The 308 Marlin Express – New 400 Yard Lever Rifle?
Marlin has come out with the 308 Marlin Express. The 308 Marlin Express has ballistics that are comparable to the .308 Winchester. This means we know have a lever action rifle capable of reaching out and touching that buck at 400 yards.
Since this is a new blog and most of you don't know me, I'm gonna start early with a confession. I love lever action rifles. I can still remember as a pre-Kindergarten kid looking through my Dad's Sears and Western Auto catelogs at the rifles and drooling over the lever actions. I can also remember looking at his Glenfield Model 30 30-30 on the gun rack of his bedroom and dreaming of the day I could shoot it.
I've probably killed more deer with a lever action rifle than with any other type of weapon, even bolt guns. Oh yeah, most of those deer were taken with that Glenfield Model 30! I have that gun now and it goes with me when my more expensive and better shooting bolt guns stay at home.
The Marlin 308MXLR
Marlin has chambered two rifles for the 308 Marlin Express. The first one is 308MXLR. This lever gun features a 24 inch stainless barrel with a full pistol grip and a black-grey two toned stock. Sharp looking gun. You can check it out by clicking here.
This new lever action weighs in at 7 pounds and comes with a 5 shot tubular magazine. It goes without saying that this new rifle comes with buckhorn sites and is tapped for a scope.
The Marlin 308MX
The Marlin 308MX is the blued version of the 308MXLR plus it comes with the standard pistol gripped Walnut stock. It also comes with a 22 inch barrel instead of the 24 incher on the MXLR.
The 308 Marlin Express
As I stated earlier, this new round will have nearly the performance of the .308 Winchester. According to Hornady, the 308 Marlin Express had to have a case shorter than the .307 in order to use a longer bullet, thus giving the 308 a higher BC.
I'm not going to bore you with all the technical details, if you want to know more about the round, click here.
The ballistics on this round are excellent. I've also been hearing good things about the Leverevolution bullets that Hornady has been cranking out for other lever calibers like the 30-30 Winchester and .35 Remington, so I have no doubt the 308 Marlin Express will be more than capable of dropping your buck under 400 yards.
This Guns & Ammo Review of the Marlin Lever Action Rifles and the Hornady 308 Marlin Express round stated that the Stainless Lever gun was going for around $800 and that the Blued version with shorter barrel would retail for around $600.
I'll certainly be on the watch for them. I've never owned a stainless steel lever action rifle!
You can find ammunition for the 308 Marlin Express by clicking here.
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I just bought a 308MX and I don’t know how I feel about it but I hope the nay sayers are wrongf about this rifle being a “flash in the pan.”
I have a friend who is considering buying one also. His only worry is that Hornady is the only one making ammo for the rifle.
What happens if the rifle does not shoot well with Hornady’s? You’re stuck with it!
I would like to see Hornady or other ammo manufacturers come out with some different ammo. Not because the current offering isn’t adequate, because it is, but just because us deer hunters like to have choices.
Don
let me get this straight this is not a 308win cartridge but another new cartridge.I think they spend to much time on new stuff like short mags who needs them why would I spend the money on a 300 wsm when my 300 win mag has done the same or better job for years. I would love to own this marlin rifle but allready have two other 308s and dont want another caliber.
Hi Jon,
The .308 Marlin Express is a different round than the .308 Winchester.
I agree with you about all the new cartridges that have come out in recent years. It’s simply because many “hunters” think they have to have the latest and greatest. In a way, it’s the gun and ammo makers way of sucking these people into believing they have to have these new “wonder guns and cartridges”.
A friend just recently bought a new Marlin Stainless 30-30. He really liked the 308 Marlin Express, but didn’t want to be held to just one type of ammo from one maker. So he went with the 30-30.
Thanks for your comment. Nice to know there’s other people out there who think like I do.
“The 308 Marlin bullets are not available for retail sale. The ammunition is.”
Hornady Sales tech
Jan 14, 2009
I decided to get into the .308 MX. I researched the gun, the caliber and made the purcahse decision. I bought the blued, short barrel. I regret my decision to buy this rifle now.
I re-load. Cabela’s already had RCBS dies for this caliber, so I bought them. No bullets, no brass on the shelves.
No such luck with Natchez. I contacted Hornady. the above response is straight from their sales crew.
Does Marlin know Hornady isn’t selling bullets for their rifle? You can buy loaded ammo. You can buy dies. You cannot buy the bullets, those flex-tip boat-tail spitzer 160 grain Hornady bullets. What a crock.
What to do? Never buy into a Marlin\Hornady scheme ever again.
Regards,
crow
how muck is the new 308 Marlin Express – New 400 Yard Lever Rifle?
-Does Marlin make a lever action model that shoots the 308 winchester?
-Can the Marlin express shoot the 308 winchester round?
I own a 308 Marlin Express and i really enjoy it. Shot my deer running at about 250 yrds very nice shooting rifle
crow:
I think maybe the problem with getting bullets for reloading is the shortage we are seeing right now in getting much of anything. I have been having a hard time finding bricks of 22 ammo right now. I think the bullets for the 308MX will be available soon. In the meantime I bought some of the Hornady ammo to get by with until I can get bullets to reload of my own.I also think that we will be seeing other manufactures jumping on the band wagon and offering more reloading choices. I would like to see a lighter weigh bullet for the 308MX to come out so it could be used on varmints.
I just bought a 308 Marlin Express for myself. I plan on adding an XS sight system to mine because I want it to be easy to carry.
i am being introduced to lever action rifles and i wanted to know if the 308 marlin express is a good ”out west” gun
i was thinking of buying one of the new marlin mxlr rifle in eather the 308,338,or 450 marlin would it be a good gun to hunt deer bear hogs and elk i want one gun to do all the jobs
i have been looking at this 308 and the rem 7600 308 i ust hope this marlin 308 will be as good as my 30.30. for the last several years it is the only rifle i use as far a 100 to 150 yard shot the 3030 cant be beat.i just want a 308 for some reason. i just dont like the idea of 1 brand of bullet
My Fear???? Buying one and 5 years later no one make ammo for it, at a reasonable price. Stick with the classics folks 30-06, 308, 300 Win Mag, 338 Win Mag, 270 etc…. These round have been around longer then I’ve been alive and dropped more big game then any other “flash in the pan” round combinded. A round that’s been around for for 103 years like the 30-06 must be doing something right!
I have a .308mx that i purchased new last year for about $500 and i was also skeptical about the ammo and reloading also but when i purchased the rifle “I never had any doubt” i also ordered the RCBS dies for it and hodgedons anual manual which had the loads for it and i knew that if i needed more brass a .307 winchester full length sized would work fine so when i shot the hornady ammo (which i didnt trust i dont trust any pointed bullet in a tubular fed rifle) i could re-load the brass with whatever i wanted.I currently shoot anything from speer 130fn and hornady 150rn and Hornady’s new .308 XTP pistol bullets for my rabbit and rodent hunting as well as some cast plinkers(the same .308 bullets that i use in any of my .308 caliper rifles including my 30-30,.308 win and 30-06 sprg.”which origional factory specs was loaded with 180 gr. round nose bullets in my springfield 03-a3 and still pull off 640 yards accurately”)i hardly ever buy ballistic tip ammo because im not gonna shoot for competition i just shoot to lay down game and plink.there are a lot of people out there that say why not the Browning BLR in a .308win its got the same balistics instead of the marlin and like i say as a 3rd generation gunsmith and as someone with tons of expierence”A Browning aint nothing but Belgium made over-engineered junk”.You might find one in my fireplace but not my vault.I have never had a problem with a marlin rifle period.But i guess thats not a bad thing.Also if you aint a reloader Remington now also makes ammo for the .308marlin so variety is now coming your way.I cant wait to get the new .338 to tinker with.Buy american,Buy dependability,buy something to pass down to the next generation,buy for the balance and nostalgia,buy a Marlin Firearm…
a newbie question: Isn’t a 308 a 308 ? If a person buys the 308 winchester ammo, wouldn’t it work the same(or close too) the hornady express?
What would be the ramifcations if a person uses ammo other than the Hornady 308mx ?
Thanks.
a 308 is a 308 only in diameter.
The 308 Marlin express is a rimmed cartridge, the 308 Win is not, The casings are different sizes.
Next, the LeverEvolution ammo and FTX bullets are a flex tip bullet, 308 Win bullets are not. If you reload with a metal tipped spitzer bullet, you can only have 2 rounds in the rifle, one in the chamber and one in the magazine. Otherwise you risk setting off the ammo staked in the magazine. This is why ammo in the past for the 30-30 had either round or blunt tipped bullets.
That being said. Go over to http://www.marlinowners.com
There are guys in the forum reloading 308 and 338 bullets and they are trying to work up a good “recipe” as the hornady powder is not available yet.
308MX ammo is now much easier to find, and 338MX is starting to get easier to locate. The actual shortage of the LE ammo was due to the ammo demand in all calibers putting hornady way behind the orders and playing catchup. High demand PREPAID orders had priority for production and shipping, same as all other ammo makers.
The lack of ammo on the shelves was a timing issue, the guns hit the shelves, especially the 338, at about the time the ammo shortage and mass ordering occurred.
im 14 and i want a good gunwould this work 4 me the 308 marlin express i it is not could you name a couple that would be good for me and i have a limit of $550 and i was wondering if you could name some shot guns to
The .308 Marlin is based on a new case, not a necked-down version of any previous case, although it is very similar to a .307 Win. case with the shoulder set back .0998″
I would not use anything else other than 308MX ammo.
You won’t be disappointed either, I’ve killed several whitetails with this ammo.
Happy hunting, shoot straight.
308 refers to the bullet’s diameter in inches, i.e. the “projectile” itself is .308 inches in diameter. This is also reffered to as Caliber. The brass is the casing itself which the bullet rides in and comes in many different designs per caliber bullet. i.e. 30-06 uses a .308″ bullet, 308 uses a .308″ bullet, however the 30-06 is a much longer cartridge vs the shorter 308. Look at all the 22 caliber rifles you can buy. 22 caliber rifles come in all sorts of chamberings.
This Marlin 308mx is a rifle chambered for a special 308. Meaning it uses a true .308 caliber bullet, but because it is lever action and stores the rounds in a tubular magazine where the tip of one round touches the primer of the next, the rounds have special rubber tips so they don’t set each other off while in the magazine and explode the rifle. They also made a special brass casing for the rifle, therefore no other 308 caliber amunition will work in the rifle.
This is why I am reluctant to own one myself.
I just bought the 308 mxlr an to be honest i love it. its the best shooting gun i own.
I think the manufacturing of ammo today is very different than in the past. The machines are probably much more flexible and easier to change over than ever before. This has probably been a major contributing factor to the development of these new rounds. Hornady has been pumping out new rounds every year, and yes they probably dont reinvent the wheel but they offer consumers a vast array of unique cartriges. The old rounds are truly awesome (.270, .308, 30-06.) but not everyone wants what Greatgrampa, Grampa and Dad shot.
I have shot and hunted for many years, I say many years because I started hunting when I was 12. I am now 45 and have had the opportunity over the years to hunt and shoot many different rounds. I have to say that Hornady has never failed me. I recently bought a marlin 308 MX and I know that
Hornady is one of the only oneas to make ammo for this gun, however I am not worried one bit,because I know that Hornady is a top notch ammo maker and I can count on them to produce quality no matter what
I am 41 and have hunted since I was 12. I have a wonderful 30-06 bolt and have taken moose and deer with. But I always loved my first rife a 3o-3o marlin. When it come to deer hunting in Pa. The 30-30 is all I ever needed and still use. I always liked how the lever action rifle shouldered and how quick I could get on target. I am thrilled with this new .308 marlin. I like the extra umph!
I have a 308 Marlin Express and I can only say that it is one of the best shooting Lever action weapons that I have ever owned. I have shot and taken down four Whitetail’s with this weapon and with only one shot. It will put them down hard. I would like to see a 150gr Flex tip bullet soon. Here in Texas were I hunt. The 160gr is a little large. But it work’s. Maybe Hornady will come out with one real soon. Anyone looking to buy one should. They are worth the Money.