30-30 or .35 rem?

[essmanfam2]

Good day, I'm in the market for a new lever gun. And I'm pretty sure that I'm going to go with the Marlin 336. I just can't decide on a caliber, 30-30 or 35 rem. Any help? I'll use this for pigs, short range deer, black bear, and hiking. I kind of like the .35 rem because Buffalo Bore ammo makes a heavy load for this round. I appreciate all advice. Thanks
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[almtnman]

I would go with the .35 for the hunting that you&#39;re planning on doing. The 30-30 has been around a long time and it&#39;s a good caliber. I know a bunch of bear hunters up in the Smokies that will use nothing but a 30-30 to kill black bear with. But the .35 is a much better caliber and that&#39;s what i would get if I was buying one for the same use as you plan on. It&#39;s a good all around caliber.

[Two Rugers]

The 35 remmy is very good but I had trouble finding ammo for it. TRuth is I just liked the 30-30 better.

[jdhowe75]

I&#39;ve got a 35 Rem Marlin 336CS. It&#39;s a great guide/brush gun. It&#39;ll take just about anything in so cal that I hunt. LOVE THE GUN!

-jd

[340mag]

in a marlin lever rifle , between those two calibers Id pick the 35 rem every time! but Ive owned about a dozen marlins over the last 35 years and the best were the 44mag,(light short and fast handling, and accurate!) and the 45/70 (super accurate and drops ever deer or ELK very effectively ) both can, do now and did in the past use CAST BULLETS far more than jacketed and I think your limiting yourself with the smaller calibers, for deer a 44 mag in a carbine can easily be evry bit as effective as a 35 rem or 30/30, you can,t really improve on a hard cast 300 grain bullet at about 1600fps from a 44 mag carbine that zips thru from any angle and exits
for larger game that 45/70 with a 420 grain hard cast bullet at about 1800fps does the same on ELK
if you cast your own bullets and handload you can load extremely effective ammo for either rifle for almost nothing, well under $2 for 20 shots, I think youll find thats not an option with the smaller calibers , simply because cast bullets hard enought for good accuracy don,t expand a great deal on impact, so having a 43 caliber or larger bullet to start helps results ,altho the 35 rem can be loaded fairly effectively with a 200-250 grain cast bullet, the 30/30 needs the velocity advantage the jacketed bullets provide to get its full potential

btw are you aware marlin now sells a 480 ruger caliber? if your into cast bullets that has potential!!!

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/big...tion/1895RL.htm (http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/bigBore_levrAction/1895RL.htm)

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[fremont]

It seems to me that the 35 Rem wins hands down when stacked up mano a mano against the 30-30. That being said, the former beats the pants off the 35 in the sales dept.

[Speckmisser]

I love my 30-30. It&#39;s been the bane of every deer I ever pointed it at. I thought I&#39;d have a pig story to tell about it too, but for the first time in over 20 years, it didn&#39;t shoot where I pointed it.

Point is, though... the .35 is probably a better game-getter with a touch more versatility. Not much, but a touch.

Only other caveat... If you&#39;re buying ammo at the mom-n-pop Ace hardware out in the middle of nowhere, though... well, you&#39;d probably wish you had the 30-30. That .35 is sometimes tough to find ammo for.

[shoot2006]

I love my 30-30 and will not hunt with any other rifle or caliber. It is an excellent Black Bear, Deer, Wild Pig, and practically anything North America will throw at you gun. I also know someone that takes Elk every year with a 30-30!!! http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-rock.gif