Marlin 336 lever action in .250 Savage

[Chuck from arkansaw]

I have been on a kick to see what can be done to optimize the Marlin .336 action, and have been looking at various sites and asking about what others have done. One of the best conversions I have read about is re-barreling the 336 to .250 Savage. I would like a light, fast handling carbine in a cartridge suitable for deer and varmints out to 250 yards. The .250 would be ideal. The conversion is a simple re-barrel job, and the taper and length of the cartridge are just about right to function well in a lever action. I hand load, so I could develop the loads that seemed to work best, but since the 336 handles the .307 and .356, even a factory round should not present a pressure problem. Has anyone on this board seen such a conversion? Another good candidate would be a 6.5 MS. The case is longer, but I would be interested in the lighter bullets so OAL would not be a problem. It is a great little round and would be suitable for varmints and deer.

[RonF]

You'd need to use flat nose, or maybe round nosed, bullets - wouldn't want all those in the magazine to  go bang at the same time!  This might limit your range a bit.  Also, the .250 Savage is not a rimmed cartridge as are the .307 and .356, but the MS is (I think).  Maybe you ought to consider the 6.5 Jap - it's rimmed, and a pretty good cartridge actually.  Certainly ain't gonna' win no popularity contests, though!  What about the 6.5 JDJ 0r .25-35 AI?

RonF

[gunnut69]

I'd have to agree with RonF. The 250 would alos pose some interesting problems with the magazine cutoff(shell stop). Also I seem to remember the 307 and 356 were built on a slightly different action. A modified version of the regular 336 that had reinforced sides..  Of course my memory is pretty poor. There are wildcats based on the 30-30 and it's improved forms that would be easier conversions. Also the 30-30 Ackley Imp is a great improvement at nearly no pressure increase. If you truly want or need a 250 or 243 in a lever your best bet wqould be the Savage M99 or a re-built Winchester M88.

[Chuck from arkansaw]

The Marlin 336 used was a .35 Remington.  It has the same bolt face as a .250 (within .006").  The 336 actions are all the same, from .30-30 up to .450 Marlin, (it was the Winchester 94 that required beefing up for the .375 big bore and .307/356).  The only differences are the ejector port size and mag. tube hole.  The 6.5 Jap would actually be a real natural for this conversion, and is one that I have given some serious consideration.  Breach pressure of the .250 is 47,000 while the .307, .356, and .375 are over 50,000.  I was also considering stamping the barrel .250 Marlin so as to give anyone pause that wanted to load it up with factory .250 Savage spitzer rounds.  Anothe option might be fitting a Remington spiral magazine tube ala model 141.

In conclusion, The .250 Savage is short enough, low pressure enough, The cartridge stop will work, there are plenty of .25 cal. flat nosed bullets if I don't want to use it as a "2 shooter". The conversion has already been done at least once, and a rebarrel of a 336 is still cheaper than a Savage 99 in .250 .  I want this rifle for varmints out to 200-250 yards, using 60 and 87 gr. bullets.  I could load it to 25-36 A.I. velocities and have plenty of speed with lower pressure.  Deer loads with the 117 gr. round nose should be effective out to 250 yards without straining the action.  This cartridge should be nearly as effective as a .307 for deer and better for varmints.

I welcome any other thoughts about this conversion, as I am trying to find any issue that might be a show stopper.

[Nobade]

Hmmmm...very interesting idea. I think, however, if I were doing it I'd take a different route and go with a 25-35. I have serious doubts as to the durability of a 336 action using .250 Savage, I know it could be done but for how long? Not sure if it would feed or not, but a 25-35 AI would give you about the same case capacity and a rim to hold on to. For high pressure rimless rounds in a lever gun I'd stay with the Browning and its rotary bolt. My 2 cents.

[John A]

The 336 Action will easily handle the 250 Savage pressure! I have one that was built for me by Ted leaf about 10 years ago or there abouts and it has had literally thousands of rounds ran through it with never a hitch. Use a 336 action that was barreled up for the 35 rem originally and you will have no problems. The 25-35AI would be a great alternative if one has a 336 in 30-30!

[Chuck from arkansaw]

John A
Thanks for the input.  What kind of groups did you get with your .250?  What twist did you use?  I shot a .243 a lot a few years back with very moderate loads of surplus 4831 and 75 gr. bullets.  They would turn a ground hog inside out.  The .250 with those .75 gr. flat noses should be a great combination in a calling rifle.  I would not feel pressed to use HOT loads in the 336, If I want to pump up a .257 bullet I will use my Roberts on a mauser action or my #1V in .30-06.  If I build this gun I will stamp the barrel .250 Marlin.

[John A]

Can't remember twist now as I have had rifle for around 10 years, but it must be around 1-10! This rifle will put Hornady 117gr round nose bullets into 1 1/2" pretty consistent at 100 yards.

[Buckeye]

If you want a 25cal.in a 336 it would be a good idea to neck down a 308 and seat the bullet a little deeper to go thru a 336 action,and use flat nose bullets(just cut the top off the sprizers),the 308 brass feeds perfect thru my 356.
Re barrelling may be $$$$$ !

[Leftoverdj]

(just cut the top off the sprizers)

You can try that if you want to, but I won't. The problem I see happening is a cartridge canting just enough in the magazine for the edge of the exposed jacket to catch the center of the primer ahead of it.

I don't mind tube mags, but I want a good chunk of soft lead anywhere a primer might hit it.

[John A]

Recoil is not enough to cause detonation as long as flatnose lead tip bullets are used! Recoil is about the same as 25-35 AI. Necking the 308 down would work but so would necking the 300 Savage down, then you wouldn't need to seat bullet deeper.

John Anderson
www.rockislandballistics.com

[hans g./UpS]

Dumb question perhaps...have you considered the 7-30 Waters? It ought to give you flatter trajectory than the 30/30,yet be a very cheap conversion[and it's easy to form from 30/30 brass].