Re. Marlin Lever Gun in .307 Winchester
Well, Marlin made at least one .307 Win. I haveit. It is a 336 that was made in 1998. It did not have thecrossbolt safety. I bought it in Greenville, MS at a Wal Mart clone namedMagic Mart. I had been in the hunting camp for nearly a month and in alapse of judgment I loaned my Marlin 30-30 to a newbie. Long story short. He dropped it out of hisJeep and then backed over it. I askedthe clerk to let me see a 336 in 30-30. The sale tag on gun indicated itwas a 30-30. I never looked at the caliber markings on the barrel The price was $249.95. I paid for it and took it home. I cleaned itup and loaded 6 30-30 rounds in the mag and ran them through theaction. Everything worked fine. I was wiping it down when I finallysaw that it was chambered for the .307. I started to take it back butchanged my mind. I realized that the .307 was nothing more than a rimmed .308that was loaded down to be “safe” in a lever gun. Right. A modern 336 is so weak that several gunsmithsthat specialize in lever gun modifications use it for high powered wildcatcalibers up to and including the .50 Alaskan. Marlinsaid they never made a 336 in .307 or a .307 in any model and that it probablywas a foreign made Marlin 336 copy. Theyasked me if I would send it back to them. Because I had been ripped off they would make it good and would replaceit with any lever rifle they made. Needless to say, I didn’t send it back. It is a wonderful shooter with a good looking walnut stock. I load it with .308 Win. Data. I know y’all are going to give me a hard timeabout my loads but before I loaded the first round I had it checked out by mygunsmith buddy who converts the 336 to hot wildcat calibers on a regularbasis. He is as competent as thegunsmiths that do the same thing for companies like Wild West Guns, GrizzlyCustom Guns, Nonneman Custom Rifles and the companies who sponsor Leverguns.com. I have never had a problem with anyloads. I will say that I don’t load tosuper whiz-bang velocities and pressures. Most of the time the super-hot loads are no better than conservative loadsand many of the hottest loads are not as accurate as the middle of the roadloads. Enough said.
One caveat – 30-30 rounds will chamber, fire and usuallyeject from the .307. The cases havealmost the same overall length but the 30-30s are tapered where the .307/.308is more or less straight. The 30-30susually fireform to close to .307/308 specs. I’ve tried this out and have had a few split cases and blown primers,but I’ve never had and gas or brass in my face. I would strongly advise against this practice. However, the 30-30s could be used in anemergency. Like end of the world typeemergencies! When the risk would beacceptable. As far as I can tell, I havethe only .307 that Marlin “didn’t” make. No. I won’t part with it. Well, Iam interested in one of those slick Browning lever gun in something like 7mag. I might consider a trade if you would kick in enough boot. Then again…..