Would I buy a new .300 Savage or the .308 Marlin Express? Tough questions, I happen to like the .300 Savage and I reload for it. I load on the hot side for my Remington 722, 300 Savage so it is best to have only one in the house.
So the big question is would I buy a .308 Marlin Express. The Las Vegas Odds Makers would tell you it is DOA. But they would tell you that any new round developed would not make it. Gun racks contain many rounds since my birth that have not made it, or they have had marginal sales. It does not mean the rounds are poor, but there are many around who can tell you why a round failed or have had weak sales. Think about the .222 Remington, and the 222 Remington Magnum, the .225 Winchester, the 6.5 Remington Magnum, the 5MM Remington, the .22 Remington Jet, will the Remington Short Action Ultra Magnums, and the WSM Winchesters live long. And how can we forget the .375, .356, and the .307 Winchesters. The numbers tells us that far more new rounds will die then make it in the market place.
I have liked the Marlin 336 for a lot of years. I was short a deer rifle for my wife because we had left the Jungle Carbine at the fire lookout with Mom. Both of us were rather impressed with the bear number at the tower. After Mom told us about the bear trying to get into the outhouse with her, my wife insisted that we leave the Carbine with Mom. We were newly weds at the time and poor as church mice. So the answer was to barrow a deer rifle from long time friends who had a rack full. They pointed at the rack and told us to pick a rifle. The rifle we choose was a Marlin 336A, with a 24-inch barrel in 30-30 Winchester.
It was a plain rifle but of solid construction, and far more accurate then the Jungle Carbine. On the plus side the recoil was not as nasty either. At the end of the season we returned the rifle, but we retain the knowledge that the Marlin 336 is a solid firearm.
I have had a 30-30 Marlin 336 for about 25 years. It has a 4x scope on it, and it has a 20-inch barrel what makes it fast handling in tight cover. It is my nasty weather, tight cover rifle. It is a very solid, accurate firearm that fills a need.
Now that Marlin has come up with the XLR rifles they have caught my attention. One in a standard successful cartridge would be fine, but a dance with the new round on the block could prove interesting. A little more punch then the 30-30 would be welcome for those two-hundred yard shots over in the Salmon-Trinity Mountains or up in the Marble Mountains. Both contain bear that think the sound of a shot during deer season is the dinner bell. But everybody’s bear is a little different; in this case we are talking about the Black Bear, not a grizzly.
But the big question is will I be able to find ammunition in ten years. Frankly the purchaser of any new rifle round should ask himself or herself the same question, because the odds are it will not make it.
Like any other new rifle, I will need a scope, reloading dies, cases, bullets, appropriate powder, and primers. In the case of the .308 Marlin Express 500 new cases maybe in order. That is a real investiment. But it may not be around ten years down the road. But that is no more then the investment then the guy with the new Wildcat makes. The big difference is I do not known if there is a base case out there from which I can make .308 Marlin case.
They say that my reloads will not match the Factory velocities, but they will exceed the 30-30 Winchester. I will go for that, and have a lot of fun developing loads and firing them across my Chrony.
If my brother can load for a 6.5-.256 Newton, I should be able to load for a .308 Marlin Express.
But there may be another motive behind the introduction of the .308 Marlin Express. I am sure the Bean Counters involved with the concept looked at the bottomline. Maybe not the development of the new round, but making sure that Marlin recovers its investment.
If the risk of commercial failure is high how does Marlin justify the development dollars?
My assumption is the cost of manufacture for the XLR series of rifles is close to the same. While the 30-30 and the .35 Remington chambering will develop a fair amount of publicity, paid and free, the 308 Marlin Express will create controversy. It will create positive controversy for Marlin Rifles, while they maybe some negative issues on the life span of the new round. In the process Marlin and Hornaday gets a lot of free press. But the issue may sell more rifles in 30-30 and .35 Remington.
In the process Hornaday is also getting positive press over its competition in bullet, and load development.
My hat is off to both manufactures.
