Hello Riflemen: This year my son decided to do some work on his Marlin 30-30 rifle to make it into a good deer rifle. He is a very busy guy and the project was pretty much handed over to me. I finished up the rifle yesterday and am more than satisfied with the results. I think that this Marlin item is often underestimated. With a bit of work the rifle can easily add 50 yards to its effective shooting range and be a deadly deer hunting rifle.
When I began the work on this rifle I had no idea just how nice these little Marlins are. They are very light, short, and easy to carry about. They can be scoped with a compact scope and with some work can be very effective at 150+ yards. I'm certain that I can hit a pie plate consistently at 200 yards with this 3030.
I had the rifle made into a 3030 Ackley Improved rifle. This one change has a dynamic change on the personality of this rifle. When I combine the extra boost the AI provides with a small Speer 130 flat point bullet I receive a good velocity boost. I hesitate to post velocity numbers for this rifle because I have not measured this myself. However, several credible reloading manuals sudgest that I am getting a couple hundred fps increase and the benifit of a much flatter trajectory. The poor old standard 3030 has a difficult time shooting anything like flat with limited powder capacity and 150 and 170 grain flat point bullets.
I am now getting a flat shooting bullet from a great little rifle. A large blacktail buck will weigh 140-150 pounds. The Marlin Model 336 in 3030AI shooting a 130 grain Speer bullet will likely prove to be a great buck buster. This rifle is very acurate and shoots straighter than I do. The project has turned out so well that I am going to build one of these light, short and hard hitting rifles for my wife. Take this rifle seriously if you are hunting medium sized critters. Jim

If you like the rifle then it will be rewarding to you.

Some here have advanced internal ballistics programs and if you list your information they may be able to calculate the velocity of your load.

Check the inside of each case with a feeler gage. Rear locking lug actions stretch the cases and you really can't detect an insipiant head separation from the outside.

To add: Have you read Francis Sell? He hunted Blacktails and I am straining my memory but I think one of his favorites was a 25-35 Improved!

[ 08-23-2002, 05:15: Message edited by: Don Martin29 ]