.35 Rem in Marlin 336 using polymer tips

Wild Turkey

I've been searching for someone with experience shooting the factory loads with the polymer tips. Do they give extra range? Any better penetration or expansion?

Have I missed something searching?

11b6r

My experience has been with the 30-30 Leverlution ammo. Because of a more efficient bullet shape, it holds its speed better. Because of that, it shoots flatter. Because of that, it has more energy when it gets to the target.

Does it make a 30-30 a 900 meter rifle? No. But I would guess at about a 20% improvement in usable range. Same should apply to the .35

babun

On paper, polymer tips should do everything they claim.

I have used a Marlin 336 in .35 Rem for deer hunting since I bought the gun new in 1982.
Using 200 grain remington and more so with the Winchester Silver tips, I never felt at a disadvantage or under gunned. I won't take 300 yard
shots with that gun. Never had a deer run more than 50 yards after getting hit. Penetration is usually better with a heavy slow bullet than a fast one. Expansion? No really a factor with a fat .35 cal bullet, it's already expended bigger than a 30/30 which has dropped more game that any other deer load.

If you want more range, buy a 30/06. [;)]

Had to come back and add this....

By using those pointed bullets, you are giving up the .35 Rem's best
attribute, The ability to bust thru brush and foliage. If you are hunting in woods, this you need.
If you are hunting open fields, you are using the wrong gun/cartridge. JMHO

MIKE WISKEY

I've got to dis-agree with bab above, the 'LEVERREVOLUTION' ammo works great in the .35 Rem. It is very accurate in my Marlin and adds a good 50 to 100 yards to the usable range of the cartridge. I've shot several deer with it and couldn't ask for better preformance. If you,ve got an older rifle you should change the magazine follower tho.
as to "By using those pointed bullets, you are giving up the .35 Rem's best
attribute, The ability to bust thru brush and foliage. "......this is an "old wives tale" pointed bullets do just as well in 'brush' as round nose.

beantownshootah

The polymer tip bullets are mostly a way of safely using pointed bullets in a tubular magazine. The factory "lever revolution" rounds are also loaded slightly hotter than most factory loads. The combination gives them slightly higher velocity at the muzzle, but much more important, lets them keep it longer during flight, so they shoot flatter and longer. That's it.

These aren't going to turn a 30/30 or .35 Remington into a .308 Winchester, but they do improve range and terminal power, and I don't know anyone who has used these who didn't like them. IMO, best use of these is to stretch your effective range maybe 50 yards.

Whether or not 35 Remington is appropriate for a given type of hunting is way beyond the original question, but empirically speaking, lots of people love it as a short range cartridge for medium game.

On "brush busting", I think the topic itself is one of those old myths of the gun world, that's been widely debunked.

There have been quite a number of studies done looking at this, with all kinds of ammo fired through all kinds of intermediate obstacles and the bottom line is that NOTHING is a reliable "brush buster". IE, any bullet can be widely deflected by an intermediate target like a twig along its flight path, and when tested, bullet shapes don't seem to matter much. How well bullets penetrate twigs or brush right before the target, that's mostly a question of their weight and velocity, and not so much their shape.

So to the extent this matters, any 35 Remington is going to be a better "brush buster" than any .223 Remington. If I'm betting on "brush busting" a deer standing right behind a bush, I'd rather have the round with greater energy/velocity when it hits, and at distance, that's going to be the polymer tip bullet.

Edit: Responding to below. I agree with all points, though just to be technically correct here, elastomers ARE polymers. . .specifically just "rubbery/stretchy" ones. Here is the definition:

An elastomer is a polymer with viscoelasticity (having both viscosity and elasticity) and very weak inter-molecular forces, generally having low Young's modulus and high failure strain compared with other materials.

tsr1965

While I have not killed any deer with that particular round, I have shot them on paper to compare them with their modern counterparts.

First off let me say this...they are NOT a POLYMER tip. That tip is an ELASTOMER. They do indeed perform as claimed on paper. As MIKE says, you will get an extra 50-75 yards. Being that that tip also not only makes the aerodynamics sleeker, but they also, as a general rule, help initiate expansion. I see no reason as to why they would not work well within their limitations. Limitations...you are not going to turn a 150-200 yard gun into a 400-500 yard gun, and they will not kill deer any deader.

Best

wolfpack

I have a Marlin 336 in 35 remington that I use the leverevolution in. Just picked this rifle up last year and have limited experience only taking two deer with this round, a nice eight last year and a nine point yesterday 11-8-14. Both deer dropped in their tracks and terminal performance was outstanding. Also this load is very accurate at the range. I chose this combo because the area where I was hunting shots were limited to a max of 100yds. As far as brush, nothing does well in brush and it should be avoided. Only a clean sight lane should be shot thru. The next hunt will be on cleared right of way where shots maybe 350-400 Yds. A Kimber 25-06 with 110 accubonds should fill this niche.

XP100

This is from memory when they came out with the 30-30 Lverevolution ammo.

Acustomer came into the shop and wanted some.. He had a magazine with a Cover Story "Double the Effective range of your 30-30".

At first glance at the chart it looked believable. 3 different ammo's tested.

2 of them showed drop of 16 to 18" at 200 yds. The Hornady showed about 8'5" drop. All the same weight bullets. After looking closer at the data the first 2 tested with the gun sighted in at 150 yd. zero. and the Horn. LE rounds were sighted in at 175 yd. zero.

He asked why the difference. I told him the writer of the article got a gun ammo free ammo to test and wanted to make it look good for the new revolutionary bullet.

I don't think you can gain 100 yds. range with just a bullet change in a 30-30. You can only push a bullet just so fast out of a 30-30. and gravity will take over.