I've been playing around with load for my Marlin 336 in .219 Zipper now for the last couple months. and I think I finally got that "magic" load for it. I went from shooting groups around 2"@ 100yrds with some old 56grn Remington factory ammo down to groups in the 1 1/4"-1 3/8" range with the first batch of reloads which at the time I though was pretty good . I changed powders from some AA2230-C to H-380 and my groups dropped down to around the 1" mark using Hornady 45grn "Bee" hollow points. Which really got me smiling. The BC on those bullets really sucked though at .108 so I wanted to switch up to something better for ground hogs this spring and tried some Hornady 50gr SP with a BC of .214. WOW not only did they help with trajectory but my groups now dropped down into the .8"s and .9"s. I figured that was as good as it was going to get. Well today I load up some different loads using that bullet and powder combo and played with seating depth and charge weight. I was loading 28.5grns originally. Today I went with drops of 29 ,30 and 31 grns. 32.2 grns is listed as max when used in the Mauser action test gun. I stayed low because of the lever action I'm shooting. the 29grn load (3010fps) dropped me down into the .7" s and .8" s. . When I hit the 30grn loads (3120fps) I shot two groups in the high .6"s and one at .574" . I figured that was it. but went on with my 31 grn grain loads (3225fps) and just about fell over. .634", .621" and a .517" . Not bad for a 50yr old 20" barreled lever action.

Tim

Here's the .574"



and here's the .517"