35 Whelen Progress Report

[taco650]

What's the heaviest non-custom boolit for 35 Whelen?

[JesterGrin_1]

As far as I know the 290Gr 358009 or some are called the 35809 by Lyman but they are no longer produced. So you would have to find a good used one or there are vendors here on the forum that made them in group buys. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ghlight=358009

What's the heaviest non-custom boolit for 35 Whelen?

[Blammer]

NOE has a few here.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...q7ar891lif3c55

[TCTex]

I have NOE's 358009 and Jester is right on. I am getting 292 out of WW's lubed and checked. The Hollow Points are dropping at 275.

FWIW...


Duane

[TXGunNut]

H 4895 has been the all around work horse with the 200 gr. rcbs boolit. It beat IMR 4895 by a long
shot in this rifle. Although 48 grains of the IMR did shoot just over an inch at 100 yds. Also 4759 with a dacron filler
(1 grain) has worked well from 1800fps to 2200fps. 3031 shot well at 48 grains with the 200 grain boolit for 2500fps according to the Lyman manual.That load stays in 1 inch all day if i do my part and so does 48 grains of H4895.
Of course no filler with those loads. I've shot up to 51 grains of the H4895 and it was still shooting about 1 1/2 inches on avg. RL7 sounds good to me and also want to try the 4064 just to see if i can go a bit faster just for fun.
Now to see if this NOE boolit shoots those same loads. May have to start all over with my luck.

Haven't been able to score H4895, for some reason the H always outperforms the IMR powders IMHO, at least by a little bit. I understand H4895 and 335 are quite good as the boolits get heavier as well. I think I'll drop back 2-3 grs for the 235 Thor.
Thanks for the load suggestions; here's the small batch I checked & relubed tonight. I love it when a gas check snaps on with just a little pressure! I may run out of lube @ these velocities but it's worth a try.

[taco650]

Thanks for the load suggestions; here's the small batch I checked & relubed tonight. I love it when a gas check snaps on with just a little pressure! I may run out of lube @ these velocities but it's worth a try.

Have you thought of pan lubing with a blend that will withstand the velocity you hope to achieve?

[TXGunNut]

Have you thought of pan lubing with a blend that will withstand the velocity you hope to achieve?

I'm not convinced LLA won't get me there. I've been up over 2300 already with plain ol' LLA, nothing more than just a few sparkles of lead on the first patch. Nice fresh JES bore and a good-fitting boolit might just work. It's not a TL design but that doesn't mean it won't work. I can always order a die for my 4500 if it doesn't work out.

[35 shooter]

Looks like you've got em coated good. I think your good to go. Personally i liked tumble lubing with lla and jpw.
Just wish it had worked better for my rifle.Every bbl's an individual so it may be perfect for yours. Actually, looking back at my reloading notes i shot some of the tightest groups in that rifle with lla. Just that i got a flyer as i said before,
every now and then. Let us know how it works and i may just go back with mine and try one less coat?

Man i gotta quit looking at those Thor pictures!!

[TXGunNut]

I'm a big fan of the KISS doctrine. The fewer steps, processes, components and dollars involved the better, AFAIC.
As soon as I get some loaded I'll post a pic.

[35 shooter]

I have NOE's 358009 and Jester is right on. I am getting 292 out of WW's lubed and checked. The Hollow Points are dropping at 275.

FWIW...


Duane

TCTex how does that 358009 shoot for you? I ordered a NOE MOULD last week and almost got that one too while they had some. Is yours gc or pb?

Sorry for the off track and back to the regular program.

[TXGunNut]

Just loaded up a few, makes a rather handsome cartridge. Thought I'd better post a pic to tease 35 shooter a bit.

[35 shooter]

Looks like you could fit a handle to the brass and use that thing for a hammer! They didn't name it THOR for nothing. I just thought my 200's had a flat nose. Man o man if that thing shoots half as good as it looks..........

[TXGunNut]

Should know more this time tomorrow, kinda worried about the "backswing" on that hammer. This is probably going to hurt.

[taco650]

Should know more this time tomorrow, kinda worried about the "backswing" on that hammer. This is probably going to hurt.

What did you load them with?

[TXGunNut]

What did you load them with?

Must admit it was a SWAG based on the above posts but I'm going with 48 grs IMR4895 under the 235 gr Thor and the 195 gr RD boolit-thanks 35 shooter! I also put 48 grs IMR4064 under some RD boolits. I'll run these over the Chrony today, should be interesting. I think I'll wind up laddering down the Thor load but I'm expecting 2100 fps, that's pretty consistent with my goals for this project. If I ladder it down towards 2000 fps I may be able to use a softer alloy. The RD loads should come in around 2200 fps, also consistent with my goals.
Need to do hardness testing later today on some culls, both HT and AC. Should be an interesting day.

[taco650]

Must admit it was a SWAG based on the above posts but I'm going with 48 grs IMR4895 under the 235 gr Thor and the 195 gr RD boolit-thanks 35 shooter! I also put 48 grs IMR4064 under some RD boolits. I'll run these over the Chrony today, should be interesting. I think I'll wind up laddering down the Thor load but I'm expecting 2100 fps, that's pretty consistent with my goals for this project. If I ladder it down towards 2000 fps I may be able to use a softer alloy. The RD loads should come in around 2200 fps, also consistent with my goals.
Need to do hardness testing later today on some culls, both HT and AC. Should be an interesting day.

Looking forward for the results

[TXGunNut]

Looking forward for the results

Well....it was interesting. The IMR 4064/RD load was disappointing, I think it wanted to go faster. I guess that wouldn't hurt, only averaging 2143 and ES wasn't terrible. 48 grs IMR 4895 under the RD was a bit smaller groups at a bit higher avg velocity but velocities were all over the place, ES of 528. Probably should have used my skyscreens. Thor boolit shot quite well, avg velocity of 2195, ES 343 but groups showed promise. Easily kept 4 out of five in a little over an inch and the flyers only opened the group to a bit over two inches.
Beautiful day but bright sun may have contributed to the high ES's I encountered. I think I'll repeat the RD loads and ladder up a couple of steps. The Thor load doesn't need much, maybe another primer or a half grain of powder will get me there.
Mag spring has been a bit weak, causing feeding issues. Pulled it out this evening and it broke, guess it has a right to be tired after many thousands of flexes. Guess I'll go hang out on the Brownell's site.

[35 shooter]

TXGunNut are you using a crimp? Just curious.

[TXGunNut]

TXGunNut are you using a crimp? Just curious.

Very light, not much more than straightening the case mouth. Thinking I need to roll it in a little?
Hardness tests are in; HT: 21, AC: 10.

[TXGunNut]

I don't generally put much or any crimp in bolt gun cartridges, does sound like something I could try. Come to think of it, I don't cast for any other bolt guns at the moment so what do I know? Seems I'm applying j-word technology to boolits again.