Anyone have this gun and how do they like it?
Looking for a small brush gun, but not with a whole lot of recoil. I know the Trapper is smaller than the standard gun, does the lack of weight make it harder to handle?

I have a heavy Weatherby MarkV 7rem mag and a Marlin 1894 .357 to compare with. Looking for something in between that is still fun to shoot.

Thanks

I have a late 1970’s Trapper and I like it pretty well. I have hunted this rifle quite a bit in the chained brush. I used a Marbles flat top folding rear sight as the deer were close and in motion when firt sighted. I later switched to a Lyman No. 2 tang sight and found it to be a good sight but a little slow on snap shots because my thmb would sometimes get in the way. Someone had a forward scope mount on sale and I bought it just to have a look. I mounted a cheap BSA 2X pistol scope on it and turns out I LIKE the setup. I am quick with the rifle and with both eyes open this rifle is a good snap shooter.
I have compared the 26”, 20” and 16” rifle pretty closely. Below is a link to the thread. There are several other threads on the Trapper on Beartooth. Look for threads by ENGLANDER, he has a short barrel Marlin 336 and we have compared some load data here. The thread starts off a little slow but there is some interesting comparisons between the various barrel lengths using the same handloads and factory ammunition. For my money the .30-30 LeveRevolution ammo from Hornady works very well in the Trapper. If you are using factory ammo try the new Hornady ammo in your Trapper.
There is at least one board member from Oregon who uses the 130 grain Speer in his trapper with good results.

http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=24356

I have a Modle 94AE trapper, it has a 3-9x32 bushnell scope on it, I haven't got it sighted in yet, I can't seem to get past the, (what I deem EXCECIVE, compared to my Marlin 336A 35 Remington) recoil and it has a BLINDING musle flash, these are hand loads, I haven't shot any factory ammo thrue it yet.

The Idea of it getting a LONG octogon barel chambered for 38-55 is still lingering in the back of my head!

“I haven't got it sighted in yet, I can't seem to get past the, (what I deem EXCECIVE, compared to my Marlin 336A 35 Remington) recoil and it has a BLINDING muzzle flash, these are hand loads, I haven't shot any factory ammo thrue it yet.”

Recoil is an individual thing. You can help the situation by insuring your back is straight while sitting at the bench. A PAST type recoil pad is a help also. Depending on where you shoot you can solve a lot of recoil problems by shooting from a leaning bench or across the hood of a pick up truck. We are rebuilding the leaning bench to make it lighter, when finished I’ll post a picture. The pick-up hood is just as good. You can take a lot of recoil from the upright position.

You must be using ball powder. :)
Extruded powders will relieve the flash problem considerably with short barrels. Ball powders will put out a large round ball of light while extruded powders tend to put out a tongue of flame. Both will temporarily blind you at dawn dusk from the short barrel.

If you do not have a collimator available start off at 15 yards as this will help considerably in finding where those shots are going. The Angle Eject rifles are drilled for scope mounts that favor the right hand shooter and this can give you fits for the first few shots.

The recoil issue could be that the dam thing is just so SHORT! there's no leverage to keep the muzzel down, I'm no stranger to recoil, I have a Savage 110 270win and Ruger M77 in 338 WInMag, not to leave out the KBI over and under and Remingto 870 12 gauges and the CVA .50 cal muzzel loader.

Yes I'm pushing the boolits with H335, I was going to switch to H322, hoping that the "faster" powder would make some differance? stick powders are a PAIN with the Dillon RL550B, but I do use stick in just about every thing else.

Try Reloder 7, You will never go back to H-335

JB