35 At The Range- Hand Loads

[ditto1958]

I brought some handloads to the range with my Marlin 35 Remington. They are noticeably more accurate than factory ammo.

The conclusions reached after shooting a box of ammo were interesting. I shot most of the box, but also had two outstanding shooters try it. Our consensus was that the rifle is probably the most accurate one I own... BUT... (there's always gotta be a "but")... the trigger isn't very good. Even for a Marlin lever gun. My 336 in 30-30 has a noticeably better trigger.

Even with the heavy trigger, we were all shooting very close to our point of aim.

Will I do anything about the trigger? Well, never say never... but I doubt it. It's not a target rifle.

[bandit1250]

The triggers on some 336's are good and some are a real pain. There is things on Marlin owners on how to tune them. I think Swany has a sticky about how to do it. I was shooting my peep sighted 444 yesterday and it actually felt good.(The trigger not the recoil) I need to pull a bullet and make sure what load was in these older reloads for another gun I had. They shot really good a hit very hard. At 50 yds.it turned tennis ball size rocks into a dust cloud that I had to wait for it to clear to see the next rock. I also shot my Marlin 336 35 Rem. like you were shooting and it is a joy to shoot compared to the 444. I was shooting 158gr. HPT pistol bullets in it with a near max load of 3031 and it grouped 1" at 75 yds. with a 4X scope. Glad you like your 35 and maybe just some polishing on your trigger and sear will help with the pull. A lighter hammer spring will lighten the pull and the lever effort if it don't cause misfires. I did one of mine and had occasional misfires so I added a #10 machine washer to the spring and all is well now. Try some pistol bullets in your hand loads for less cost per round to load and they are very accurate. Some guns don't feed them well and others like the last one I bought they feed flawless.

[Sir Henry]

I haven't reloaded in a few years now but always enjoyed it. I can't stand a firearm with a bad trigger.

[ditto1958]

I haven't reloaded in a few years now but always enjoyed it. I can't stand a firearm with a bad trigger.

Lol. Life is too short to own a gun with a bad trigger.

Oh, and one other thing: one of the sharpshooters who tried out my rifle hit a half inch dot at 100 yards with his first shot. Bad trigger and all.

[Sir Henry]

I've found that triggers with less moving parts are the best.

[ditto1958]

I've found that triggers with less moving parts are the best.

So, should I go in there and take some of the parts out of the trigger?

[Sir Henry]

All good mechanics have a bucket of extra bolts, nuts and springs.