forming .308 Marlin Express brass

[1000yardstare]

Was thinking of rechambering a 336 Marlin in .30/30 to .30/30 Improved. But a Marlin stainless XLR in .308 Marlin Express is in a local store for a good price. I have buckets of .308 Win brass. Anyone out there ever formed .308 Win into .308 Express? If so with what dies and with what results?

 

[1000yardstare]

I am so overwhelmed with the response to my original question that I bought a Marlin XLR in .30/30 instead. Have lots of brass and dies for same. The ol` thutty thutty has probably killed more deer in North America than any other cartridge. The die makers say that the .30/30 is consistently in the top ten of sales. The deafening yawn in this forum is probably reflected in comments in more hunter-oriented forums that the .308 Marlin Express will go the way of the .307 Winchester and slowly sink into oblivion - the same as this thread.

 

[j_22250]

you cant really go wrong with a 30/30 as a good all around compact short range gun with the capability of taking down some larger game. i agree with you in that the 308xpress may not stick around. if you need ammo you can find 30/30 jst about anywhere. personally, i would take a good bolt action 308 any day over a 30/30. i've always wanted one, but never have seen the point of buying one. a 7.62x39 has about the same energy with slightly better trajectory and an old sks makes a pretty good truck/brush gun. a carbine type rifle in .44 mag does one hell of a job on hogs and gets out to 100yrds with about the same accuracy as a 30/30.

some times it takes a few days to get a response.

 

[1000yardstare]

j22250: Thanks for your thoughts. Your key phrase is '.30/30 ammo can be found anywhere'. I have seen more than a few guys take their .279 Thunderbolt with earth-orbiting velocity into Northern Ontario only to realize that they forgot their ammo and the nearest supplier is 8 hours away in Toronto. Most backwoods stores will have .30/30 ammo which is always a key factor when I buy a hunting rifle. And the 'mild' velocity of the .30/30 will not turn 20 lbs of deer meat into cat food. All of these thoughts also apply to the .30-06 for moose which is a 12 hour drive.

 

[j_22250]

30-06 for moose? i don't plan on ever going moose hunting. a friend of mine is going and swears by his .338mag. we were having a talk the other day and i made a comment that if i ever went i would probably jst take my 270wsm loaded with some 140 or 150 partitions or barnes tsx. this guy thought that i was way undergunned and swore by using the biggest heaviest bullets.................... befor i keep going i'm jst gonna post a whole other topic jst on this to see what other people think. hope to get your thoughts too.

 

[ForneyRider]

I dunno. Kudos to Marlin for making putting their name on another caliber.
One of the regulars on my hunting lease shoots a Savage 99 in 300 Savage. It's really close in performance to 308 Marlin Express. About 100-200 fps slower than 308 Win. Marlin Express has more neck, which was a complaint about the Savage.