% plastic stock so can't comment on that!

 

[StretchNM]

I was kindly hoping you'd post here, Mike, knowing that you also shoot a 35 Remington. Thanks for the information. I'm hoping to find a Lee Collet neck-sizer before too long, even if I have to order one direct from Lee (that could be expensive). I never thought about an expander die. Shouldn;t I be able to reload just as I would any other rifle cartridge (i.e. size, prime, charge, and seat and crimp the bullet)?

I also posted some questions in the Rifle, Shotgun, and Handgun Scopes forum. I was hoping you might weigh-in there too. I'd like to hear your thoughts on scopes and sights.

 

[broom_jm]

Stretch,

I don't know if you're read this report yet, or not, but it is an extensive review on terminal performance for the bullets commonly used in the 35 Remington.

http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php/topic,7180.0.html

FWIW, I'm surprised Hornady is making a 265gr FTX bullet, since the traditional bullet weight for the 35R is 200gr? In fact, the only FTX bullet I see on the Hornady website or at Midway is the 200gr FTX I'm using in my 358GNR. Are you sure those are 265gr, or that you want to shoot a bullet that heavy, out of the 35 Remington?

Midway seems to have plenty of the Remington 200gr PSP Core-lokt in stock and these are the bullets that performed so well in the 35 Remington test, show in the article above.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=1601532300

Let me know how your load development and range work turns out!

Jason

 

[M1Garand]

I've only full length sized for it and only used Rem brass so far. I do have a bunch of PMC brass on had I got on sale but haven't used it yet. The 200 grain Sierra's have been more accurate in both the 35 Rem and 358 Win for me then the Core Lokts. Another to consider is the 180 grain Speer FP.

Jim, those are the pointed CL's. He's looking for the RN's.

 

[Wrench Man]

I've never run into any issues with full length resizing on the .35 Rem., my RCBS dies do a dandy job for me, but none of my cases have any more than 3 loadings on them, I'm WELL stocked on cases for that riffle!
The 200grn Core Lokt is by far my favorite bullet, the Speer 180grn is a good one too.
My 1895 has the "plastic" looking coating you speak of on it, it may come off, it has some really nice wood on it!

 

[StretchNM]

Sorry men, I do NOT have 265gr bullets. That was an early sign of senility. I have the 200grain FTX. Good eye Jason.

I went to Midway. They offer the Remington 200gr RN, but on backorder only.

 

[MikeG]

I guess you don't need an expander for jacketed bullets, if you are using the Lee collet resizing die. You sure do need one if you are going to shoot cast.

The Remington 200gr. bullet really is the gold standard for jacketed bullets and most rifle/cartridge/bullet combinations should wish to perform as well.

Marshall's 180gr. bullet, and the RCBS 200gr. FNGC, are the two best cast bullet designs for hunting that I am aware of.

Last tip, Remington brass has the most capacity of what I have (comparing to Federal and Winchester) and that's important when you're trying to cram a heapin' helpin' of Varget in the case. I forget if it's H322 or H335 that's also popular but it's another choice. I think that IMR-3031 has been suggested as the classic option, as well.

Found some Federal 200gr. factory ammo, once. Unbelievably accurate. 3 shot 3/4" group and I won't tell you the range but it was past 100 yards. Don't know how it performs on critters, though.

Good luck.

 

[Wrench Man]

H335 is my powder of choice! my riffle likes 39.0grns (MAX charge or OVER depending on the reference) with a 200grn Core Lokt, CCI250 in a Winchester shell.
Don't know the velocity?, book suggests approaching 2100fps (I'd like to send a few over a chronograph to see?), but DANRD! accurate out'a my riffle!

 

[M1Garand]

IMR 4064, IMR 3031, H4895 and TAC all gave acceptable results with good velocity for me with the 200 grn. I haven't worked too much with H335.

 

[StretchNM]

I'm going to save this thread to a Word document after the thread peters out, so I can have these load suggestions available for when I can find some Remington 200gr bullets. Right now, I've got the FTX bullets, and I'm going to use some Wolf LR and Federal 210 primers under IMR4064, working around 35.0gr to start. According to Hornady's FTX load data, IMR4064 can be loaded to 36.9 for 1900fps.

I might get some H335 for the Remington 200 grains, but also I'm thinking about some AA2520. With AA2520, the FTX can be loaded to 2000fps. How about that?

Actually, in anticipation of acquiring the .35Rem, I've been looking for Remington 200 rn for more than a month now. Either they're popular or they're not a regularly stocked item, but they're sure hard to find.

I've been checking Beartooth bullets too, thanks Mike. I've never reloaded cast bullets, but I'm willing to give them a try. All (most) manuals say to keep cast bullets below 1600fps for best accuracy. What do you know about this?

 

[StretchNM]

I forgot to mention in the earlier post that my dies came in. My wife picked them up from the porch yersday, brought them inside, then it slipped her mind to tell me they were in. Before loading, I full-length sized and cleaned the cases. All measured 1.905" or so, and all were short and could not be trimmed with the trim guage and cutter.

So, I just finished loading 20 cartridges. 10 with Wolf primers and 10 with Fed 210 (5 each with 35.0gr and 5 with 36.0gr IMR4064). I set the COAL at 2.525, as called for in the Hornady load data. Now these 36.0gr cases are compressed loads (how am I ever going to get 36.9gr 4064 as called for in the max load?). The bullet kept being pushed back up and I had to do a little fanagling with the seater die to get the bullet to come out at 2.525".

Before I started crimping, I loaded a couple in the rifle. It sure seems tight in there and there are a couple of scratch marks from the lands. I'm thinking maybe I'll re-seat these to 2.515". What do you guys think about that?

Thanks

 

[hunter63]

Anyone tried to load the .358 jhp .357 bullets?
They are short as far as over all length, so don't know if thats a problem or not.
There is a load listed in the Lee book for .158 gr, but I gotta believe thats a longer bullet.

BTW, I'm shooting an old Reminton Model 600 bolt gun that I got from all people my MIL.

P.S. Seems everyone is out of 200gr RN at this time.......too bad, ran short of loading up my empties by 10 rounds.

Maybe it's just me, but reloading never seems to come out "even" number anything.
Case bad, so now only 19 rds, some body gives you 17 cases etc.......drives me nuts!

 

[broom_jm]

Before I started crimping, I loaded a couple in the rifle. It sure seems tight in there and there are a couple of scratch marks from the lands. I'm thinking maybe I'll re-seat these to 2.515". What do you guys think about that?

Thanks

I think I would seat them shorter, if possible, because you really don't want them touching the lands. Also, did you make a "dummy" round to determine what seating depth your gun requires, with that particular bullet? I typically do this with every bullet I will test/use in a given rifle, so I don't wind up trying to compress a powder charge and wind up with an OAL that just won't chamber, in my gun.

There are a variety of methods for doing this, but I usually use some kind of blackening agent on the bullet, around the ogive, repeatedly trying to chamber it and seating deeper, until I find where the round will just clear the lands. If this will fit in the magazine and/or cycle properly, I'm done. With lever guns, you oftentimes have to go short than this. I'm thinking the ogive on that FTX, as well as its overall length, are going to require fairly deep seating to clear your lands, making a compressed charge more difficult. You might go with something a little faster like 4198 or Li'l Gun.

 

[StretchNM]

Jason, I know I should've made a dummy, but I'm a dummy, and I didn't. Anyway, I seated them to 2.510....mostly. Some of the 36.0gr compressed loads wouldn;t stay, so they came out between 2.515 and 2.525. I crimped them with a medium crimp and went out into the flats where there is a little mountain.

I set up a target stand an even 75 yards from my truck and used 4 sandbags on the hood. Using just the peep sight, the first five rounds went into the target about 6" low and 2" left. Into about a 2-1/2" group! I couldn;t even see the center of the target, I was just approximating, what with squinting and sights. I adjusted the rear sight UP one ramp level and tried again. This got me closer and gave me another nice group...2-1/2". I was overly impressed, to say the least. One more ramp level UP. The third set of 5 rounds were 35.5gr IMR4064 and Fed210 primers. Now this group was no more than 1-1/4", out to out no deduction for caliber, and just below dead even, about 1" to the left. I have some pictures of them all but haven;t put them in the computer yet.

This was much, much better than I expected. I could not even see the red bullseye dot! All I was doing was trying to approximate the center of the target and keep the same POA each round. Thinking about a little 4x low-profile scope..... I am scared....trembling....shaking...thinking of what kind of accuracy this rifle is capable of!! Scared!

 

[MikeG]

Well, my cast bullet loads are running between 2,000 and 2,300fps, depending on which bullet. "General" advice is sometimes not so helpful when dealing with a specific situation.....

OK, here are some tidbits. First, with IMR-4064, yeah, I don't know how you'll ever get enough in the case. Either use a drop tube, or hold the funnel at an angle as you pour in the powder so it "swirls" like water going down a drain. Try it; you'd be surprised how much more goes in the case. You don't want to know how much Varget I can get in the case but let's just say it's more than 40 grains....

Try neck sizing. It helps when short on powder capacity and as long as you are just working up loads there is no harm and the brass should last a bit longer.

If bullets are backing out before you can crimp, try a smaller expander. Or with jacketed bullets don't use an expander at all. Just barely flare the case mouth with a tapered punch or even your case deburring tool. The "M" die will solve this problem, FYI.

Last, if you go with cast bullets, get them sized at least 0.359" (that's as big as you can get Marshall's "+p" bullet as the mold doesn't drop any larger). Also, very important with cast bullets, seat so that the bullets are just touching the rifling when chambered. You'll see little dimple marks on the nose. While you'll be cautioned to not do this with jacketed, it really does help with cast bullets.

Good luck. I think your first issue to solve is the powder compression issue.

 

[broom_jm]

Stretch,

Congrats on the great first range session...sounds that gun is going to be a real shooter! If you can run those loads through a chronograph to get an idea if the velocity is what you're wanting, you might not need to do anything more than what Mike suggests, above, to get the bullets to seat well.

Did you notice any difficulty with extracting the spent rounds? Did you try chambering an empty casing to see if it would feed easily? Primers show and signs of pressure?

 

[MikeG]

Oh and if you get a batch of cast bullet loads worked up - do yourself a favor. Get the barrel really really REALLY clean before even trying them. Then, if you don't have good results, slug it. Chances are a little lapping is in order. It's easy to do and very worthwhile for cast bullets.

 

[ranger335v]

"I cannot find any 200grain Remington round noses in stock anywhere!"

Only place I've EVER been able to find them is in bulk from MidwayUSA. Hornady 200 RNs shoot exactly the same for me but they are not nearly as consistant in expansion as the Remingtons. All of them but the Rem RNCLs are made for .35 Whelen/.350 Mag speeds. I just crimp 'em in the cannalure as God and Big Green intended, that takes care of the OAL.

39.5/IMR 4064 gives me almost 2,100 fps and groups just under 1.5 MOA and two thirds of that is vertical, only .5 MOA horizontal. I've never felt the need for any more speed or accuracy. I love it. Deer hate it.

I do use a Lee Collet neck sizer. It works fine, cases last a long time without needing to be FL sized.

 

[StretchNM]

Thanks for all the replies. I still have these FTX bullets (80 left, but I'm going to load another 20 today ) so I've got something to work with for the time being. Since Remington, Hornady, Sierra, etc RN bullets are hard to come by, I'm probably going to have to order some cast bullets from Marshal. By the way, I was looking at those: Why, Mike, do you recommend the 185gr when the 200gr is available? Is it just to have a lighter bullet, or is there something in the design that's different between the two?

Stretch,
............................................................
Did you notice any difficulty with extracting the spent rounds? Did you try chambering an empty casing to see if it would feed easily? Primers show and signs of pressure?

There were no pressure signs, Jason - levering the bolt open was normal, extraction was good, feeding a fired case (I tried about 5) was ok, primers were fine. Everything looked good. In fact, the 20I 'm going to load today will go as high as 36.4gr IMR4064. That's .5gr below max listed by Hornady.

I'm thinking I almost have to put a little scope on this rifle. I wear tri-focal glasses (nr sighted) and I think you have to have very sharp eyesight to see the bullseye at 75 or 100 yards - I mean when looking through sights. Of course, if I'm hunting pigs or javelinas or deer, that doesn;t matter because the whole sighting process is "approximation" of the kill zone. I'm unsure - I'm still giving this sights/scope issue its due cogitation.

I am expecting more accuracy with these next loads.

I am scared......