I bet most of you hunters under the age of 40 have never have heard of the .35 Remington, much less ever owned a rifle chambered for it. The cartridge gained popularity in the 1950s and ‘60s, when Marlin and Winchester chambered lever-actions for the .35 Rem. People who hunted thick woods, from northern Michigan to Maine to anywhere in the country where most shots are 100 yards and in, loved the hard-hitting cartridge that dropped deer on the spot. The niche round continued to be popular into the 1980s and ‘90s.

I began hunting with the .35 Rem. in 2018, when Marlin, owned by the now-defunct Remington Arms Company at the time, chambered a new Model 336 lever for the round. The first time I shot my new rifle, topped with a Trijicon Accupoint 3-9X scope, some things stood out. The huge 200-grain bullet (MV about 2,225 fps) was amazingly accurate at 100 yards, and acceptable out to 150 yards. Past that, the huge chunk of lead drops precipitously, about 13-16 inches at 250-300 yards. This is a short-range deer cartridge for sure.

The recoil of the .35 Rem. is manageable, due the compact design and fit of a lever gun. The first buck I shot with a .35 Rem. lever, a Tennessee 6-pointer, dropped like he had been hit over the head with a bag of bricks. All the deer I’ve killed with the .35 Rem. since have been 120 yards or closer, and all have thumped down, or shuddered and ran less than 60 yards. When you hit a deer right, the 200-grain bullet makes a big wound channel and exit hole for short, easy blood trails.

While several ammunition companies still offer 200-grain .35 Rem. loads, no major firearms companies build new guns for the cartridge. I fear the days of the .35 Rem. are numbered. If you see a rifle chambered for it on a used gun rack, especially one of the 2018 model Marlin levers, buy it.