.35 Whelen Mold Decision

[War Eagle]

Trying to make a decision on which mold to go with for my Ruger #1 Whelen.

Had my eye on the RCBS 35-250-SP for a bit and it is currently on sale at Midway. Also interested in the NOE Ranchdog 360-230-RF.

Hope to get up to around 2000fps or so and do some pig and deer hunting in our South Alabama woods. Anyone have any experience with either of these that might sway me one way or the other?

[Ford SD]

Trying to make a decision on which mold to go with for my Ruger #1 Whelen.

Had my eye on the RCBS 35-250-SP for a bit and it is currently on sale at Midway. Also interested in the NOE Ranchdog 360-230-RF.

Hope to get up to around 2000fps or so and do some pig and deer hunting in our South Alabama woods. Anyone have any experience with either of these that might sway me one way or the other?

I do not own a 35 whelen but
I have heard good things about
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...oducts_id=1980

[curator]

If the RCBS mould will cast at .360 with wheel weight alloy, it may be a good choice. However the NOE 360/230 may be as good. Personally, I had Veral Smith of LBT make me a mould from a throat cast that was .360/250 SP where the bore ride section was .002 over my bore diameter. I have shot this boolit in my .35 Whelen Ackley Improved (1 in 14" twist) out to 300 yards and gotten .75 MOA 5-shot groups up to 2000 fps using slow powders like IMR4350 and Reloader22. Having the boolit fit both the throat any your case is a big plus. I keep my range sessions down to 25 rounds with these loads as recoil in a 9 pound rifle begins to wear on me after that. .35 Whelen with 250 grain slugs is the "cat's meow" for Moose and Elk. Leaves nothing to be desired for Eastern Black bear too.

[Texas by God]

I don't know if you want to go this light, but the RCBS 200 gr fngc is a great shooting bullet in my .358 Win. I don't believe it will be lacking as a hunting bulet, either.
Best, Thomas.

[35 shooter]

Haven't tried the rcbs 250, but hear it's a good one. I have used the noe360230 in my whelen and it's a hammer @ 2200 fps. It's been a very easy boolit to work with at the range too.

[lotech]

If you like lighter bullets, either of your choices may be quite accurate as long as they cast large enough. I've had good results with Lyman #358009; about 290 grs. cast from ww alloy at .359"-.360".

[LAGS]

I have both the NOE 358318 245gr and the 360009 280 gr.
Of the two, I like the 360009 best especially with slower powders.
But the 245 gr is pretty accurate and will make a good hunting boolit.
I actually got better accuracy with 180 or 200 gr J bullets because of my 1-14 twist barrel.
But the Cast in the heavier weights are not far behind

[Jeff Michel]

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/573...nose-gas-check.
It works very well in my 35 Whelen (Remington 700)

[Maineboy]

I've used the RCBS 35-250-SP for the past 7 or 8 years in my 1 in 12" twist Whelen with mixed but generally good results. Coincidently one of my best loads chronos at 2012fps. That load uses 23 grains of Accurate 2230 in Remington cases with Winchester LR primers.

[Yodogsandman]

NOE 360-310 FN, the 35 Thumper. No compromises.

[MT Gianni]

Ken Waters in Pet Loads stated he found the 35 Whelen grouped best with medium speed powders and medium weight bullets. I have found that my A&B barrel prefers bullets 200-245 gr.

[War Eagle]

Well...after a bit of pondering, debating and changing my mind several times I decided to take advantage of Al's specials and purchased a NOE 360-310-FN 3 cavity GC mold.

Looking forward to playing with this one in the coming weeks.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

is that the one the call the slammer?

[War Eagle]

"Thumper"

[Oklahoma Rebel]

oh,lol, my bad! hehehee

[Shuz]

I'm having fun with one of my Whelen's with a 1:16 twist trying to get a NOE 360-318HP at 235g to shoot worthy of CBA competition. So far, the best load I've come up with is 17g of Unique.
Anyone else use the NOE 360-318?

[Yodogsandman]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...5-Thumper-quot

[War Eagle]

Had a little bit of luck yesterday. Stopped by a local indoor range that has changed hands multiple times in the last few years. Figured I'd drop in and see if they had anything of interest.

To my surprise they had quite a few molds...lots of Lee's, several Lyman's, and a couple NEI's. I walked out with a Lyman M Die and two Lyman 2 cav molds for $45.

If the molds were used they didn't show it. Nice and clean, still in the factory plastic bag inside the boxes.

One is a 266469 and the other is a 358315. So looks like I have a lightweight to try out with my new heavyweight.

[35Whelen]

Heres my 35 Whelen with the 310 Thumper. Don't know the velocity as I had a scope issue that day and stopped shooting. But much promise for sure, and not much will ever get up and walk away with this round.