Buffalo Bore Heavy 35 Rem 220gr JFN – Mighty Lever Gun Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore Heavy 35 Rem 220gr JFN is what the 35 Remington looks like when nobody is protecting it from itself. A 220 grain jacketed flat nose at 2200 fps produces roughly 2364 ft-lbs, and Buffalo Bore chronographed that in an 18.5 inch Marlin carbine rather than a long test barrel. Twenty rounds per box, item 17A/20.

• Buffalo Bore Heavy 35 Rem 220gr JFN Overview
• 35 Remington Hunting Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 220 Grain Jacketed Flat Nose Bullet Suits Thick Cover
• Specifications
• Range Notes For This Heavy 35 Rem Lever Action Load

Buffalo Bore Heavy 35 Rem 220gr JFN Overview

The bullet is a 220 grain jacketed flat nose measuring 0.358 of an inch. The flat nose is not optional in this cartridge: a 35 Remington usually lives in a lever action with a tube magazine, where bullets sit nose to primer, and a pointed bullet in that stack is a genuine safety problem.

At 220 grains it is the heavy end of what is loaded in this calibre. Most factory 35 Remington ammunition uses a 200 grain bullet, and the extra twenty grains gives better sectional density and deeper penetration on the heavy game this cartridge gets used on.

Buffalo Bore loads it considerably hotter than the factory standard. Typical 200 grain 35 Remington hunting ammo is advertised near 2080 fps and delivers rather less from a carbine. The Buffalo Bore Heavy 35 Rem 220gr JFN runs 2200 fps with a heavier bullet, measured in an actual carbine, which is a different cartridge in practice.

35 Remington Hunting Ammo Ballistics

2364 ft-lbs from a lever gun is a serious number and it puts the 35 Remington in company people do not expect. A 30-30 with a 150 grain bullet makes around 1900 ft-lbs on paper and considerably less from a real 20 inch carbine. A 308 Winchester makes about 2600.

So this sits just below a 308 while throwing a bullet nearly half again as heavy and noticeably wider. That combination of weight and frontal area is the entire argument for the 35 Remington, and 35 Remington hunting ammo loaded to these velocities is how you actually see it.

Trajectory is the limit, as it always is with this class of cartridge. A big blunt bullet sheds velocity quickly, so treat two hundred yards as the outside edge and expect most shots to be well inside that. In the thick country a 35 Remington lives in, that is not a real constraint.

Why The 220 Grain Jacketed Flat Nose Bullet Suits Thick Cover

The 35 Remington was built for a specific kind of hunting: whitetail and black bear in thick cover, where shots are close, angles are awkward and the animal is often moving. A wide heavy bullet that penetrates reliably is worth far more in that setting than a fast light one that shoots flat.

A 220 grain jacketed flat nose bullet is close to ideal for it. The 0.358 diameter is meaningfully wider than a 30 calibre, the weight carries momentum through shoulder bone, and the flat meplat cuts rather than slipping through, which matters on a quartering shot.

It also suits the rifles. A Marlin 336 in 35 Remington is short, handy and quick to point, which is exactly what you want in laurel or cedar swamp. Pairing that gun with a big bore brush cartridge ammunition load like this is what the whole combination was designed around.

The honest limitation is range. Past two hundred yards the trajectory becomes a real problem and the energy falls away quickly. If your hunting involves long open shots, this is the wrong cartridge and no loading will fix that.

Specifications

Range Notes For This Heavy 35 Rem Lever Action Load

Sight in with this exact load. A heavy 35 Rem lever action load is noticeably faster than the factory 200 grain ammunition most rifles in this calibre have been zeroed with, and the difference at a hundred yards is more than enough to matter.

Give an old rifle a look first. The 35 Remington was chambered in Remington’s Model 8 and 81 autoloaders and the Model 14 and 141 pumps as well as in lever actions, and some of those guns are now a century old. Buffalo Bore publishes no specific exclusion, but any heavy loading deserves a gunsmith’s opinion on an action of that age.

Confirm the flat nose requirement is met, which it is here. If you ever shoot a 35 Remington load with a pointed bullet, it does not belong in a tube magazine.

Buy enough to zero properly. A 220 grain jacketed flat nose bullet loaded to this level is not cheap, and trying to confirm a zero with five rounds is how people end up guessing. Two boxes is a realistic budget for getting it right.

Big Bore Brush Cartridge Ammunition Availability

This big bore brush cartridge ammunition is in stock and ready to ship from MAG5 Firearms, a family owned FFL dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Ammunition orders ship to most states, and local customers are welcome to pick up in the shop. If you need case quantities or another Buffalo Bore rifle load, call us and we will check what our distributors have on hand.

Manufacturer details are on the Buffalo Bore site. For other heavy lever gun loads, see the 30-30 Win 150gr Barnes TSX or the 38-55 Win 255gr JFN. You can also browse our full ammunition selection.