Rem 7400--35 whelen range day

[rockrat]

Pulled out of the safe a few weeks ago and finally cast some boolits for it. 180g truncated cone, 235gr rnfp from a Heavy Metal mold (HM2) that has been a stellar performer in other guns, and a 358318 HP mould probably about 230gr.

Put gas checks on them and then powder coated them with Smokes Traffic purple. Ran thru the Star again to re-size and put some lube in the grooves. Then loaded up some re-formed '06 cases with 41.5gr AA2495.

Shot the 180 first at our 150 meter gong using a bench, but no res but my arms. Awful trigger pull, but three shots had two nearly touching at 2 o'clock and the third about 3" away. Went to the 235's and aimed at the left edge of the gong. First shot in the center!! Adjusted scope to hopefully bring group to center. Second shot hit center and made one large smear. Third shot was also in the center!! Shooting better than factory ammo.

HP boolits hit about 3" high of center with two in one tiny smear and the third about 2" out. Durn trigger.

All in all, good day. I was impressed with the performance, since factory ammo was maybe 2-3" at 100 yds and these beat that at 165 yds. Velocity was probably in the neighborhood of 2000fps.

[s mac]

Nice report, I'm a 35 Whelen fan.

[unclemikeinct]

You're good. uncle mike ps: work on that trigger...

[richhodg66]

The Whelen is a neat round, I only have a Handi in it, but an old Santa Barbara Mause is sitting in the rack waiting for me to send it to JES.

Question, why are you lubing after powder coating, I thought the whole point to it was that you don't have to lube bullets? I don't PC and likely never will, but it seems that's all I hear from the guys who preach how wonderful it is.

[Outer Rondacker]

I still have one in the safe I have never shot. It’s a savage 110 custom barreled. Reason I have never fired it is my fault. Can not find any factory ammunition. No brass so I need to look into converting some from 30-06. I did buy a set of dies. No bullet mold yet either. I plan on using this rifle for deer this year so I have to get on this soon.

Thank you for sharing your results. So you think the heavier bullet work better. That was my thoughts as well. Good job.

[s mac]

My Whelen is a Handi as well, has accounted for several deer.

[richhodg66]

I still have one in the safe I have never shot. It’s a savage 110 custom barreled. Reason I have never fired it is my fault. Can not find any factory ammunition. No brass so I need to look into converting some from 30-06. I did buy a set of dies. No bullet mold yet either. I plan on using this rifle for deer this year so I have to get on this soon.

Thank you for sharing your results. So you think the heavier bullet work better. That was my thoughts as well. Good job.

I haven't tried to form brass yet, haven't needed to but it seems like if you anneal it, then maybe run the neck over an 8mm case expander first then into a .35 Whelen full length die, it would work fine. I'm gonna do it in two steps like that when I do.

As to bullets, do you have a .38 Special or .357 Revolver? I've shot a lot of 158 grain SWCs through mine with ten grains of 700X, fun to shoot on my little range here.

[s mac]

I formed all mine from 30-06, just a matter of running them through the Whelen sizing die slowly, I like to then firestorm with a moderate charge of fast powder. You're right, light bullets and light charges are a blast for plinking.

[rockrat]

richhodg66----Saw a post here about some that lubed even after powder coating and had the Star going to size some of the 180L boolits from an Accurate mold for my 353 Casull, and had to size the powder coated boolits, so thought "what the heck, go for it". Bore, after shooting, was spotless.
I have some boolits coated/sized/lubed and some coated/sized that I made for my H&H, that I am going to try and see if there is a difference in performance between the two.

[Texas by God]

As much as people talk them down, it's good to hear positive things about a Remington gas auto rifle. I've only shot two and they were fun but I've never loaded for one. That sounds like a serious thumper in .35 Whelen.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[GBertolet]

The 740-742-7400 series are nice rifles, but they do have a finite life span. Supposedly, the factory expects 800-1000 rounds of factory ammo, before things start to go south, due to the semi auto action, and the metal used in the receiver. They were designed as hunters, not range guns, which they excelled at. Something to keep in mind.

I have a 35 Whelen Imp, which I made cases from 30-06. I have Redding dies, and I contacted their tech support, about case forming. They said, their expanders are tapered, and should pose no problem expanding the necks from 30 to 35 caliber. Of course, I had to fire once, to get the new 40 degree shoulder dimension, of the improved case.

[Tripplebeards]

I replaced the trigger spring on my 7600 35 whelen carbine with a hardware hank fifteen cent spring. It’s almost to light. It brakes about 2 pounds now if not lighter. I’m going to install a heavier spring in it soon. The only ammo I shot out of it so far was hornady super performance ammo. About 1.25” to 1.5” groups at at 100 yards. I was not impressed. I’ll have to do some load testing this summer for it. Haven’t shot 20 rounds through it so far. I have a bunch of lee 200 grain 50/50 casted up with 2%pewter added GC and PC’d. I need to break out my group buy HP 200 grain mold one of these days. I want to try out my 35 rems and 35 whelen with cast one of these days. I have a 35 Rem 7600 matching carbine as well. Drilled two deer with it last season with a 180 grain hot core pushed at 2350 FPS. One ran 40 yards with a far back liver and tail end of the lung shot. The other, a 18” inside spread 8 pointer, made it about three steps and fell over backwards with a heart and lung shot. My goto gun on opening day is my bought new in 1984’ 22” 7600 30-06. I can cloverleaf 180 grain core loct hand loads at 100 yards on a good day with it. I didn’t know how easy it was to remove the barrel till last year. I bent my pump slides and it rattled loosely. I also replaced the o ring under the pump when it was apart. I have shot hundreds of deer with that gun over the years.

[Outer Rondacker]

I haven't tried to form brass yet, haven't needed to but it seems like if you anneal it, then maybe run the neck over an 8mm case expander first then into a .35 Whelen full length die, it would work fine. I'm gonna do it in two steps like that when I do.

As to bullets, do you have a .38 Special or .357 Revolver? I've shot a lot of 158 grain SWCs through mine with ten grains of 700X, fun to shoot on my little range here.

I do cast for 38/357 and have been looking into the lee 359-200RF with the gas check. I like the two steps of sizing up from 30-06. I have loads of that brass. I will have to give it a try thanks.