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Rechambering Marlin to .357 max.
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Seems like I saw a post, but I cannot find it. My question can a Marlin 336 or 1894 in .357 be rechambered to .357 Rem Max. without reworking the feed? Or what would be involved with this conversion?
 
Posts: 19 | Registered: 08 April 2004Reply With Quote
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I have a Max but not a levergun. The cartridge loaded is smaller in all dimensions other than bullet/case mouth diameter compared to the .30-30. I imagine there'd be quite a bit to do. Based on other work I've had done, I'd think the cost of conversion would probably come close to the cost of the rifle with no guarantee of success.

I've seen a lot of interest in such a conversion over the years since the Max came out but NO actual conversions. That should tell you something.

I'd buy a correctly dimensioned .357 Max lever action...
 
Posts: 2324 | Location: Staunton, VA | Registered: 05 September 2002Reply With Quote
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If you go to to leverguns.com and search you will find some information. There is a fellow there that rechambered a .444 Marlin to .445 Supermag if I remember right. Anyway using the larger frame allows the longer round to work, I think there was a little tweaking inside but the big part was just turning back the barrel and rechambering. You should be able to do the same with a .35 Remington 336. If I wanted max power out of one of the pistol catridge length actions I would go with .357-44 B&D, just rebarrel a 44 mag with a .357 barrel and rechamber. We are currently rechambering a 10" Desert Eagle barrel for this round. It is requiring slight modification to the rear of the barrel but should work fine. We made the first batch of ammo last week and it is a sexy looking little round, not to mention it blows the doors of the .357 max in performance.
Jason
 
Posts: 575 | Location: VA | Registered: 20 March 2003Reply With Quote
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Quote:

My question can a Marlin 336 or 1894 in .357 be rechambered to .357 Rem Max. without reworking the feed? Or what would be involved with this conversion?




I've looked into this and have found out a few things. One is the 1894 Marlin action is too short to accomodate the longer round. You could simply rechamber a .357 mag to max but you would have to seat the bullet so deep to function as to be impractical at best. With the 336 Marlin it is long enough but there involves much work with the feeding and bolt face to get it to function. The best canidate is the Winchester 94 in .357 magnum. The action is long enough and it MAY only need a rechamber to convert it. Not having one to play with, I can't say for sure how doable it is. It's a back burner item for me right now as I'm converting a Win94 from .30-30 to .38-55 as my number one lever gun project.
 
Posts: 338 | Location: Johnsburg, Illinois | Registered: 15 December 2002Reply With Quote
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It's been a while since I read up on the .357 Maximum, but IIRC it operates at a chamber pressure of 50,000 psi or so.

Most rounds chambered in the Marlin and Winchester operate in the 40,000 psi range, which is fine for .30-30's, 35 Remingtons, .357 and .44 Magnums. I know Marlin chambered the .356 and .307 in their "standard" 336 but Winchester had to go to a Big Bore Model 94 with beefed up receiver walls.

Point being - I'd be very careful about sticking a 50,000 psi cartridge in a standard Model 94.
 
Posts: 1027 | Registered: 24 November 2000Reply With Quote
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