The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Marlin xlr 336 or Henry in 30-30 ?

Rimfire5 · February 1, 2013, 08:33 AM

I found a Marlin XLR .30-30 early this year at a dealer who had a 2008 still in the unopened box. I wanted a pre-Remington take over Marlin so I bought it.

It shot the Hornady LeveRevolution 140 grain MonoFlex and 160 grain FTX ammo much better than traditional round nose and flat nose 150 grain ammo.
The 100 yard groups with the flex tips measured in the 1.5-1.7 inch range off a rest. The round nose ammo didn't do as well but the 125 grain factory ammo came close. The 150 grain ammo round nose ammo hardly broke 2 inches.

I started reloading and was able to improve on the factory ammo and got one load down to 1.5 inches.

Then I replaced the factory 7 lb 4 oz trigger with a Wild West guns "Happy Trigger" for $ 80 and the accuracy improved a whole lot with all the bullet weights and shapes.
The 140 and 160 flex tips are now shooting under 1 MOA in hand loads at 100 yards with the best hand loads.
As of last weekend, the average of all the 140 grain Monoflex loads with the new trigger is 0.991 compared to 1.524 with the factory trigger. The best 140 MonoFlex load with the new trigger averaged of 0.524.
The 160 grain FTX loads with the new trigger average 0.885 compared to an average of 1.465 with the factory trigger. The best 160 FTX load with the new trigger averaged 0.691.

I don't know about the Henry, but the XLR seems to be perfect for the flex tip Hornady bullets. If you decide on the Marlin XLR, I would strongly recommend a trigger replacement with the WWG Happy Trigger.

February 1, 2013, 08:33 AM	#3
Rimfire5 Senior Member Join Date: January 2, 2009 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 922	I found a Marlin XLR .30-30 early this year at a dealer who had a 2008 still in the unopened box. I wanted a pre-Remington take over Marlin so I bought it. It shot the Hornady LeveRevolution 140 grain MonoFlex and 160 grain FTX ammo much better than traditional round nose and flat nose 150 grain ammo. The 100 yard groups with the flex tips measured in the 1.5-1.7 inch range off a rest. The round nose ammo didn't do as well but the 125 grain factory ammo came close. The 150 grain ammo round nose ammo hardly broke 2 inches. I started reloading and was able to improve on the factory ammo and got one load down to 1.5 inches. Then I replaced the factory 7 lb 4 oz trigger with a Wild West guns "Happy Trigger" for $ 80 and the accuracy improved a whole lot with all the bullet weights and shapes. The 140 and 160 flex tips are now shooting under 1 MOA in hand loads at 100 yards with the best hand loads. As of last weekend, the average of all the 140 grain Monoflex loads with the new trigger is 0.991 compared to 1.524 with the factory trigger. The best 140 MonoFlex load with the new trigger averaged of 0.524. The 160 grain FTX loads with the new trigger average 0.885 compared to an average of 1.465 with the factory trigger. The best 160 FTX load with the new trigger averaged 0.691. I don't know about the Henry, but the XLR seems to be perfect for the flex tip Hornady bullets. If you decide on the Marlin XLR, I would strongly recommend a trigger replacement with the WWG Happy Trigger.