Has anybody shot or bought the 308 Marlin Express?
#21
Spike
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
From: NW Indiana
From what I've seen it will be a good load. Reloading wise, might have to wait a year or two when all the components are available. Marlin levers are good rifles. Just a notion, if your looking for packability, might look into the ruger compact mag's 300 or 338 m-77 with a 20" barrel, that's what I took to Newfoundland for moose. Very compact and easy handling rifle. Just after I bought that rifle marlin came out with the 308 & 338's.
#23
Spike
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
I own a marlin 308 exp and shoot it regularly. I also shoot a .308 in a custom rem. 700 with a shilen bull barrel for long range. the marlin kicks a bit more than the rem. 308. I have had no trouble getting the supplies for reloading, dies, cases bullets, are readily available. what is hard to get is reloading recipes.their are buillets available in 140,150,155, 160, and I have heard that 180's are available. I started in the .307 cartridge info. The rifle will shoot into a 2" group at 100 yds. with iron sights. fyi I am 73 yrs old and have parkinsons disease and have recently had catarac surgury. I;m sure a younger shooter could do better.
shutzen
shutzen
Last edited by shutzen; 07-19-2010 at 05:06 PM.
#24
Spike
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Altona, NY
They told me at the sporting goods store that I buy my supplies at that you cannot get dies for the 308 Marlin Express. I know that I would have to buy a couple of boxes of the Hornady Leverevolution ammo to get brass and I would also have to use flat point bullets to reload my own since you cannot buy the leverevolution bullets yet if ever.
#26
Spike
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Altona, NY
well i hate to be the first guy to write something negative about 308 MXLR. The cartridge was nice and accurate. i could hold offhand and shoot about 250 yards and hit a steel target with relative ease. but that only happened when the gun would feed the cartridge. my problem was that the tubular magazine or something was screwed up with the gun. everytime i worked the action, a shell would jam the lever and totally render the gun inoperable. i had to take the lever out and everything just to get the shells out. and what really irritated me the most was that after the FIRST and SECOND times i sent it back to the factory, the gun still did not function properly. but i guess that was the gun and not the cartridge.
#27
Spike
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Wow! I suppose I've been lucky. My .308 MXLR in stainless/ laminate with 24" barrel has performed flawlessly at the bench and in the field. It is fast handling, smooth cycling, and consistently very accurate. My sons and I have no trouble ringing the gong out to 300 yds. on our local range using this weapon. Terminal performance with Hornady Leverevolution 160s on deer has been impressive on the whitetails I've taken. I wouldn't hesitate to use this on any medium size game and would consider it adequate for larger game within 200- 250 yds. I hope the cartridge and rifle stay around for a long time. I have been a 30-30 Marlin Lever guy for years and this gun fills a longstanding void in the Marlin line, a gun which could reasonably be expected to perform on deer/antelope out to 400 yds. It's just plain been a lot of fun to have around. The only thing I might change is the barrel which is a bit longer than what I've been accustomed to owning carbines. Any thoughts on shortening to, say, 20"?




