Oh, and this: I'll put a Leupold FX-2 2.5X scope on it.

 

I've been doing my homework on this.

Here are but two threads that I read recently.

One

Two

 

Dude, you've done your reading. You understand what the pros and cons are to all of this, and you've reasoned it out six ways to Sunday...

The title of this thread should have been "I cut my barrel to the perfect length! Check out the awesome pics and drool!"

(Looking forward to that one, 'cuz I like shorter barrels, too.)

By the way, everything you say makes perfect sense. I like 18 1/2 myself, but like you pointed out, this is near and dear to you. Trust yourself, man!

Brocky

 

Sounds like a great idea and I like your plan for cutting to 17.5 and only loosing 1 round in the mag. I have been itching to cut a Marlin down since I joined this forum - when I do mine I also want to loose the barrel bands and go with the cap style forend. Good luck with the project and let us know how it ends up and we will defiantly enjoy seeing photos.

 

It is your rifle, cut it if it makes you happy. $150 is very reasonable. I have a soft spot for short rifles. I'm cutting two of mine back to 16.125" as soon as I get my shop relocated. One is a 45-70 and the other is a .35 Rem. Both rifles will get the Leupold 2.5 Scout scope, no quick detach, no front sight. If something happens to the scope, I'll go back to the farm and get the other rifle. These will also have the forearm cap, I like the look. I'll enjoy reading this thread.

 

Sounds like a sweet plan. Looking forward to story line and pics. DP

 

Stop typing, start cutting.

At $150, I would consider a DIY. You can buy or rent a crown cutter and save a few bucks.

BB

 

I'm looking forward to the pictures!

 

16.5" on mine still holds 5. I'm cheap, I did it myself.

 

View attachment 165187

16.5" on mine still holds 5. I'm cheap, I did it myself.

I couldn't get the pic to open earlier -- but just did. Yeah, that's real nice.

 

I have had my 336 35 rem. cut to 16.25 along with my 375 i own a maurauder carbine in 30-30 that is made with a 16.25 '' barrel and once you carry a rifle still hunting or what ever you get hooked ,I had mine professionally cut and relieved and they are as accurate if not more accurate grouping than before i dont think you will regret it .

 

i love short rifles and handguns, i have cut a few. i cut one of my 444s to 19in and wish i would have went 17, i got another 444 and when i showed a picture of it on here and said i was thinking of cutting it to, MAN! everyone begged me not to so i didn't. but, it is a 1965 that is beautiful so i left it alone. i look forward to seing yours when you get through.

 

 

these are my 375 above with a leupold 1.75 -5 vari x 3 and a 1950 35 rem waffle top i had drilled and tapped and it has a top mount williams peep sight i also own a maurauder carbine in 30-30 great firearms with no regrets

 

If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzley!

go 16.25"!

 

I'm now a 'leave it a RIFLE length' guy,.. HOWEVER,... At one time I considered how handy my idea of a 'tree stand gun' would be and decided this: it would be an efficient cartridge and decided it would be the 35 Rem. Also to take even more advantage of SHORTNESS the base rifle would be a T/C Contender carbine w/ a 16.5" bull barrel. I had a Super 14 in 35 Rem and it was extremely accurate.... Which is where my tree stand gun idea got it's start. Since then I also think the 375 Win would be another excellent cartridge for a shorty project.
Now I prefer to save my hearing when the one or two shots are made in the woods and use nothing shorter than 20" barrels, and most of my bolt action rifles are 22" & 24".
I don't feel one bit hampered by toting a rifle length barrel through the woods, and when I come to a 'thicket',.... I just walk around it ��
Or, one could carry their 16.5" brush carbine, and if they came to an open field, have a Viagra in their backpack to rub on the barrel....... In case a long shot across the pasture presents itself!

 

I had my 336/35 cut to 16.125 many many years ago...............I've NEVER EVER had any regrets............

I still retain the velocity of 2000+ FPS, thru hand loading, and am now loading to 2100+ FPS with no pressure signs or sticky openings..........

Re: Accuracy.............I regularly shoot 1 1/2" 3 and 5 shot groups off the bench at 100 yards using a Leupold M8 2.5X scope............

If I recall, the rifle is 34" long and carries very easily in the woods of So. VT...............

Here are some pictures.........

Tom

 

I bought a Marlin Model 30TK/Glenny 30GT 30-30s both with 18.5 inch barrels--they work well for me. If I need anything shorter--I got my 1894P 44 Mag with the 16.25 inch barrel. All of those rifles carry well in the woods. So--I never needed to cut anything but your rifle should work very well in the thickets.

 

It's your rifle so do what you want to with it. It doesn't matter enough to me to try talking you out of it.

 

cut one of mine to 17"...like it a lot...you could do it yourself - all the instructions are in the gunsmithing section....

 

Hey, I hate being an idiot, but I can't find the "cut barrel and magazine" thread in the DIY gunsmithing forum. I found the "crown your barrel" thread (and read it), but not the latter. I even searched on "cut" and "barrel".

Any tips? Linkie?

 

Just logging on for the first time Saturday ... everything from post #4 on happened while I was offline.

Wow, guys, thanks so much for your opinions, encouragement and pics. This is really helpful.

See, I thought I had already made my decision about length: 17.5. Even though there were hours when I said, "Naw, 16.5", I kept coming back to 17.5 as I said in my OP.

But you guys have me thinking again.

Re DIY, that's a great suggestion. I'll definitely look into it; I'm at least curious about the process. Right now, it's a low probability that I'll actually do it myself -- for several reasons (lack of time {{I can make more than I save doing my professional stuff for those hours}} and lack of a good workspace foremost among them), but I won't rule it out at this point. I'll put it this way: if I had an extra $150 (plus shipping in one case) burning a hole in my pocket, I'd definitely have a smith do it. This rifle is too special to me to even risk screwing it up. But again, I'll take a look at the process. And right now, I don't have $150 extra. (There are two other $200 priority purchases before this gets done; this may not happen until February, depending on how many sales I can make during the holidays and just after the new year.)

Re 16.5, here's a question for those with that length barrel in either .30-30 or .35: how many rounds can you get into the mag? Is it four or five? Part of my motivation for 17.5" is it seems to me I'll be able to more easily keep it at five, without increasing spring tension. But that's a total guess, based on a little logic about cartridge length.

Re muzzle blast from short barrel. It's so interesting that I'm reading a lot of conflicting opinions about that. Some say it increases noise greatly (which seems most logical to me), some say just a bit, and at least one I've read said not at all. How can there be so much difference in experience? In any case, I plan to hunt with hearing protection with this -- as is advised these days anyway. And with hearing protection technology what it is now, that shouldn't be a problem. But I'm still curious about it.

Also, one of the negatives I've read (there are few) is about balance: that cutting down makes it stock heavy. I can't imagine that's very significant with just 2.5 - 3.5" of barrel removed, but I'm curious of your experience and opinions. (Mine will normally ride on a sling for longer distances, anyway.)

Now here's another question I didn't ask in the OP. I'd love to hear if any of you reloaders are loading special loads for your short ones. Tomray, your comments above reminded me of that. And thanks for reconfirming what I was already convinced of: there's no significant loss of velocity and -- as important -- accuracy. Those groups at 100 yds is more than enough for me; that's not going to make any significant difference to a deer or hog.

A few weeks back, I read a great article about a controlled experiment that was done on rifles having the full range of barrel length, from 24" to less than 16". Everything down to 16" showed no loss in accuracy. That was surprising, but was what finally convinced me to move forward. I'll see if I can find that bookmark and post it here.

And finally, for now:

I don't feel one bit hampered by toting a rifle length barrel through the woods, and when I come to a 'thicket',.... I just walk around it...

<smiles> I hear you. And in many to most cases, that's possible for me, also.

But just know that I hike a LOT; I'm a backpacker at heart, and even on day hikes, I carry 35L pack loaded for overnight survival. (Think of it as conditioning and training.) Given a chance, I'll hike everyday, summer or winter, even in Maine. (I've done overnights in Maine in January with single digit temps.) On private land, I want to carry my rifle, even in non-hunting season, just for training. (Down here in FL, hog season is open all year round, so no reason not to even on NF land.)

About three years ago, I had the privilege and pleasure of living for a year on a fallowed farm (several hundred acres) in central Maine, north of Skowhegan, on the southern edge of the Great North Woods. The issue up there -- much more so than down here in FL -- is that in addition to the density of the trees, and the fact that those firs have limbs that extend all the way to the ground -- is that sometimes up there (more often than most would think), there is no "around", especially on river, creek edges, deadfall zones (from storms), and swamp edges -- unless you want to wade through deep, cold water, often partially or completely iced over -- no fun in late fall through early spring. And the green alder thickets in the swamps: forget about it. I've had many experiences where I had to throw my walking stick spear-fashion through the gaps in the fir and/or other undergrowth and deadfall, then climb through after. I won't be doing that with my rifle.

 

A few weeks back, I read a great article about a controlled experiment that was done on rifles having the full range of barrel length, from 24" to less than 16". Everything down to 16" showed no loss in accuracy. That was surprising, but was what finally convinced me to move forward.

Here it is.

 

when I cut mine I couldn't decide between 18" and 16".....so 17" it is...roud:....actually its more like 16 7/8 because I lost an 1/8 squaring it up after the hack saw....

 

Here's a couple of images illustrating the challenges of walking in central and northern Maine. This is on that old farm north of Skowhegan.

The first one is a typical green alder thicket. Everywhere there's a field with creeks running through it -- which is to say everywhere -- this is what you face. And thanks to beavers, the floor is often a swamp.

The second one is typical of what happens at the edge of the woods as you're trying to get into or out of an alder thicket.

I'm not complaining, mind you -- these features help keep people numbers real low. Plus, as a biologist/ecologist, I'm fascinated by the structure of edge ecosystems and the way they interact with wildlife. I'm just saying this partly motivates my desire for a shorter barrel.

 

Let's see how many answers I can do:

If the rifle is that special, it will be even more so if you do it yourself IMO. I can make a lot more money working but enjoy the projects and don't rush them.

Muzzle blast, honestly, I don't know. I practice with muffs on and can quite honestly say have never felt a recoil or heard the bang shooting at an animal.

Handloading, I load for 5 35's, 1 is the shorty. Only difference is bullet weight not powder,
shorty prefers the 217 gr. cast at 1800 fps.

that's 4 at 100 yrds and no I can't shoot that good every day but it can

As I stated before, mine still holds 5 , everything was cut the same. Barrel, mag. tube and spring. No problems.

Have no issue with balance but the again, all mine wear large scope and high (see thru ) mounts. It works for me. See picture 2 post prior :laugh:

Your going at this like you are an Engineer, way over thinking :flute:

 

Your going at this like you are an Engineer, way over thinking :flute:

Hahahaha ...

Not the first time I've been accused of that.

I'm not an engineer, but a close relative. I'm a science guy. We experimental types tend to think things through, especially when the process is irreversible on a valued possession.

Plus, it's just a fascinating process for me. I know for many it's just a PITA -- get it done and move on. But I've learned A TON of cool stuff here that I wouldn't have if I'd just said "I'm cutting it X"." I'm an educator and life-long learner -- so I love thinking things through, considering details. It's just fun for me.

 

Never fired anything other than a 20" in .30-30, but the report from a .30-30 is so low compared to many that I gotta believe a 16" in that caliber would still be quieter than a 20+" in a lot of popular calibers.

Vooch