There shouldn' t be a difference in pressures of the 356 or 358. As far as pointed bullets go you can load one in the magazine and one in the chamber if you want to use pointed bullets, but there are several flat-nosed type 35 caliber bullets available to the handloader. The 356 Win and 307 Win are both pretty much obselete so finding ammo and brass would get harder as time passes. I don' t know if Marlin ever chambered either the 307 or 356. They chambered a few 375 Win rifles. I would like to have one of those. Had a Winchester 94 in 375 Win. Loved the cartridge but I don' t care for 94s.

thanks frizz ,

BTW- marlin did make rifles in .356 win , it was called the M356 , iafter thinking about it i remember seeing one for sale at one of our local hunting outfitter stores , called " DUNKLEBERGER' S " , they had 2 boxes of shells to but i had to pass it up , which was tough as i love the .35 caliber for big game use

P.S. - gunsamerica.com has a marlin M375 for sale on it right now for $379.00 if you' re interested buddy

I just ordered a Puma 454 Casull last week. It should be in tomorrow or Wednesday. It' s based off of the Winchester design. The performance of the 454 in a 20 inch barrel puts it close behind a hot loaded 45-70. 300 grain bullets going over 2000 fps. It holds 10 rounds and weighs six pounds! I hope I' m not disappointed. Mine is the stainless version with a 20 inch barrel and Hi Viz sights. For those who are not familiar with this rifle and would like to know more about it, a quick search in Yahoo under Puma 454 will turn up all kinds of info.

Wasn' t the 307 and 356 offered in the old Winchester Big Bore which has a beefier action for the high pressures.
While you have more of a selection of calibers in a Browning, IMO the action is a little strange.
I would go with the Marlin.

I like the Marlin lever actions, they all seem to shoot great. In fact I will go out on a limb and say that the average Marlin will outshoot the average Winchester handsdown. The BLR action is different, but very strong and smooth.


frizzellr,

The .356 has lower pressure than the .358. The .356 was made to replace the .348 win. The .358 is basically a higher pressure .356. The .307 and .375 were introduced in the bigbore at a time when the .348,.356 and .358 were fadeing. The .307 is a strange round, basically a .300 savage.

i have never owned a browning BLR yet. but i have owned several marlin' s. 336 in 35 rem, 336SS 30-30win, 1895M in 450marlin.
i think you might like the BLR better due to the use of pointed bullets and will be a better long range gun aswell as a close up gun.
i think the 308win or the 358win would be nice rounds for a lever action.

Actually I think the time line was something like this. Winchester was making the Model 71 chambered for .348 Winchester. These rifles are very well made...and have since gained something of a " cult status" . Then sometime in the 1950' s, (I believe Winchester introduced the Model 88 - a lever - and the Model 100 - a semiauto. Both of these rifles had rotating locking bolts actuated by the lever or semiauto action. At that time one of the cartridges introduced to compliment the new action, (and replace the Md 71 .348, was the .358 Winchester). The older .348 Winchester had a tapered case wall, shallow shoulder, and a very pronounced rim. The new .358 Winchester (which was actually just a .308 Winchester necked to .358) was a rimless cartridge. It was also smaller in capacity than the .348 Winchester. But ballistics were improved over the older .348 by higher operating pressures of the .358, and it could use pointed bullets. (Both the 88 and the 100 had box magazines not tubes.) Both of these rifles have also long since been discontinued and themselves have gone on the achieve something of a " cult following" . Back in the late 70' s and early 80' s Winchester was looking to " Spruce Up" their 94 and thus developed the 94 Big Bore. It was originally chambered in only .375 Winchester and was several years later that the .307 Winchester and .356 Winchester were announced simultaneously. Essentially the .307 is a Rimmed version of the .308 Winchester and the .356 Winchester a rimmed version of the .358 Winchester. (Marlin shortly thereafter announced and chambered for both cartridges....though discontinued production of both calibers prior to Winchester' s discontinuance.) The .307 and .356 operate at pressures slightly less than their rimless counterparts...but at significantly greater pressures than older cartridges such as the .30-30 or .35 Remington. Not only are the .307 and .356 Rimmed but the case walls are significantly " thicker" than the case walls of the .308 and .358 Winchester. This was done to assist the beefed up 94 Big Bore in containing the pressures with a margin of safety. Winchester also specifically designed the .307 and .356 cases with a rim to assure reliable feeding and functioning in the Model 94.

Essentially the .307 Winchester will do anything the .300 Savage will do....except in a traditional styled 94. And the .356 comes within 100-150 fps of the .358 Winchester. They are both excellent game cartridges for anything resembling reasonable ranges. (They are not however " Long Range wonders" .) Both can still be found on the used gun market...and if you are willing to reload you can undoubtedly continue shooting these for the rest of your life!

P.S. Before I tried rechambering...I' d look for a good used one!

OK, forgive me for asking stupid questions. Is there a danger in using pointed bullets in a lever action rifle? I think that' s what I' m hearing. Why is that? Can someone explain it to me. As far as caliber goes, I was leaning towards 7mm-08 because of all the good things I' ve heard. But if that limits my options then it might not be the best idea. I currently shoot an H&R .308 so going with another .308 makes sense. But the 45-70 intrigues me. I do not reload my own cartriges so I' ll need to stick with something that is easily accessible. What about scopes? I' m thinking a medium powered non-zoom scope might be the way to go. Other options?

There is if you are using them in a tubular magazine like on a 94 or 336. The point of the bullet rests on the primer of the cartridge in front of it and can act like a firing pin and set off the cartridge do to recoil or any other kind of bump or jar. The only way to safely use pointed bullets in a tubular magazine is to load one in the chamber and one in the magazine. You then have a two shooter. With box magazines you don' t have to worry about it.

If you want a 7-08 in a lever look at the Browning BLR or Model 81. These rifles use a box magazine and eliminate the problems of pointed bullets in a tubular magazine. The Browning has recently " retro-styled" their lever to the old Model 81 style. Actually it is quite good looking if levers appeal to you. (They have also reintroduced the .358 Winchester and I am thinking that I will have to avail myself of one of those.)

If you have a lever gun with a tubular magazine and want to use pointed bullets....do what Frizzellr said. Load them one in the chamber....and one in the magazine....making your rifle a two shot. Which is really all most situations call for anyway! (Just make sure that the longer spitzer bullet is not seated too far out, making the overall length of the cartridge too long to function reliably in the action. A cartridge that is too long can jam up a lever action so tightly that you have to tear the action apart to clear the jam. NOT a good thing to do during a hunt!

Good luck with your decision!