I saw a guy at the range the other day with a gorgeous Marlin in .32 Winchester Special. I didn't catch the model # but it was awesome. He stated that he also had a Chester 94 in the same caliber, and a Marlin & Chester in .356 Winchester, he also has a .307 and various 32-20's, 44-40's. He handloads everything, said he doesn't hunt much anymore for health reasons, but that the .356 and .307 killed everything he needed it to. Do any of you have some of these calibers? Likes & dislikes?
Who you calling oddball?? I don't have the 307 or 356 Winchesters, but I have other calibers that some folks would say are odd. I love them all...variety is the spice of life.
Tahoe, i love the obscure and obsolete calibers. they are just plain fun to shoot. i do have a set of 32 Win. Spl. dies that i got from my father, and i am trying to locate a Winchester M94 in that caliber at a reasonable price to add to my collection.
some of mine are, .300 Savage, .375 Winchester, 38-55 Winchester, (all levers) .280 Remington, .41 Magnum. I have a few 8mm mausers and a couple of 7mm mausers too, although not so odd. I load all my own centerfire ammo, so expense is really no big deal. I really like the .356 Win ballistics, but those guns are expensive, when you can find them. One of my buddies really wants a 7-30 Waters and a 7mm STE(shooting times easterner). Two more levergun oddballs!
personally i like oddball calibers and wish i had more of them. right now my only close to oddball caliber is my 280 Remington in an older Ruger M77V (made in 1978) with a factory 26" heavy barrel. truly very accurate and pure fun to shoot. it can put them into one ragged hole all day long as long as i do my part. Four, i am still looking for a 32 Win. Spl. that is priced in my range. one day it will come along. i just have to be paitent. it took over ten years to find a rifle in 280 Remington!
Axxe and Four....if you guys find a 32spl in either a Marlin or Winchester grab it. Mine are all Marlins, but I did have a Winnie at one time. I just like the Marlins better and let the Winnie go down the road. The one in 16" twist makes them great cast bullet shooters.
Well said Hyphen , 'Specialy here on a Marlin forum Nothing that is too out there in oddball calibers that I know of . As much as I love lever action rifles , I've never even fired a 30 WCF in my life . couple 32 wspcls ( one of each flavor ) 38-55 , 308 , 30-06 , 44 mag. I love them all
A lot of the stuff I shoot is a 'little' different. I've been accused of going out of my way to show up at deer camp each year with something different. There was some truth to that accusation. Nowadays it's mostly levers for me, but I guess I'm still shooting rifles that aren't exactly common. I consider it a lesson in history if you can share a 38-55 or 25-20 with a new shooter. I have nothing against AR's, but somebody has to show these new guys all rifles aren't black and a .32spl can still bring home the venison.
Thought about buying a .44-40 2nd Gen Colt SSA with a matching Winchester 1873 carbine setup once... Wanted to use them for CAS, then that idea went by the way-side when I was gifted my Colt SSA in .45 Colt by the wife... Now thinking about getting a lever action in .45 Colt to match.
Shooter13.... Yeah you need a .45 Colt lever action. The 24" Marlin Cowboy is a thing of beauty. If you can't find a Marlin my second choice is the 24" Winchester Legacy, another fine looking rifle.
Hey 28Shooter...you know they will one day and the 308ME. But that's okay because it just makes them more valuable.
I gotta start hanging out with ya'll. In my circle anything with a lever hanging off the bottom is considered oddball. In six years I only remember one other person with a levergun at the rifle club that didn't ride with me to the range. A conversation with a friend some years ago: Friend, "Why do you deer hunt with a .45-70?" Me, "Because they drop when I shoot them." Friend, "Yeah, but..........." Me, "But what?" Friend, "Never mind........" Poor sheep programmed by marketing departments and fed by testosterone. Maybe it's better that way. Can you imagine the prices if everyone thought like we do?
I have a Marlin 336 SC in 32 special and another in 356 win. My one oddball bolt gun is a 30-40 Krag.
The 7-30 Waters will have to be found in a Winchester. The 7mm Shooting Times Easterner is a custom job developed by Lane Simpson and he used a Marlin 336ER chambered in 356Win as his host rifle. I'd find a better way to do it as the 336ER is a rare rifle with only 2400 or so made before production was discontinued. The 356 is a great round along with the 307 winchester but are scarce as well. The 308 Marlin express duplicates its performance at less pressure and uses a more ballistically sound projectile in the Hornady 160gr Flextip. Jesse Ocumpaugh will rebore your 30-30 or other rifle to the 356 Win or 375 Win for a reasonablefee with fast turnaround. I believe he says to use a rifle with the forend end cap versus the barrel band as the band tends to bend the bolt through it due to recoil. The 375 Win is another oddball with excellent performance. He will also rebore to 444. Here is the web address. http://www.35caliber.com/3.html
I was at a customers house a few months back and he had an old beat up rifle and it was a 45-90. I never heard of one until that day. All I have for odd ball is 32 win. Not really that odd.
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…..
