Brag about your 375 Whelen or Thoughts?

[JesterGrin_1]

Not a bunch of info on this cartridge so I am looking for thoughts on this round and the people that use it? At the very least it may start a good conversation about a cartridge like the others mentioned that is not in the lime light as far as caliber selection for the masses.

And yes I might be going nuts lol.

My new Marlin XL-7 in 35 Whelen is in the mail and should if UPS does there part be here near the end of next week.

And I have a Stevens 200 Action slated for a .358 Winchester build.

[Bullshop]

I think you knew I would strike at this cast. I am a true died in the wool 375/06 nut case. I have 4 of them. In my view it is absolutely perfect for where I live and what I hunt.
For someone wanting near 375 H&H performance with much less recoil it fits that bill nicely. All the other praises attributed to well balanced boolit shooters can be piled on as well. My standard hunting load uses a 375gn boolit at 2200 fps and leaves little to be desired in a big game hunting round for shots extending to 300 yards.
Why the 375 H&H round is so popular on this continent and the 375/06 so unpopular is a mystery to me. The latter is in my way of thinking better suited to our game.
Throw in the miser factor in procuring ammo and there is no comparison. When I go scrounging for brass at the local shooting sites (gravel pits) I find once fired 06 brass in no short supply but in contrast scant few 375 H&H.
Forming brass from 06 is not at all difficult but there is a little labor involved in trimming to square up the mouths.
A 35 Whelen has been my constant companion for at least 30 years and I can not put down the 35 version but have to say that since using the 375 version I have a strong preference for the latter.

[JesterGrin_1]

Bullshop I did hope you would chime in and look forward to more information on the 375-06.


Bullshop I would figure in your neck of the woods the 35 Whelen would work well but given the recent story of some little GRIZZLY bears roaming around your house I am sure the extra size of the 375-06 gives you a bit more confidence in doing its job so a little GRIZZLY bear does not decide that you would look great in a mud hole lol.

[Bullshop]

Well if it means anything that night the 35 never got dusted off but the 375 on a pre war Husky was leaning near my bed with three of the aforementioned 375gn loads in the box.
If I remember right they are pushing somewhere near 5000 FPE.
Judging from the fist size hole it plowed through a good sized bull caribou last fall it should let some light in a grizz too I would think.
I should mention that the boolit that did the caribou was a hard cast soft nose. It had 40gn of pure lead in the nose.
When the boolit hit the caribou through the chest both altlers flew off. Mr. Weatherby that is shocking power!

[JesterGrin_1]

Yep it should hurt a Grizz a bit more than a Bee Sting lol.

[JesterGrin_1]

Bullshop it looks like you are the only one that shoots the 375-06 lol. Are we NUTS lol. You have them and I am thinking about one lol.

[onceabull]

I try to avoid thinking about the one I sold Dan...Seemed an OK idea at the time,and hard to pass up PROFITS when available...Onceabull

[Euan]

Bullshop it looks like you are the only one that shoots the 375-06 lol. Are we NUTS lol. You have them and I am thinking about one lol.

I made one on a ruger No1 about 20 years ago, and shot it a lot with cast boolits and home made jacketed from 222 & 223 brass. I did it on the 06 Ackley Imp case, as I felt it would have a better shoulder to headspace on. I shot a lot of game with it and liked it a lot. But sadley at a very weak moment I let it go to someone else.
I have sort of compensated a wee bit, as I have done a small Ring 98 mauser to a 9.5x57 on the Ackley version. and it goes very well with cast boolits.
1st pic is loaded 9.5x57 ackely Imp with CBE 376/300 GC loaded to 1940 fps, with 51 grains H4831. as I still have heaps of it. I used to load 55gns into the 375/06 Ack Imp with same boolit for much same speed.
2nd pic is a target shot with the 9.5x57Ack and her sweat load with the cbe 376/300 gc from AC WWs.
I have a spare Ruger No 1a and a 375 barrel in the safe at the present time, that will end up as a 375/06 Ack Imp. and the only way it will leave my possesion will be to my son when I depart this life.
Cheers Euan.

[Bullshop]

Awe quit yer whinin Bill you did the right thing. That one you sold me the Scovill version on the pre 64 mod 70 is now a pre 64 mod 70, 375 H&H and is owned by another fella. Like you said making a profit is never wrong.
Anyway that rifle just would not feed our big 375gn FN design dependably so I was not happy with it.
It was a stepping stone in my learning curve though. I liked it enough that I bought a Scovill reamer but I have never used the reamer. I bought the rifle I am using now on the net. This one is the pre war Husky and it feeds anything just as slick as you please.
It is chambered for the standard 375 Whelen. With this rifle I found that with the heavy boolits I like there is no gain with the shoulder forward Scovill version.
There might be a little with light bullets/boolits but I have not used those.
The other three rifles I have are all Springfield's and all feed equally as well as the Husky.
These are all re bores done by Jess re boring from 30/06. I found this to be about the most practical way to get a 375/06. The re bores done by Jess with the deep cut rifling shoot boolits ever so pleasingly well.
I am so sold on the cartridge I have been getting them to sell from my shop. Selling them here also makes me the sole supply for factory ammo. Not a bad thing for a gun shop.

[zuke]

I have a 35 Whelan, and have heard of the 40 Whelan but this is the first time I've heard of the 375 Whelan.
I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread.

[Bullshop]

Euan
The Ackley would be OK in a single shot like your Ruger but in my mind the standard feeds better from bolt gun. At least that has been my experiance with the 35 Whelen.
Come to think of it I wonder if that may have been the reason the 375 Scovill wouldn't feed from that Mod 70 Win?

[Bullshop]

If considering a 40 cal on an 06 case a better choice over the 400 Whelen would be the 411 Hawk. The Hawk version offers more positive head spacing.

[Three44s]

I'm glad I read this thread. I was under the opinion than one needed to go with a .375 AI to gain shoulder but if you are going to a heavy caliber ........ the LAST thing you need is cranky feeding!!!

But ............ how does the shoulder business work out in the standard wildcat configuration? Are you skirting trouble or is this phenomenon overblown?

When a local shop closed down, I procurred a whole bunch of new Norma .358 Norma brass and had started thinking about a .375/.338 win mag.

Members here on boolits bent me towards the .416 Taylor with those cases. I have not ordered that barrel yet.

Along the way I fell into a .338-06 made by ER Shaw for a Savage 110 and it's a real sweet heart. As it has been my first venture into cast for long guns ........ it was nice to have a "kindly" initiation!

For not liking the Savage platform initially, I have sure taken the "hook" and ran with it ......... hard to not like that Savage nut!


Three 44s

[onceabull]

Dan: Thanks for the tip--I'm long some '03s that the local public has resisted my gunShow offers for 2-3 shows now,so change is indicated & Jesse's work already fits in four places in the racks(all 38/55 or 375 Win though).. onceabull

[405]

Before the love fest gets out of hand about the 375 or 400 Whelen... take a second look at the of hints about headspace control issues that were brought up in a couple of previous posts. Even the 35 Whelen is subject to this design flaw in the cartridge. Don't believe it?? Try shooting a very low pressure cast or Jbullet load with the bullet seated normally (not jammed into the lands). Report the results.... usually a backed out primer.... indicating loss of headspace control. Load that identical bullet, seating depth and case up to higher pressure 40Kpsi + and check the primer after firing.... magically seated back to normal position that is flush with cartridge base? No magic... the difference in the two primer positions is the amount of stretching that case is subjected to each time it is shot at the higher, normal pressure. That is why the Ackley version is the much better design than the 35 and 375+ "normal" Whelens. Taking that design to its ulitmate conclusion, the 400/06/Whelen, aka the 400 Whelen, is almost an artifact of an experiment that didn't work at all.... but takes up pages of gun writer script. There is a reason that the so called large bore, dangerous game cartridges have rims, belts or fairly sharp shoulder angles. No, its not to make feeding out of the magazine less reliable

[Bullshop]

405
What your saying may be so but in my own experiance I have not had any case stretching problems. The fact that I get good case life I would think is an indication that there is no abnormal stretching going on.
I must however confess to loading my ammo to help avoid stretching and to aid headspacing by seating my boolits out enough to have solid contact with the rifling, and never full length sizing.
I have been sizing for the 375/06 with a 375 Scovill die. This way I am sizing near the head portion of the case as well as plenty of the neck for good boolit pull but never touching the shoulder.
Since I do not shoot jacketed bullets in these rifles seating out enough for good solid engraving on chambering is no problem. Also since I am shooting boolits designed specifically for this cartridge and to fit the magazine as well as the chamber there is no issue or compromise with length of chamber verses length of magazine.
So even though you brought up good points those issues are easily dealt with and preventable by custom loading and boolit design.
When it comes right down to it we find those things to be necessary to get the best from any cartridge so in reality there is really no extra effort required beyond what is normal for best accuracy from any cartridge.
It is certainly not a one size fits all cartridge so factory ammo would maybe not be a good idea and maybe why we dont see any. On the other hand for a shooter well versed in these loading concepts anything that may be seen as an obstacle to safe ammo is little more than a bump in the road and far from the mountain it is at times made to be.

[JesterGrin_1]

I am very interested and trying to learn about the specifics of the 375-06 as it looks to be a very viable round. Since there is not much info on this round.

But I have read till I almost went blind everything I could find on the 35 Whelen. As in Ackley VS Standard. And have found that it is more of a personal preference between the two as nothing at least as far as I have found is set in stone.

For my 35 Whelen I decided on the standard case instead of the Ackley version.

[afrance]

JesterGrin,

I have done a fair bit of research on both the 375 Whelen and 400 Whelen for myself (still haven't decided which) and there is a Handloader article from July 1991 (no. 152) that W.G. Mitchell wrote about the 375 Whelen Improved. Very informative and has both J-word and cast loads.

I don't remember where but there was also an article in which they tested the bolt thrust pressure differences as the cartridge taper was reduced and it was pretty significant. In the article mentioned above, Mitchell used an improved chamber with the .453 shoulder (as opposed to the 06, 35 Whelen .441) and if I ever decide between the 400 and 375 Whelen, I will likely go with the .458 shoulder like the Whelen Improved reamer from 4-products.com.

Alan

[lkydvl]

Once fire formed to a chamber you should have no headspace/case setback issues unless you have set your size die incorrectly. Hence the reasons for segregating cases for individual rifles. I have a 375/06 Imp on a Pre 64 70. Terrific gun!

Andre`

[Moonie]

To me the idea of a 375 to 400 size Whelen sounds great however I really don't think I'm going to need anything more than 35.

I do have a sporterized M98 I'm planning on barreling, leaving the bolt face alone, larger caliber and 35 Whelen sounds perfect to me. No need in worrying about headspace issues.