35 Remington Barrel Length

[BattleRifleG3]

Got a dilemna, folks.  I have a Rem 760 in 35 Remington and was sadly not impressed with it last time I went hunting.  Of course I am a big element in the equation.

Basically, I'm most effective aiming and shooting something with the balance of a bolt action.  And the pump assembly puts more weight up front than I'm used to.  Course I don't notice it shooting at targets.  But when I had to move and aim, I didn't live up to what I felt I could have done with something better balanced.

From a balance as well as a maneuverability standpoint, I've been thinking about having the barrel taken down to about 16.5" from about 21" now.  My impression is that the 35 Rem doesn't require a particularly long barrel for the amount of powder it holds.

Questions - For you guys who use it in various leverguns, pumpguns, and even pistols, what would be the effects of shortening it to about 16" on velocity and muzzle blast?  I'm not a fan of muzzle blast, period.  I'd normally take a long barrel just for the sake of reducing muzzle blast, but perhaps the 35 Rem isn't so bad from the shorter lengths?

Would like to learn from those who know.  Thanks!

[victorcharlie]

I've thought about the same thing, shorting my marlin to 16 or so inches.  I have read that the .35 is enjoying a comback in pistols.  I'm thinking the velocity loss wouldn't make much difference.  Maybe someone whos' done this will give us some facts.

[Ramrod]

My brother gets 2000 fps with 150 grain bullets and 1750 with 200 grain factory loads from his 14 inch custom XP-100 pistol. The gun will take much hotter handloads, but I don't know what the Marlin will handle, so I'm not going to post any loads.

[Lone Star]

I've hunted with a 14" Contender in .35 Remington for over twenty years.  It is easy to handload it to get 2000 fps with 200-grain bullets and 2300 fps with 150s - these are over any published pressure-tested maximums but are well within the capabilities of both the Contender and the Marlin.  Factory loads are another matter, and as stated above they will give pretty low velocities in the 14" barrels.  I'd not expect to gain much more than 50-75 fps with a 16.5" barrel.  IIRC Marlin made a special run of short 336s in this chamberinbg recently for a distributor, with either 16.5" or 18.5" barrels....I'd like to find one.

The days of the .35 Remington being popular in handguns are about over.  In the 1980s and early 1990s it had a reasonably good following, but today T/C no longer chambers for it and there is no XP-100 handgun.  I am always amused at what I read in the various reloading manuals regarding this cartridge in the handgun load sections; the authors are pretty much out to lunch on their statements of popularity.  Relatively few IHMSA shooters ever used it in competiiton for example.  I did and it certainly worked, although I used downloaded velocitied with 180-grain bullets.  Still the toll in recoil over a 60-round match was tiring and I never went 40 or 60 straight with it.  As soon as I changed back to a .30 Herrett I stopped missing targets - recoil does matter.

[Graybeard]

I don't believe you want that barrel shorter than the 18.5" the factory used on the carbine versions of it. That's plenty short enough for good handling and gives about all the round will deliver.