Thinking about buying a lever action!!
 

Hello all, I've always wanted a lever action rifle. Mostly would be for deer, maybe some yote control while feeding cows. Have been looking at the Marlin 308mx. Anyone out there have any experience with this caliber? Heard Marlins are good at a decent price. Just looking for some imput to help me decide. Seems to be alot of knowledgeable folks on here, maybe can help me make a decision. Thanks.

I had a Marlin 308MX, and sold it on this site. The trigger was horrible from the factory, but with stoning I got rid of most of the creep, and got it down to about 5 lbs. The 308MX cartridge is close to a 308win in performance. Factory loads are very limited in selection, as is brass,

Thanks Elk Hunter!! good info. appreciate the imput. What about the Marlin's accuracy, reliability, cycling rounds etc ?

not to offend, but ive always thought of the lever gun as more of a 'novelty' gun, they are cool and all but if your using it for yoting it will be alot of fumbly loading and unloading(:) when your in and out of the tractor/truck, shooting coyotes.:) )and that has to be cycled with a 'live' round with a 'hot' trigger from a tubular mag, unless it has a clip?!?
are you likely to scope it or go irons?

i have marlin 444 great guide bush gun love mine get one you will love them .

Ive been looking into one also just for fun at the range i think there pretty slick looking at the blr to

Once I worked on the trigger, I was able to get the rifle to shoot 1" at 100 yards for three shots with the 160gr FTX. The gun fed well, and had no real issues other than the trigger.

In my case, it was more of a novelty, and I replaced the 308MX with a Marlin 1894 in 357 for range plinking.

Thanks again guys!! all good info. Good points Roger. I think it would be more of a novelty gun for me as well. Probably leave as iron sights. Always wanted to take a deer from my ground blind with an open sight lever action!! was thinking 30-30, but would like a little more punch. BLR with a clip would be nice, but not sure if I want to spend that much.

There is a fellow on the board right now with a 336RC in 35 Remington for sale that would be exactly what you are looking for. I know I have one...... fun as all gitout to shoot, and never had a single feeding or cycling issue. Punches real hard with 200, or 220 leverloution ammo in it.His is a 1952 I believe and mine is a 1957 so they should be identical.

Good luck!

I love my lever action
 

I love my lever action .308 savage with a drop out clip

would not consider a bolt action over my lever , its fast and accurate

cant speak for marlins.

I have a new 2012 production marlin 336c which I used to take a deer this year.

The finish is good. The action is very smooth once oiled up.

Their 2012 production seems much improved.

I have had it at the range a quite a bit and its damn accurate.

I put a Williams aperture sight that's super easy to adjust (fp-336) and I'll be damned if it doesn't shoot 1" groups at 100 yards from a rest with federal blue box 170gr rn.

It will hit target at 100 yards if you put the target above the front sight and it will hit dead on at 200 yards if you put the front sight bead ON the target.

It's a great deer rifle to 200 yards. Don't believe those who say it doesn't have the energy. Just look up the figures for that load. It has enough velocity and energy at 200 yards to get the job done on deer.

30-30 had been doing it for more than a century and it still works very well. Some say the flat nose or round nose bullets are more lethal than the figures would indicate as they result in an immediately large wound channel.

I saw this first hand this year.

I highly recommend this setup. Including the sight, it was $550 out the door. I could post pics it you like.

308mx
 

I'm the member that bought the 308mx from Elkhunter11. I can attest that I also got 3 shot 1" groups at 100 yards. I love the Marlin lever guns. Fast handling and accurate. I just picked up a 1895 in 45/70 to round out my marlin collection. Also have an older 30as 30-30(also very accurate). Love em! They are all scoped though. I do wonder about the Hornady Leverevolution ammo though. I've killed many deer and a bull elk with my 30-30 and got a bull elk with my 308mx. Almost every animal i've killed with this ammo the bullets have not passed through( ranges as close as 40 yards) and i find the copper jacket, but the lead bullet is nowhere to be found. Not to change the topic, but just wondering if anyone else has had similar experience with this ammo? Bullet still seems to do the job in the chest cavity.

Don't believe any figures you may read or see on a box or advertisement. Buy a chrony and school yourself. Figures from factory ammo suppliers are horrifically exagerated.

Glad that you put the 308MX to proper use, and took an elk with it.:)

Browning makes a nice lever gun, they come with a detachable mag as well.
Mine was a 358 Win., good distance, excellent accuracy and lotsa thump on the other end. A 308 has its merits too.

I do have a chronograph and I know that some brands are far off. I also know that some are not. I know from my own chronograph and I know from killing deer that the 3030 is plenty to 200 yards for deer.

There are a lot of people who feel that a round nose or flat nose bullet gives the 30-30 greater killing power on light game than a spitzer because it delivers its energy easily and early in the wound channel.

Now, of course, you can use a spitzer bullet like an accu-bond or GMX etc if you really wanted in the marlin 336. Simply put one in the chamber and one in the tube. Two shots should be plenty for an animal and if you need a third, it only takes a second to pick one off the butt stock cartridge holder.

I find it odd that people think of the 30-30 as something of a lame duck. I mean, it will push a 170gr bullet at around 2200-2250+ fps with handloads.

Compare that against the 308win which will push the same bullet at 2550fps with handloads. That's only about 300 fps more. Those people think that the 308win will kill any game in Alberta out to 300+ yards yet they believe the 30-30 can't kill a deer at 200 yards. It's ridiculous.

30-30 has probably killed more game animals than any other caliber in history including moose and elk.

It's a great cartridge and will most certainly kill deer out to 200 yards which, as I mentioned, is an easy range to aim to with an aperture sight.

Regarding the posters suggesting you would need a detachable box magazine:

It's a lever action. It's fun, it's fast.

With a nice cartridge holder on the but stock, you've got the ability to load and shoot quite quickly.

Part of the appeal to the lever is being able to charge the tubular magazine while in battery.

If you need to jump out of a vehicle or something and make a quick shot, simply pull a round from the butt stock cartridge holder and throw it in the open ejection port. It's faster than inserting a box mag and working an action, I promise. If you then don't shoot right away, you can always load more into the tube mag while in battery.

The nice thing about the 30-30 being a rimmed cartrige, is that the rim prevents the rounds from even falling out of that butt stock cartridge holder and makes them easy to pick out.

Lots of great info here, keep it coming guys!!! Maybe post some pics of your favorite lever rigs if you like. The more info the better, still in the research stage here. Been hunting for years with bolts, want to try something a little different. Thanks again.

308mx
 

Your wish is my command. Here are my Marlin lever guns. Top is an old 30as 30-30 i killed my first deer with over 20 years ago and many since. Middle one is my 308mx (thanks Elkhunter!). Bottom one is the latest addition 45/70. All are topped with Leupold scopes. 30-30 has a VXII ultralight 2-7x28mm. 308mx has a VXI 2-7x33mm. And the 45/70 has a Ultimate Slam 2-7x33mm. Should really have one with irons, but i'm a big fan of scopes! I should say i have a Ruger 77 bolt action 30-06 that is pretty much a dust collector. Anyone wanna buy it? :D

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Win 94 with 4x scope that shoots 1/2" groups if i do my part. Very accuate and light recoil. You have to own at least one 30-30 in your lifetime. :)

Here's mine. Sorry for the poor photography. You can see the FP-336 peep sight. I tried to show how the leaf sight doesn't need to be removed. It just folds down so you could still use it if you somehow smashed the peep sight off or something.

This is the 336-C model which I would recommend. It has a walnut stock. The 336-W has a walnut STAINED stock. It's not really walnut.

There's also the 336 XLR I believe. It's got a huge 24" stainless barrel and grey laminate stock if that's your thing. It's the size of a full size lever gun though, it's not a carbine like these.

I have used (my father owns) a Marlin 36 from 1947 and it's incredible how little the new production one differs. Both great firearms!

The aperture sight should be used to be appreciated. Although I was cheating at the range with a really solid rest, other people shooting could not believe the 200 yard groups achievable with a peep sight.

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I love the .30 .30 myself! I also have no time for people who discredit it. It is an awesome fun round.

X2!!!

I've always been a Marlin guy, have not had one in .308 Marlin Express yet. I find the 45-70 a lot of fun to play with. Have had a couple in 30-30 as well that I really enjoyed.

The bullets seem to be fairly lightly constructed. Sometimes at close range the penetration is worse, as a lightly constructed bullet may separate.

For anything tough, I would be putting together ammo with a different bullet.

Yup I got one in .35rem. Its my go to gun this year and hopefully I'll be able to tag out with it. I don't feel undergunned at all! Only down side is ammo is a bit harder to find than the 30/30.

Had a Browning BLR in 22-250 for coyotes and loved it . Clip made loading a breeze and I liked the short length for in and out of truck / tractor . Would n't be afraid of another in a deer sized caliber .. 243 or 270 .

Honestly in my opinion there's very few new good lever's. The only one that is in the mid-pricepoint that is decent is the BLR but it's not totally a lever gun. I would look for an older Marlin before Remington ruined them. Every new Marlin I've handled has been rough, sloppy and un-impressive.