308 Marlin Express

:happy13: OK Let's hear some opinions. Is the new 308 Marlin Express going to make it or is it soon going to die, and why. From what I've read so far I don't think it will make it unless there are some changes in marketing. I've read that you'll only be able to buy factory ammo for it, no reloading. They are not planning on selling the bullets or powder. The powder is custom just for that rifle. With that kind of planing, only the idle rich will be buying them. Anybody got any thoughts about it?
Deano :fighting68:

It's a bandwagon I'm not going to jump on. I don't see that there is a niche it fits in. The .307 is rimmed and already exists. The special powder that "outperforms" the .307/.308 cartridges and won't be available to us is a slap in the face. (If it were available, we could use it in the .307 with its slightly greater powder capacity and outperform the new cartridge by as much or more than it will supposedly do over the .307 with conventional powders). The bullets are an interesting idea, but out to 150 yards, there is no real advantage of a pointed nose over a round or flat one. As most deer fall at less than 50 yards, the need/utility is imaginary. If you're shooting at longer ranges, odds are you are using a scoped bolt action anyway, at least I am. We can't buy them either, if we wanted to see what they could do, another slap in the face. I can understand that Marlin is trying to sell some rifles to stay in business and I don't have a problem with that per se, but the way they are going at this one by alienating handloaders from the get-go doesn't sound to me like a very intelligent strategy. Maybe they see things differently on Planet Marlin, but here on Earth I ain't buyin' it. It's like delivering a load of canned relief food to hungry people and not including can openers.

Another proprietary cartridge from a gun maker with ambitions or despair? I guess they hired a kid fresh out of marketing school, or an old fart found a book on marketing and didn't understand half of the content...

With the 307 out of the scenery (I think...) there's a little niche for a new caliber, depending on how the dealers will perceive it ("If you want more than a 30-30, buy a strong bolt action in 30-06", etc...), and if they will have the ammo on their shelves....
And the timing is really bad, so soon after the Short Mags affair....

kg

I find the 338 Federal a lot more appealing. DALE