Marlin 336 30 30 Shoots bullets sideways

C

Can300magger

Inactive
Help my roughly 30 year old gift from an old friend shoots the new hornady evolution ammo perfectly keyholed at 25 yards. I also tried a box of winchester 150 grain ammo and it key holes as well. riflling looks good , could it be the crown or what?????:confused::confused:
 
Are you sure the caliber of the gun is .30-30 win and not 35 Remington or a larger caliber which it also comes chambered in? If your gun is in fact 35 Remington and you are trying .30-30 shells in it, that .30 cal bullet will not engage the rifling and will indeed tumble, and probably shoot quite low also since gas will be escaping out the sides of the bullet as it travels down the bore.
 
I think it would rattle around to much to not be noticeable in a 35 Rem chamber but it might not be so noticeable in a 32 Win spcl. I agree though, if the bore looks good he should go back to step 1 and read the markings on the barrel before he tries to shoot anything else in it.
 
Does it keyhole more traditional ammo? The leverevolution is a longer bullet, may not have a fast enough twist to stabalize it. May need to be recrowned ie a burr nick etc on the crown will do it also. Hard to tell with out looking at it.
 
I own 30 weapons i know its is a 30 30 yes I checked the fired brass its not a 35 rem or a 32 win special any other ideas
Click to expand...
Yep I do, check your muzzle crown for irregularites or damage, inspect your barrel under a really strong light and look for any anomalies in the rifling, slug your barrel and measure the slug, I can't help but think you are oversized unless you are shooting a really bad batch of ammunition.
 
I own 30 weapons i know its is a 30 30 yes I checked the fired brass its not a 35 rem or a 32 win special any other ideas
Click to expand...
Yep I do, check your muzzle crown for irregularites or damage, inspect your barrel under a really strong light and look for any anomalies in the rifling, slug your barrel and measure the slug, I can't help but think you are oversized unless you are shooting a really bad batch of ammunition.

Wasn't worried about the ammo being oversized but shooting 30 cal in an over sized bore.
 
keyholing?

Sir;
I've never heard of a 30-30 of any make keyholing. Surely there has been something done to this rifle!
Are you sure it hasn't been rebored, rifling good, the correct caliber? Something is very strange!
Harry B.
 
The rifle is extremely dirty I wonder if the microgroove rifling is full ??? It is soaking in a cleaner right now but the rifling looks good
 
I miked a case after being fired but it is very close to a winchester 150 grain factory load so I do not suspect that some one has rebored the bbl or tampered with it . I tried last night to clean the bore but the brush just kept bringing out blue dirty patches over and over .. I did try winchester 150 gr factory loads and they keyholed as well. My only question is can I tell by just looking if the muzzle is damaged:confused::confused::confused:
 
Damage that would tumble a round is going to definitely be visible.

If the patches come out dirty, go back to the oil or the WD or the CRC and wire brush the crap out of it until the oil starts leaking out clean, and not black.

THEN take the patches to it and finish cleaning. Then go shoot it again using off the shelf Winchester ammo, if they shoot good now you will be fine...

You could take it to a gunsmith for a once over with his experienced eye...
 
I had no idea a bore could be that fouled that it would not properly spin the bullet and yes its bluish green. I usually keep my barrels clean but I received the marlin for free and the felow I received it from inherited it and has no idea on the history of the gun. I will clean the crap out of it tonight and do some shooting and let you guys know , thanks for the advice.:D:D
 
Green patches

Sir;
It's a rather drastic treatment but you could go buy a stainles steel brush - thery will really take the crap out.
As long as you're getting anything out of that bore keep cleaning - JB bore cleaning compound is good! Hope you get it cleaned up but if you've got keyholing you've got lots of cleaning to do!
Harry B.
 
keyholing

Sir;
I really think, if your rifle has micro-groove rifling that you'll get it fixed. Micro-groove would be sensitive to fouling and crud build up so you may really have to scrub it good.
I traded for a Remington 760 pump that had what looked like terrible! I used the stainless brush and it removed the slight fouling that over the years had just "grown." Also a M48 Mauser, beautiful in every other way had a terrible bore. Again the stainless brush cleaned it up, pitting and all and made a nice shooter out of it.
Harry B.
 
Micro-groove would be sensitive to fouling and crud build up so you may really have to scrub it good.
Click to expand...

I can testify to that one, Micro-groove is pretty neat, unless someone shoots a bunch of hard cast lead and then some copper jacketed right behind it, then you might just have a heck of a cleanup job <sigh>. This is not hearsay, I had to clean up a c. 1966 microgrooved rifle that was all clogged up like this. It might as well have been a smoothbore when I started cleaning but after some soaking time and some elbow grease it cleaned up nicely and was shooting true again.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top