Recently picked up a 35 Rem stamped JC Higgins.Nothing more than a Marlin 336. It is in almost new condition. Also picked up a couple boxes of bullets. First the 180 gr Speer 358 cal flat nose bullet. The other box are Hornady 200 gr FTX. These are the pointed bullets with a plastic tip supposedly made for tube magazines like the Marlin. The most common bullet of choice would likely be the 200 gr RN. Who has used the 180 gr or the newer FTX bullets and what can you say about your experience with either. Thanks for your comments. I should add that the only thing I would ever use this rifle on would be a deer hunt in bush.

You have the perfect deer and black bear rifle; use only the 200 grain bullets.

It would probably work just peachy in the bush for elk and slobber nosed swamp donkeys too.

The Speer bullets are good on antelope/deer. No idea on bear. I used them out of a 14" TC Contender to account for a few of each. I also use it in a 357 Max carbine in Indiana for deer. Good bullet. The Contender gets them out at 2100fps. The carbine spits them out at 2250fps.

No experience with the 200gr Hornady FTX.

Jeremy

My wife inherited one from her dad. We run 200gr Hornady's (I think) great little round. Fun to shoot.

I used the Hornady FTX in a 45/70 it shot 1" group at a hundred yds. Killed a Black Bear one shot.

I have had problems with the hornady gummie bullet breaking up and not penetrating in 45/70 and 308 marlin express. I would find some 200 grain federals or remington green box and go hunting.

I "traded up" to a 358 win BLR, but frankly I miss my Marlin 336. They are a sweet, smooth, classical lever rifle. For what the 35 Rem is good for the 180 gn Speers or 200 RN will work as well as anything. If you have any, try some Rlr 10X for your little 35. They go together like peas an carrots..

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We run 200gr Hornady's (I think)

Make that 180gr Speer Hot Core. She said she remembers 1 TX Doe and a couple small hogs taken with it.

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Originally posted by Wstrnhuntr:
I "traded up" to a 358 win BLR, but frankly I miss my Marlin 336. They are a sweet, smooth, classical lever rifle. For what the 35 Rem is good for the 180 gn Speers or 200 RN will work as well as anything. If you have any, try some Rlr 10X for your little 35. They go together like peas an carrots..

Maybe it is because I am old and love real Marlins (not remlins), but, trading to a blr would not be trading up. If I had to have more power than 35 Remington in 358 bore, I would just have to bite the bullet and find a .356 or have one made. BLRs are not classic lever guns, if John Wayne or Lorrene Greene didnt shoot one, I cant.

We had a couple days of nice weather so I made it to the range with my new to me 35 Rem. Mounted a 1.5-4x scope and loaded up some 180 gr Speer and 200 gr Hornady FTX with 3031. This little rifle shoots both bullets in nice little groups. The POI for the 180's is slightly higher than the 200's. A lot more accurate than I expected.

336 & 200gr, perfect together...

I have a Marlin 336SC in 35 Rem. I think that gun was designed to shoot 200gr RN Rem Cor-Lokts. Anything else in the mag or chamber , and might as well compare the 'groups' to a shotgun pattern.

My gun, above, is a Micro-Groove barrel from 1982.
I have a 1950's gun in the safe I haven't shot yet, eager to see how that barrel performs.

Has anyone else tried the 200 gr FTX bullets in the 35 Rem ? That pointed tip must add a few yds to your effective range vrs a RN bullet. A local dealer just received a big shipment of Speer bullets. That has been unheard of for the last few years. They even had some 35 cal 180 gr so I picked up some more of them, but didn't want to get too many until I figure out what this rifle shoots best. Hopefully this week I can get back to the range.

Been nice here the last couple days so we went to the range. Working with the 180 gr Speer .These bullets are grouping under 1 inch groups @ 100 yds with a 1.5x4.5 Bushnell scope. I've seen lots of bolt guns that can't do that. Think I will be going back to pick up some more 180 gr Speer's.

Snowman, I'm not sure how heavily skinned your Manitoba deer are, but there is also the .358 180gr Hornady SSP (single shot pistol) bullets. They work just fine on a variety of thin skinned animals and are a little lighter to get the velocity up. Hornady makes them in batches, so availability's not great, and while they're not designed for tube-mags, the lead point can be filed flat for mag tubes.

Also kind of rare but have been held in high esteem is the Remington .35cal 150gr projectile. It's an irregular offering too, but flies true.

jpl Don't think I want to go to a bullet not designed for a tube magazine. The 180 Speer is grouping far better than I thought possible in a lever action rifle. I think I will stock up on a few boxes of these bullets. I'm sure they will be fine for deer. If I were to use this rifle on a black bear I would prefer a 200 gr bullet.

I shot a 180 grain Speer out of a 141 Rem pump in .35 Rem. It went through a 10 pt white tail buck on the diagonal from front shoulder out the opposite ham. The range was about 80 yards.

Remington 141s have magazines designed for pointed bullets. That is what the spirals in it are for. Marlins don't.

I have an old 336 I picked up years ago in 35 rem. I ran a 356 chamber in it and it shoots the flex tips very well. I have to work out feeding issues with round nose bullets, but it feeds the flextips great.

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Originally posted by matt salm:
I have an old 336 I picked up years ago in 35 rem. I ran a 356 chamber in it and it shoots the flex tips very well. I have to work out feeding issues with round nose bullets, but it feeds the flextips great.

Never thought about rechambering one to 356.
Were there any special issues with rechambering?
What was the sum total of the work involved, any action/feeding work?
bigbull

There's a few guys that do it. I didn't have any problems with it, just spun barrel off, re chambered and put back together. The issue I have with feeding is actually in the loading. Round nose bullets won't load through the gate, I loaded the flextips with no problem but the RN don't have enough room to make it in past the gate. I didn't mess with it long before moving on to another project and figured I'd get around to it.