Love the Rondout neck of the woods !
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Love the Rondout neck of the woods !
35 Remington is one 35 I don't own: 35 Newton, 358 Norma Magnum, 35 Whelen, 358 Winchester... so I kind of like 35s as my go to overall caliber for hunting everything around here from moose to mule deer (throw in ground squirrels for practice with cast 158 gr SWCs and a few grains of powder).
Anyways, I can't even remember the last time I saw a box of 35 Remington for sale in the local sporting goods stores. So an alternative to pulling bullets, reusing powder (maybe), etc... might just be keeping them for a future day where you're in some sane state hunting with that same rifle where that ammunition is perfectly legal. Or alternately, offering them for sale or gifting them - there may be hunters out there that can't find exactly what you have.
Just a thought.
Yup
The first time I watched Last of the Mohicans I was amazed they hit the landscape spot on. Then I learned some of the filming was on the mountain going over Miniwaska.
So, any thoughts on the sizing issue, of .358 vs .359 with the hard, brittle pills?
Bismuth is such a new endeavor for us rifle casters that your question certainly gets our attention, if not our responses.
My initial thought is that if it is as hard, and brittle, as indicated, try .358" first. If your rifle shoots .358" jacketed bullets accurately, and the hardness is akin to those copper clad rounds then it has a chance to be accurate. If that doesn't work give the .359" sizing die an opportunity. Can't hurt. They will shatter before hurting the barrel if they are too fat, it sounds like.
My next thought is, if they are that hard and brittle, can they be sized in a Lyman 4500 Lube Sizer without harming it?
Someone is likely developing the homegrown petal expanding copper tubing + non-lead core .35 Remington bullet.
My last step is Lubrisizer. I cast, then size with Lee push thru, rinse with acetone, apply PC …just the driving bands or entire boolit depending which boolit for what rifle, then Lee push thru again. They sit like that, till I’m ready to load, then gas check and I actually lube, over the PC, all in the Lubrisizer.
It’s extra steps and redundant, but it won’t hurt anything, and being retired, I have the time to fuss over it. The only extra cost, is some lube in the tube.
I can size all to .359 then run half thru .358 just a few extra minutes.
Hammer bullets make a couple that looks like they will work in your .35, a 140 grain and 178 grain.
I've been starting to mess around with the Lehigh bullets - solid copper with the funny grooves in the nose. Barnes bullets work great with "conventional" expansion, but these work hydrostatically, with little actual bullet deformation. I haven't killed anything with them yet but I am super impressed with their acccuracy. Just another option for "lead free" situations.
Lehigh was developed for a defensive round. I personally, won’t use them for hunting. Problem with the copper projectiles, is they require speed to be effective enough. Those, shooting T/C handguns in 35Rem, will really suffer. I foresee, ENCON writing many people in NY, lots of unjust tickets. Of course, one can change up to a different caliber.
I just searched thru Lehigh’s catalog, and they don’t offer any bullet sized .358 above 150 gr. Those were pistol/ handgun bullets, for the likes of .357 M and such… the closest in rifle was 350 legend, but they are actually sized at .355 ( much too small for the required .358 ) and they are in the 120-150 gr range.
How about trying some modern pewter alloy that doesn’t have lead in it? My modern dinnerware pewter is around 22 to 21BH. Just use a big deep HP mold so you get some expansion at max 35 Rem velocity. Otherwise I would assume the petals of blow off with bismuth at full throttle velocities which also to me would be a good energy transfer.
I’m with everybody else about not using the same powder. Just toss and start over.
Pressure wise, your rifle will never notice the difference. You know from experience what it feels like to size a bullet, how much force it takes to pull the handle on your press when sizing bullets. But have you ever tried to push a .357" jacketed bullet through a .356" sizing die? As soon as it starts sizing you'll be wondering if you're about to break your press handle. That's only .001" difference, but the rifle will cut grooves that are .004" deep each. And think about it, copper jacketed data is higher than cast bullet data. That's not because of any issues with pressure, it's just harder for a novice to obtain accuracy with a full power cast lead load. So they drop 400 fps off the data and make cast users feel like they have to use slower bullets. Now I might try both diameter bullets to see which is more accurate, but with bismuth being harder than lead, there's a better chance the larger diameter will do a better job at sealing the bore upon firing.
Here’s the hollow point I use and was referring to it was a group buy here. It’s also the one in my avatar. I am at 10.4 BH. It will blow huge hole at 2100 FPS through a deer and has knocked them down on the spot so far. I would think that kind of velocity it still would sheer the petals off of a brittle alloy causing a lot of trauma and kinetic energy transfer for a quick kill.
https://i.imgur.com/jtlLm7o.jpg
Imo if you use a solid bullet with that kind of harder alloy all it’s gonna do is go in and out like a field point or a full metal jacket if you don’t hit bone. Did it a few years ago with similar hard alloy and had a few deer still stand there like it didn’t even know it were hit. They all went over 100 yards with little to no blood trail as well. In my opinion, if you’re going to try and custom tailor a hunting bullet, I find it really thin hollowpoint mold so you get some expansion and kinetic energy transfer. That way at least I’ll put some good size holes in and out of the animals so you’ll have a blood trail if you need to track it.
I have a box of the Barnes one 180s my in triple shocks. I’ve never been able to get them to group good enough for hunting purposes. I also have 180 grainers in 308 in the same that give me horrible groups. Apparently all the barrels I’ve tried them in or bigger in diameter than what the Boolits are because my groups look like I’m throwing a hotdog down a hallway with every Barnes I’ve tried.
Hey Ken,
Rep Marjorie Byrnes does a show onWYSL every Saturday. According to her the lead ban is buried in the budget.
That's MP mold actually designed for the 35 Remington. It's about 217 grains as a hollow point and I believe around 225 for a solid. I shoot it from my 35 Whelen with excellent accuracy. As the pedals expand and shear off, doing great damage as mentioned, the core of the bullet keeps traveling and often existing. Kind of like the Nosler Partition in a way. To give you an idea of what I'm getting in my 35 Whelen it's 3/4 to 1 inch groups at 100 yards with Lyman peep sight.
Powdercoat your lead bullets with a copper or gold colored powder. :kidding::kidding:
Those Barnes 31112 bullets are solid shooters and excellent killers. I use LVR powder for them in my 35 Rem. Check the manuals, etc but I think you'll find happiness somewhere between 40 and 45gr.
Thanks, Dinny
Shoot’em slower and add some tin @OP