New 338 Rifle

Bandera

Bandera

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I have been hunting a Marlin 338, in the 338 Marlin Express.
4 attempts on auctions where these rifles sold for stupid money, the 5th was the lucky one. Made the purchase at reasonable price on an unfired example.
Overall happy with the purchase.

I have a Leupold 2-7 with Talley rings that will top it off.

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Also thinking I may restock it with a grey laminated stock.
Or strip the factory stock and refinish it.
The fit of the butt stock to frame is a little off and could use a better fitting.
 
Landlock91 said:
Congratulations. You got one of the most underrated lever-gun cartridges ever made, and you got it unfired. That's a hell of a find.
Click to expand...
I was skeptical of the unfired condition. But a disassembly of rifle showed no wear, very clean, no carbon build up in the crevices.

Hopefully under Ruger, Marlin will bring back the 338 Marlin Express.
 
Bandera said:
I have been hunting a Marlin 338, in the 338 Marlin Express.
4 attempts on auctions where these rifles sold for stupid money, the 5th was the lucky one. Made the purchase at reasonable price on an unfired example.
Overall happy with the purchase.

I have a Leupold 2-7 with Talley rings that will top it off.

View attachment 756927View attachment 756928View attachment 756930
Click to expand...
@Bandera
The 338 Marlin is fully the equivalent of the 338 federal both good round but not quite a 358
Ha Ha ha ha
Bob
 
Bob Nelson 35Whelen said:
@Bandera
The 338 Marlin is fully the equivalent of the 338 federal both good round but not quite a 358
Ha Ha ha ha
Bob
Click to expand...
I looked at the 35 caliber lever guns. Could not bring myself to buy a BLR in 358 Win.
Then there was the 35 Remington... finding a decent one was a bit harder than finding a 338 Marlin.

I did mount a scope on it. Though I had a Leupold 2-7 but it turned out to be a VX-1 3-9.
After shooting the rifle without a scope, I decided the factory Iron Sights are coming off. They are pretty much worthless in low light. Not sure if I will upgrade the sights or just remove them.

Leaning towards removing them, threading the barrel and using a reflex suppressor (back over the barrel).

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I decided I wanted a bit more recoil pad. I looked high and low for a direct fit, even removed a couple from other Marlin rifles I have, no direct fit. I thought to myself, self this rifle would look good with the grey laminated stock. So I started that search.
The usual suspects, Boyd’s, Midwest Gun Works, EBay, Gunbroker where all inquired into and shopped. I found the factory Grey Laminated stock for under $100.
It arrived yesterday and today I fitted the stock to rifle. The forearm needed minor fitting, the butt stock was a tight drop in.
The factory blued cap was way too small. So I had to with the stainless cap, I may pull the stainless steel cap and have it refinished or maybe two tone the rifle.

Thinking I may switch the Talley light weight base and rings, for a set of Talley QD bases and rings.

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A skinner peep is nice if you ever go back to irons.
Andy also makes the peep integrated scope rail that has Talley QD rings as another option too.
Endless possibilities
 
@Bandera - The stock upgrade to laminate really makes a difference. Well done. I’m guessing it added a little weight to it as well.
 
BeeMaa said:
@Bandera - The stock upgrade to laminate really makes a difference. Well done. I’m guessing it added a little weight to it as well.
Click to expand...
Yes it added a bit of weight and the extra thickness of the recoil pad is nice.
Very noticeable when shooting off the bench.

But I ran into a problem when sighting in, well actually 2 problems.
After a round is fired the action is sticking closed. Not signs of over pressure, or markings on the case. Hopefully bolt is not out of spec or head spacing off. Will work this problem later.

Then I ran out of elevation adjustment? I thought maybe the Leupold Scope had developed an issue. When I get back to the house, I checked the cross hair position using my scope collimated. Noted the cross hair position. Then I removed the scope and replaced it with another Leupold. Same issue. Not enough elevation adjustment to get the crosshairs to the bullseye. Both scope lacked about 6” of elevation.
So… work the problem. Most likely not the scope.
Tally mounts. Well they should be the same height. Position should not matter, it has a flat top receiver. Measured them and yup same height.
Removed the rings to make sure there was not a front and back, remeasured them.
Base same thickness.
Distance from bottom of base to bottom of the mounting area the same.
Checked for roundness in the rings all good.
Maybe I have the wrong rings.
No part numbers.
Checked my order and there it was… the wrong part number.
Yup I ordered the wrong rings.
New ones on the way but with a switch to the DNZ Game Reaper. I have used these mounts in the past with great success.
The journey continues.
 
I decided to tear the rifle down and see what’s the inside looked like after about 20 rounds and quite a few cycles of levering the action.
This rifle was rough to Lever a little rougher than some of the Marlins I have owned.
I know my way around Marlins from Cowboy Action Shooting. This Remington-Marlin has some of the same internal issues that the much revered JM Marlins have and a couple more.
Nearly every Marlin that was used in CAS was sent off to a gunsmith to be smoothed out or fix feeding issues. I will say that the locking lug in this rifle is the worst that I have seen. The lack of finishing work on the lug and other parts is horrible.

The issues of uneven wear on the lever, metal being shaved on the lifter, hammer having uneven wear and the locking lug issues, created a hard to lever rifle after firing. I am hoping this fixes the hard to lever after firing issue.

Smoothed out the offending part with a mild polish job. I can always take more off.
Deburred all parts will start on receiver next.

Thinking I might go ahead and have the barrel threaded while the rifle is disassembled. Decisions decisions.

The closeups revel the lack of finishing work and crude machining.

IMG_4343.jpeg
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Damn that looks rough for a production rifle. Glad you got a good deal on it to offset the work you are putting in.
 
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