For those wondering, yes, the scope actually failed internally during that 2nd group. I have since swapped it out with another one and we are back to getting groups like the first one in this test!
I've always wanted to take a bear with mine. It's taken a good handful of deer for me over the years, but it just hasn't made it into the rotation of rifles for any of my bear hunts just yet. I definitely plan on it though
Matt, Its not the ammo ! I've been to the Hornady Plant and met Steve and Jason Hornady . There Inspection process is out of this world ! Its either the scope or your barrel needs a deep cleaning. I've reloaded the FTX bullets , in different 35 Rem rifles and the largest group is around 1 3/4". I have Remington model 141 and 760 pumps , a Rem. 600 bolt , Marlin 336 and Glenfield 30 and T/C Contender barrels Super 14", Super 16" and 23" . If you reload for the 35 Rem. the Speer 180 grain flat point is one my Favorites ! Great Video ! Keep Them Coming ! Stay Safe & Healthy ! God Bless ! Wade
I'm really gonna look into that scope. I checked it a little bit after filming and initially everything with the rings and bases looks fine, but the scope may have actually failed. I always clean my guns before they go back in the safe, so we stared the day on a perfectly clean bore. I've had good luck with that ammo too, and as we can clearly see by that first group, it's definitely capable
It’s a shame that 35 Remington ammo is so hard to find because three are a lot of deer hunters that use this caliber on deer and black bear especially in the eastern half of of the USA
My grandfather used his for black bear hunting in PA. He recently passed away and left me a marlin 336 in 35 Remington. I learned quickly how expensive this ammo is!
@jdubz6101 Yeah, that's just the way it is with 35 Rem unless you handload. I was lucky enough to grab a few boxes of this hornady stuff a few years ago from a shop that was trying to get rid of it. I think I only paid about 20 bucks a box, which you aren't gonna get that kinda price anymore, that's for sure
My Remington 760 does NOT like the factory Leverevolution loads. She follows a pattern similar to yours. Reloading with the 200 grain FTX is a WHOLE other story! Superb accuracy and consistency. My barrel doesn't copper foul with this bullet, but the accuracy loss hints at that as a potential cause. Mine also doesn't like fouling from other brands. If I shoot some Core Lokts and don't get the copper out, the first group, sometimes two, with Hornadys are poor. Then they tighten up. To date, my smallest 3 round group with FTX reloads is 3/8ths inch at 100 yards. Good fortune to you!
This actually ended up being a scope failure. That first group was realistic and pretty much what I've seen from this setup before. The rest clearly had an issue. I've since swapped out that cheap Redhead scope for a different scope and it's back to shooting about 1 inch or so groups again
I have an H&R Handi in 35 Remington I bought to hunt "primitive season". I was surprised how well it shoots that load. I'm just about out of the factory loads now, but have powder, primers & bullets to reload the now empty cases. I hope the homegrown ammo shoots as well as the Hornady factory loads.
I don't see any reason why it wouldn't shoot well with handloaded ammo, as long as it's loaded even halfway decent. You should just be able to copy the Hornady loading information and have the same round that you already know shoots well
From hero to zero in a hurry. So many variables can cause the accuracy to fall apart. But not that much. I guess a total strip down. And re-torque of scope rings is in your future.
Yeah, I'm gonna take a look at it and see what's up. I checked the rings while out at the range and they were fine, but with that being a pretty cheap scope overall, it might have finally died unfortunately
My old jc Higgins model 45 circa 1952 groups 5 inches at 100 so I was super impressed with that first group. The second group is usually what I see😂. Iron sights with 200 Remington. Thanks for the video. Long live the 35
I shoot this same ammo in my 35 Marlin 336. In my rifle I tend to hit a bit low. But Hornady ammo is all I can find and consider myself lucky to find that.
@@matttyreeoutdoors I was going to suggest tightening scope rings and base lot vibration over the years can loosen them. My older (1970s) era 35 still sports the original scope and rings. But I love the knick down power in deer and boar. Thanks for a nice video on this ammo
I'm still using Remington 200gr core lock. But Remington no longer makes 35rem. Apparently, Federal and Winchester still make 35rem, but I haven't seen them. I'm hesitant about using Hornady my 30/30 don't like them. Grouping looks like this.
Yeah, even though I'm not really a fan of how the FTX bullet performs in the woods, I at least respect Hornady for keeping the 35 Rem alive for a little while longer
I have a 1970 centennial version. I hand load mine with 200 grain hollow points I cast at 10.5 BH along with 40 grains of varget. It will shoot MOA at 200 yards pretty consistently. I did lighten my trigger and go though my complete gun. It will consistently shoot groups at 100 yards like your fist group. Check your barrel band. Could be the factory ammo. Hornady factory ammo has been horrible for consistency in every rifle I own. I wouldn't trust ANY commercially loaded factory ammo if your trying to shoot "consistently" tight groups. Start Hans loading. Trim your cases evert time and use a lee factory collet crimp die. I would assume your barrel heated up and touching something. The gun is cable of way better consistent accuracy. Try some other ammo...and do some research on the front stock and barrel band mods for accuracy. Like the above comment said. Check all your screws and re torque with a torque wrench. If the group is tracking up and down your scope rings or base may have come loose. Also swap out with another proven optic just to test groups. No big deal when you hand load and cast projectiles to shoot alot for testing. It costs me 3 cents a primer from my old inventory and about a under 15 cents for the amount of varget I use on each round. Clean the snot out the barrel before any more testing as well. I've found alot of my guns don't like Hornady projectiles. They are super finicky to get to shoot consistent tight groups. After ALOT of ladder testing I'll eventually find an acceptable load my gun likes. I hunt with 60 grain Vmax in both my POF and Remington LTR. At 200 yards both with shoot .2/.3's pretty consistently but it took ALOT of powders and ladder testing to find what each gun likes. If your hunting deer you don't need that type of accuracy. But imo the accuracy your not getting can very improved. As advised check and re torque all your action screws, scope rings, and scope base. Then clean your barrel to remove all the copper fouling. Make sure to take a couple of foulinging shots before group testing.
In the days following the test, I swapped out the scope because everything else seemed to be working properly, and that fixed the issue. So we just had a scope fail during the test. I was thinking about making a follow-up video with the new scope and testing it again some point soon
Good to hear. I had the same issues with optics that would come loose. Bedding the scope bases to my rifles and pistols along with spraying a little 3m adhesive inside the scope rings took care of any future optic moving issues. If the scope comes loose it will usually wreck it.
@tripplebeards3427 yeah, this was not a fancy or expensive scope and i was not the one that put it on the gun, so I knew it would probably happen eventually. The scope never came loose, it just "went." It failed internally I guess
I load tested mine with a 2.5-10 Tasco Varmint mil dot scope I bought on clearance for all of $24.99! lol. It’s a great optic for cheap. I put one on my piston driven air rifle and it’s still going strong with over 4000 pellets through it. I swapped the optic out on my centennial 336 to a 2-7 Leupold VX1. I like the higher magnification for target shooting but for hunting the 2-7 works great. I hardly ever zoom with it and normally leave my optic around 3x.
@tripplebeards3427 I actually put an old Tasco 3-9x40 on it that I had sitting on the shelf. It came off my Model 70 243 when I upgraded the scope on it. It's not a super fancy scope, but it's gotten the job done for at least 30 years on several rifles and it's doing its job on this gun now too
Yes, they look pretty good in gel, but I haven't been super impressed when it comes to real life in the field performance on deer to be honest. They absolutely get the job done and I've taken several deer with them, but they just don't seem to have the same "knockdown power" as an old-school lead nose bullet would have
I checked the rings and bases and they were fine, but I am definitely gonna test that scope a little more to see. If it is actually the problem, I'll probably do a retest to get some better results
I was just given a Marlin 336 .35 Rem It was made in the later part of 1969. I was told that if the date stamp was on the upper tang then that was the later part of 69. if it was the early part of 69 it would be un the bottom of the tang. I am also wondering what ammo this will take. Is it 35 Rem or 30-30? Thanks for any help.
I am not an expert at dating Marlins, but there are websites where you can enter your serial number and it will tell you when it was made. As for what caliber yours is chambered in, if you look on the left side of the rifle, you will see a stamp on the barrel just above the forend near the rear sight that will tell you the model and the caliber of your rifle. It will say something like "Model 336C 30-30 Win." It could be 30-30, 35 Rem, or it may even say 30 WCF, which is just an old name for 30-30 and you would just use 30-30 ammo
Yeah, it turned out to be a scope failure. It wasn't the best quality scope to begin with, but I have since swapped it out and it's back to shooting well again
It did end up being an internal scope failure. I have since swapped it out with an older Tasco scope. It's definitely ain't fancy, but it works and that's all this setup realistically needs
It was really unexpected. I felt confident in all my shots and I have a decent amount of experience shooting marlin lever guns like this, so I don't believe it was something to do with me. There's definitely always an aspect of human error in things, but I don't think I pulled anything way off in this test
For those wondering, yes, the scope actually failed internally during that 2nd group. I have since swapped it out with another one and we are back to getting groups like the first one in this test!
Hornady has kept this caliber alive and I appreciate their effort.
Yeah, I wish it still had the support that it used to. It's a great deer and bear caliber, but most people really overlook it
35 Rem is my go-to black bear cartridge. Never failed. Dead-right-there every time.
I've always wanted to take a bear with mine. It's taken a good handful of deer for me over the years, but it just hasn't made it into the rotation of rifles for any of my bear hunts just yet. I definitely plan on it though
Matt,
Its not the ammo !
I've been to the Hornady Plant and met Steve and Jason Hornady . There Inspection process is out of this world !
Its either the scope or your barrel needs a deep cleaning. I've reloaded the FTX bullets , in different 35 Rem rifles and the largest group is around 1 3/4".
I have Remington model 141 and 760 pumps , a Rem. 600 bolt , Marlin 336 and Glenfield 30 and T/C Contender barrels Super 14", Super 16" and 23" .
If you reload for the 35 Rem. the Speer 180 grain flat point is one my Favorites !
Great Video !
Keep Them Coming !
Stay Safe & Healthy !
God Bless !
Wade
I'm really gonna look into that scope. I checked it a little bit after filming and initially everything with the rings and bases looks fine, but the scope may have actually failed. I always clean my guns before they go back in the safe, so we stared the day on a perfectly clean bore. I've had good luck with that ammo too, and as we can clearly see by that first group, it's definitely capable
It’s a shame that 35 Remington ammo is so hard to find because three are a lot of deer hunters that use this caliber on deer and black bear especially in the eastern half of of the USA
Yeah, it's unfortunate. I've always wanted to take a bear with mine
My grandfather used his for black bear hunting in PA. He recently passed away and left me a marlin 336 in 35 Remington. I learned quickly how expensive this ammo is!
@jdubz6101 Yeah, that's just the way it is with 35 Rem unless you handload. I was lucky enough to grab a few boxes of this hornady stuff a few years ago from a shop that was trying to get rid of it. I think I only paid about 20 bucks a box, which you aren't gonna get that kinda price anymore, that's for sure
The 2225 fps is from a 24" barrel, the industry standard for the vast majority of rifle cartridges.
I'd check your scope mounts..I'm thinking it's shifting on you.
It ended up being a scope failure. I swapped scopes not long after this video and we are back to shooting like the first group again
Check your scope mount. When your groups open up like that, something is often loose.
The scope actually failed internally during that second group. I have since swapped it out and we are back to seeing good groups
My Remington 760 does NOT like the factory Leverevolution loads. She follows a pattern similar to yours.
Reloading with the 200 grain FTX is a WHOLE other story! Superb accuracy and consistency.
My barrel doesn't copper foul with this bullet, but the accuracy loss hints at that as a potential cause. Mine also doesn't like fouling from other brands. If I shoot some Core Lokts and don't get the copper out, the first group, sometimes two, with Hornadys are poor. Then they tighten up.
To date, my smallest 3 round group with FTX reloads is 3/8ths inch at 100 yards.
Good fortune to you!
This actually ended up being a scope failure. That first group was realistic and pretty much what I've seen from this setup before. The rest clearly had an issue. I've since swapped out that cheap Redhead scope for a different scope and it's back to shooting about 1 inch or so groups again
I have an H&R Handi in 35 Remington I bought to hunt "primitive season". I was surprised how well it shoots that load. I'm just about out of the factory loads now, but have powder, primers & bullets to reload the now empty cases. I hope the homegrown ammo shoots as well as the Hornady factory loads.
I don't see any reason why it wouldn't shoot well with handloaded ammo, as long as it's loaded even halfway decent. You should just be able to copy the Hornady loading information and have the same round that you already know shoots well
@@matttyreeoutdoors Haven't yet been able to aquire any Leverevolution powderf. Still looking for some. I do expect it to shoot fine (H4895).
From hero to zero in a hurry. So many variables can cause the accuracy to fall apart. But not that much. I guess a total strip down. And re-torque of scope rings is in your future.
Yeah, I'm gonna take a look at it and see what's up. I checked the rings while out at the range and they were fine, but with that being a pretty cheap scope overall, it might have finally died unfortunately
My old jc Higgins model 45 circa 1952 groups 5 inches at 100 so I was super impressed with that first group. The second group is usually what I see😂. Iron sights with 200 Remington. Thanks for the video. Long live the 35
I shoot this same ammo in my 35 Marlin 336. In my rifle I tend to hit a bit low. But Hornady ammo is all I can find and consider myself lucky to find that.
Yeah, 35 Rem ammo can be tricky to find. We did fix the accuracy issue with swapping to a new scope though, so we're back to shooting good groups
@@matttyreeoutdoors I was going to suggest tightening scope rings and base lot vibration over the years can loosen them. My older (1970s) era 35 still sports the original scope and rings. But I love the knick down power in deer and boar. Thanks for a nice video on this ammo
I'm still using Remington 200gr core lock. But Remington no longer makes 35rem. Apparently, Federal and Winchester still make 35rem, but I haven't seen them.
I'm hesitant about using Hornady my 30/30 don't like them. Grouping looks like this.
@rodneybender6865 My scope rings came loose this year along with 2 screws in the receiver. I would definitely agree with you there.
Hornady kept the 358 winchester alive as well after winchester dropped it.
Yeah, even though I'm not really a fan of how the FTX bullet performs in the woods, I at least respect Hornady for keeping the 35 Rem alive for a little while longer
Hotter load and hot barrel. I would expect to see accuracy drop from cool condition. Try your test again cooling between each of the 3 shot tests
Heat can definitely affect it, but it turned out to be a scope failure. I've since put a new scope on it and it's back to shooting good again
I have a 1970 centennial version. I hand load mine with 200 grain hollow points I cast at 10.5 BH along with 40 grains of varget. It will shoot MOA at 200 yards pretty consistently. I did lighten my trigger and go though my complete gun. It will consistently shoot groups at 100 yards like your fist group. Check your barrel band. Could be the factory ammo. Hornady factory ammo has been horrible for consistency in every rifle I own. I wouldn't trust ANY commercially loaded factory ammo if your trying to shoot "consistently" tight groups. Start Hans loading. Trim your cases evert time and use a lee factory collet crimp die. I would assume your barrel heated up and touching something. The gun is cable of way better consistent accuracy. Try some other ammo...and do some research on the front stock and barrel band mods for accuracy. Like the above comment said. Check all your screws and re torque with a torque wrench. If the group is tracking up and down your scope rings or base may have come loose. Also swap out with another proven optic just to test groups. No big deal when you hand load and cast projectiles to shoot alot for testing. It costs me 3 cents a primer from my old inventory and about a under 15 cents for the amount of varget I use on each round. Clean the snot out the barrel before any more testing as well. I've found alot of my guns don't like Hornady projectiles. They are super finicky to get to shoot consistent tight groups. After ALOT of ladder testing I'll eventually find an acceptable load my gun likes. I hunt with 60 grain Vmax in both my POF and Remington LTR. At 200 yards both with shoot .2/.3's pretty consistently but it took ALOT of powders and ladder testing to find what each gun likes. If your hunting deer you don't need that type of accuracy. But imo the accuracy your not getting can very improved. As advised check and re torque all your action screws, scope rings, and scope base. Then clean your barrel to remove all the copper fouling. Make sure to take a couple of foulinging shots before group testing.
In the days following the test, I swapped out the scope because everything else seemed to be working properly, and that fixed the issue. So we just had a scope fail during the test. I was thinking about making a follow-up video with the new scope and testing it again some point soon
Good to hear. I had the same issues with optics that would come loose. Bedding the scope bases to my rifles and pistols along with spraying a little 3m adhesive inside the scope rings took care of any future optic moving issues. If the scope comes loose it will usually wreck it.
@tripplebeards3427 yeah, this was not a fancy or expensive scope and i was not the one that put it on the gun, so I knew it would probably happen eventually. The scope never came loose, it just "went." It failed internally I guess
I load tested mine with a 2.5-10 Tasco Varmint mil dot scope I bought on clearance for all of $24.99! lol. It’s a great optic for cheap. I put one on my piston driven air rifle and it’s still going strong with over 4000 pellets through it. I swapped the optic out on my centennial 336 to a 2-7 Leupold VX1. I like the higher magnification for target shooting but for hunting the 2-7 works great. I hardly ever zoom with it and normally leave my optic around 3x.
@tripplebeards3427 I actually put an old Tasco 3-9x40 on it that I had sitting on the shelf. It came off my Model 70 243 when I upgraded the scope on it. It's not a super fancy scope, but it's gotten the job done for at least 30 years on several rifles and it's doing its job on this gun now too
Have you seen the Expansion from that round??? The 35 rem FTX
Yes, they look pretty good in gel, but I haven't been super impressed when it comes to real life in the field performance on deer to be honest. They absolutely get the job done and I've taken several deer with them, but they just don't seem to have the same "knockdown power" as an old-school lead nose bullet would have
my guess loose or broken scope
I checked the rings and bases and they were fine, but I am definitely gonna test that scope a little more to see. If it is actually the problem, I'll probably do a retest to get some better results
Yep not the ammo I get 4 leaf clover with peep sight at 50 yds and 1-2" easy at 75yds with a peep sight
Yeah, it was a scope issue. I have since put a different scope on it and it's back to grouping good like that first group again
@@matttyreeoutdoors glad to hear it wasn't the rifle!
I was just given a Marlin 336 .35 Rem It was made in the later part of 1969. I was told that if the date stamp was on the upper tang then that was the later part of 69. if it was the early part of 69 it would be un the bottom of the tang. I am also wondering what ammo this will take. Is it 35 Rem or 30-30? Thanks for any help.
I am not an expert at dating Marlins, but there are websites where you can enter your serial number and it will tell you when it was made. As for what caliber yours is chambered in, if you look on the left side of the rifle, you will see a stamp on the barrel just above the forend near the rear sight that will tell you the model and the caliber of your rifle. It will say something like "Model 336C 30-30 Win." It could be 30-30, 35 Rem, or it may even say 30 WCF, which is just an old name for 30-30 and you would just use 30-30 ammo
@@matttyreeoutdoors ok thanks mine reads as marlin mod 336 35 rem so I guess that would be the 35 rem ammo then
@@jeffreyhamlin2971 yep, that's correct
I own a 336 Marlin in 35 Remington, at 100 yards I’m in a 1” grouping……..
The scope actually failed in the middle of this test. I have since swapped it and the gun is back to shooting groups like the first one in this test
Iron sights...can't go wrong.
Yeah, it turned out to be a scope failure. It wasn't the best quality scope to begin with, but I have since swapped it out and it's back to shooting well again
@@matttyreeoutdoorsmore common then we realize, especially with a centerfire with recoil.
I think your scope died after the first group
You're correct, that's exactly what happened. I have since changed scopes and it's back to grouping well again
Scope.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I narrowed it down to
Get a vortex!
It did end up being an internal scope failure. I have since swapped it out with an older Tasco scope. It's definitely ain't fancy, but it works and that's all this setup realistically needs
R it's different lot number.
They all came from the same box, so I don't know on that one. I'm leaning more towards a scope issue
Scope issue
Yeah, that's about what I've narrowed it down to
Dirty Barrel
We started the day with a perfectly clean bore, so it shouldn't have caused us any issues in this one. I'm leaning more towards a scope failure
You sure your not pulling your shots..... you go from a tight group to basically nothing.. even with a cool barrel... seems really odd.
It was really unexpected. I felt confident in all my shots and I have a decent amount of experience shooting marlin lever guns like this, so I don't believe it was something to do with me. There's definitely always an aspect of human error in things, but I don't think I pulled anything way off in this test