Got two .35s, a May of '79 production Remington 760 and just picked up a nice 1981 production Marlin 336. The Remington wears a Leupold M8 4x and I mounted an old Weaver K 2.5 on the Marlin.
Sub inch 100 yard groups at 100 are not uncommon with the Remington. Her smallest to date is 3/8ths. At 200 she's usually under 2 & 1/2 inches and her smallest, shot last week, was a 1 & 3/8ths. She likes 200 grain Core Lokts and FTXs over 45 and 43 grns respectively,of LVR. Good work with her came easier after I installed a Timney trigger upgrade. MORE THAN WORTH THE MONEY!
Got 2 deer with her last year. A 9 point, at 7 feet, got the bullet back and it weighed 154 gr. Hit him doing 2280 fps. Got a rib going in, the tip of the right lung, the left was... ABUSED, and 3 ribs on the left. Found it under the hide. Perfect Core Lokt mushroom. The second, same load, was at 75 yards. Front quartering shot, and he ( shed antler spike) didn't make it far. His chest was rather gooey.
Haven't shot the Marlin yet, but I expect it to do well. Never had a 336 that was a poor shooter and in my experience, it's a little easier to get good loads developed for the .35 than the ol' Double 30. Nothing would live on the difference.
The .35 also has a certain " cool" factor to it. Lots of folk assume my 760 is an '06 and a lever gun is a .30-30 right?
I also have a .357 Ruger Marln 1894. Sweeeet little booger!
