338 marlin express wanted bad

[bart74]

what would i have to do to get one made what barrel do i need for a rebore rechamber who does it and how much does it cost shot one the other day in the marlin but not a lever fan and what is the likelyhood of a factory barrel or gun
thanks Bart

[billy_56081]

Pretty close to zero as a factory offering. Stub or rebore is the only option I could see.

[Sourdough]

With the addition of the .35 Whelen, H&R has a full range of cartridges.  With the advent of all these new cartridges, all designed for use in a short action gun, do not have an advantage using the Handi Rifle platform.  The lack of a bolt or action does not make these new cartridges advantagous for the Handi.  These new cartridges will not do anything the older cartridges already in use will not do.  Why expend money on developing a new chambering that only duplicate what their current chamberings already do.

So in other words, "Ain't gonna happen". 

So if you still want a .338 marlin, I would suggest planning to do a stub job.

[quickdtoo]

The only way to get there in an H&R is a rebore or a stub as has been said, H&R makes no .338" bored barrels yet, in the case of the 338MX, you'd have to start with a 223 or hornet barrel I think, possibly a 7mm-08 or 308 barrel if you went with rebore, all of which are 22" standard contour, or 24" bull barrel on the 223. My best suggestion if you want a .338" something is to go with a .338-06 instead, as Sourdough said, there's no advantage to a short action round in an H&R, a rebored 26" .25-06 or .280 Rem barrel will get you the most bang for the buck, there are a couple here that have them including myself, 180gr bullets at over 3000fps are easily attainable, GBO sponsor Oregunsmithing did both of those that I know of here, plan on spending $300 plus the cost of the donor parts on either a stub or a rebore/rechamber. Or just get 35 Whelen Handi next year. 

Tim

http://home.earthlink.net/~oregunsmithing/

[billy_56081]

Tim I don't think a 280 will work, it is the one 06 offspring with a different shoulder.

I have always wanted to do a gibbs on a 280.

[quickdtoo]

There's not enough difference to keep it from working, you can always fire form them if there's a problem, I've got an extra 280 I've been considering have made into a 338-06AI which would also work fine.

Tim

http://stevespages.com/page8d.htm

[billy_56081]

The 280 is 1.999 to the shoulder, the 06 is 1.948 I would magine you would have to fire form.

[quickdtoo]

When the barrel is rebored, it would effectively move the datum point back which would make the shoulder measurement not as critical as it appears, the datum point is the critical area and I don't think it would be a problem, whether it would require fire forming steps I dunno, but it's easily done if needed by using a false shoulder to remove any excess headspace if there is any. 

Tim

[tykempster]

35 Whelen would be superior most likely at normal Handi-rifle ranges.

[bart74]

i just really liked how it shot and the recoil was very mild thanks for the info

[dpe.ahoy]

If ya want it, do it!  That's why I have a 7-30 Waters, cause I wanted one, not cause it filled any need that couldn't be met by downloading my 7mm-08 or 280.  I just got a 338 Marlin and like it also, I just haven't warmed up to the 35 Whelen yet.  There is one here I can get for $220.00, may just get it and put the barrel up for sale.  DP

[shvlhead.45]

I used the .308 to work from and using Ammo Guide Interactive looked at what could be rechambered and/or rebarreled from it in .338 with my main focus being the .338 Federal; it's a go.  The .338 MX won't rechamber from the .308 Win., case is smaller.  See link: http://ammoguide.com/cgi-bin/aichamber.cgi

Next I compared .338 MX to to the .338 Federal and used the 200 grain bullet at 2500 fps in the Federal (the slowest load in 2oo gr) to compare to the Marlin. See link below: http//ammoguide.com/cgi-bin/bcompare.cgi

I wish that H&R would chamber the .338 Federal and the .260 myself.  I realize that in a single shot, cartridge length is immaterial but I happen to like the .308 Win family of cartridges.  Guess if we want one bad enough we'll find someone to rechamber and rebore.