Marlin 336 Cowboy in 38-55 addendum

I have presses at home and typically don't run out of ammo when I'm at the Outpost but the voracious appetite of the 38-55 Cowboy and the limited number of cases I have required me to do a little front porch reloading with the excellent Lee Hand Press.

I haven't used this press before but found it quite simple and VERY convenient given the location.

This is about all you need to keep you shooting when you're away from the reloading bench. It all fits inside a Cabelas ammo box - which is a little bigger than a 50 caliber ammo can.

Resizing and depcapping is very much the same as it is on a single stage press. The spent primers are collected in the ram and needs to periodically be emptied to prevent jamming.

I prefer to prime with a hand primer but figured I'd give the priming attachment a try. It is slower but works very well.

The shell holder is switched out and moved to the top craddled in a fitting that screws into same place the dies do. The priming ram fits right where the shell holder goes.

I practiced with the Lee Powder scoops at home and noted the charge it would throw on each scoop.

No accuracy differences were detected in the ammo loaded at home vs the ammo loaded on the front porch, either on paper or on the dingers.

Overall I would recommend the system for those interested in a very portable and inexpensive way to reload.

A few more 336 Cowboy shooting videos:






I have both the RCBS Cowboy Dies and the Lee Dies for this caliber. I would HIGHLY recommend the RCBS CB dies. I do use the Lee Factory Crimp Die for crimping though.