Marlin Express Question

[bendebusk]

Does anyone have an opinion on the Marlin Express model lever-action rifles. I have heard that the ammo may be in short supply, but I have seen it online for a little over $1.00/round. I really like the idea of having a .308 lever action Marlin, but don't want to regret it later if ammo is discontinued or overly expensive. Your thoughts?

 

[kludge]

Greetings from Indiana and welcome! Are you really from Italy?

Problems at the Marlin factory, the first and second Obama elections (making all ammo scarce, and switching buyer focus from hunting rifles to AR rifles, etc.), all conspired against the MX.

The .338 Marlin Express was the best thing to happen to lever action rifles in 100 years, or at least in the 25 or so years since the .356 Winchester. Smaller caliber lever rifles don't do much for me (.30-30, .308MX, etc.). The .35 Rem is very good. The .356 Win is fantastic. The .338 MX slightly exceeds the .356 Win at the muzzle and only gets better from there.

You will have a very hard time finding ammo and brass, though .308 MX ammo is on sale at MidwayUSA right now.

Ammo runs are likely to be seasonal, so you'll probably have ammo to hunt with, but even in season it will be hard to get. And keep every piece of brass you fire for reloading...

In many cases (no pun intended) you'll be able to find brass from which you can make ammo cases (through a process called case forming) from other cartridges. This is not the case with the MX cartridges, to my knowledge, thus I am EXTRA wary of buying a gun for which 1) ammo is is short supply 2) production is sporadic 3) can't form the case from something else.

Odd balls like the 6.5 Rem Mag I don't worry about because in the worst case scenario there are easily a half dozen other types of brass I can use... given a few tools... to make cases.

If you really want a lever action in .308 get a Browning BLR in .308 Winchester (or a dozen other calibers) and don't worry about ammo.

If military calibers are restricted in Italy, the 7mm-08 and the .358 Winchester are also available in the Browning BLR, and are just as good, if not better than the .308 Win for some purposes.

 

[bendebusk]

WOW...that's a lot of great information! Thanks, kludge!

Yes, I am in Italy right now, but hope to be back stateside in 2015! I added a WTB post a couple of days ago, asking if anyone had an MXLR rifle for sale, but the post is gone. Perhaps I violated a forum rule?

I have read a lot of great reviews on this series of rifles, including some information to lead me to think Hornady will continue to produce this ammo. When I came across this model, I was actually considering the purchase of a "regular" Marlin 30-30. Perhaps the 336SS. But it seemed that the 308MXLR could do anything the venerable 30-30 could do, but so much more. But the .338 seemed like more than I could conceivably need.

The problem is that I have now become so intrigued by the MXLR that I'm probably getting stupid now. I'm afraid I'll buy one at inflated prices and then they'll be rereleased by Marlin at a much lower cost!

C'est la vie, I guess!

 

[bendebusk]

Yikes! I just checked some prices on the Browning BLR, especially in stainless. Not cheap! But I suppose they're in the same ballpark of the current prices on a used MXLR!

 

[Small's]

Savage 99 and Winchester 88 were both made in 308 win and both lever action

 

[bendebusk]

Great info...thanks! I'll take a look at prices, etc.