Lee Loader

Good morning, all!

In the Rossi Rifleman site, I mentioned a recent LGS buy I made - older Marlin 336 in .35 Rem. What my question is today, is if you guys might help me with some experience in load recipes using pistol bullets for the .35 Remington. I've got two big boxes of 125 and 158 grain LSWC polymer-coated Badman bullets that I would like to use for "plinking" loads for some fun shooting. I do not have any reloading programs, I have been just getting my feet wet in reloading using data from Lyman's 50th Edition and Lee's Modern Reloading 2nd Edition for my .38/.357 ammo.

Thank you for your time! Off to get ready for my third graders once again!!

Adam

What powders do you have to work with?

There might be a feed issue with SWC, might, that's about it.

It is my understanding that the PC bullet will misbehave much like bare lead if it's not at least full groove dia . That shouldn't be a big deal in a 35 rifle but if the 125s are 9mm fat and 38 skinny they might be small for the rifle .

The SWC might have a feed issue but the Marlins I've had have been pretty flexible about length . Probably just about any light end data will get you started for these .

For cast/plated/PC bullets the recommendations are about the same .
When specific data isn't found use the closest or next heavier jacketed data with the slowest powders suitable for reduction . Some manuals will have reduced loads included in most cases a powder like IMR 4895 might be included in full power and reduced loads . Use that one and just work it up from the lowest start on up to best groups .

Of course with a Lyman book you may have cast data available and Unique is never a mistake , other than it's small charge volume . Good practice and a dip stick will remove those worries where a visual check might over look a double charge .

I have used a Lyman 158 grain SWC gas checked in my slightly newer 336. I'll have to do some digging to see if I still have the data. It made a good plinking load. Cast from wheel weight with a little extra tin and sized 359. Took a couple ground hogs one summer with the load.

Make smoke,

You may also want to look at Trail Boss. A .358 will shoot okay but a .359 would be better. I wouldn't push them over 1600 fps and would feel better at 14-1500.

I have a .360" 180gr gas check mold from NOE that would be pretty exciting.....

Ohio3Wheels wrote:I have used a Lyman 158 grain SWC gas checked in my slightly newer 336. I'll have to do some digging to see if I still have the data. It made a good plinking load. Cast from wheel weight with a little extra tin and sized 359. Took a couple ground hogs one summer with the load.

Make smoke,

Well I looked and evidently the 35 Rem loads were in the note book that disappeared some time back. The Lyman mold I used was the 358156. With my notes gone and working on memory I don't remember any leading to speak of, but seem to recall that I couldn't stroke the lever too fast without having some feeding problems. With the long barrel if you use cast you're going to want a good lube and plenty of it so you don't run out of lube before you run out of barrel.

Make smoke,

Ranch Dog wrote:What powders do you have to work with?

There might be a feed issue with SWC, might, that's about it.

Michael, I don't have any rifle powder at all. What I've got is a bottle of Win 231 for my .38 and .357 reloading. I would love some ideas on what might be a powder to use for my efforts to load my few rifle calibers that I have Lee Loaders for.

I have: .30Rem/.30-30Win; .32Rem/.32Win, .35Rem, and soon will have a .300Sav Lee Loader to add to the collection.

My instinct was to keep things mellow, and try to avoid a powder that I would have to compress too much. My shooting will almost always be training and paper-punching, since I want to improve my shooting skills before I tag along with one of my college buddies to go deer hunting eventually.

I know that I could probably buy some Win 748 and it would work well for pretty much all of the rounds I have listed.
Really want to hear about what you guys think would be a nice all-around powder so I don't need to get too many varieties just yet - keep it simple, so I keep my one-at-a-time loading safe and straightforward.

Thanks!
Adam

alphalimafoxtrot wrote:

Ranch Dog wrote:What powders do you have to work with?

There might be a feed issue with SWC, might, that's about it.

Michael, I don't have any rifle powder at all. What I've got is a bottle of Win 231 for my .38 and .357 reloading. I would love some ideas on what might be a powder to use for my efforts to load my few rifle calibers that I have Lee Loaders for.

Win 231 will work for getting started. A great reference is at: http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

Just select your cartridge and then do a page search for 231 to jump to the charted data. I suspect that 9 to 10 grains of W231 is going to work for all your rifle cartridges. In that you are looking to just push a bullet out the barrel of a rifle with this powder and are probably using Lee dippers, I would go with the .7 dipper for about 7.5-grains of W231 and call it a day. If you don't have a .7 dipper, let me know as I might be able to find one.

alphalimafoxtrot wrote:I have: .30Rem/.30-30Win; .32Rem/.32Win, .35Rem, and soon will have a .300Sav Lee Loader to add to the collection.

My instinct was to keep things mellow, and try to avoid a powder that I would have to compress too much. My shooting will almost always be training and paper-punching, since I want to improve my shooting skills before I tag along with one of my college buddies to go deer hunting eventually.

I know that I could probably buy some Win 748 and it would work well for pretty much all of the rounds I have listed.
Really want to hear about what you guys think would be a nice all-around powder so I don't need to get too many varieties just yet - keep it simple, so I keep my one-at-a-time loading safe and straightforward.

For keeping it mellow, W748 would not be my choice as it can push the pressure limits of your cartridges pretty quick. Looking at your list, what I would suggest is Varget. That would be my first choice with H322 being second.

In checking out my Lee Second Edition I noted a listing for a 158 grain lead bullet using Reloder 7. In my opinion it was too fast for a lead bullet at 2100 fps. I went to the Alliant site and they had a recipe for a 158 grain jacketed UCHP Speer "Plinking" bullet running at rifle speed, 2357 fps using Reloder 7. I shoot 35 Remington so I just may see if I can find the bullet up here. I ran a Quickload check on the Hornady FP/XTP (#35780) using Reloder 7, H4198 and IMR4198 and it gives comparable results for all three to the Speer bullet for the same powder charge. The IMR gave the highest fps at over 2400.