35 Whelen ammo issue in O3

[DeepSouth]

I recently acquired a Remington O3A3 in 35 Whelen, the rifle is in great shape. The problem I'm have is that some ammo won't load from the magazine into the chamber. Federal Fusion 200 gr and Nosler Custom 225gr accubond ammo are the types I'm trying right now. The Nosler loads just fine, but the Fusion will jam sometimes when running the bolt forward. I've noticed if the round in the magazine is to the left it will load fine, but if to the right side of the magazine it will jam into the back of the barrel. The Fusion rounds bullet is very blunt compared to the Nosler Accubond bullet. If you lightly press on the Fusion round with your fingers while running the bolt it will load without any problem from the right side of the magazine. This maybe something I can't do anything about. I was hoping that the Fusion would work well because its much cheaper ( 32.00) compared to (48.00).

Could I polish and possibly chamfer or angle the back of the barrel more? ( Seems like a lot of work, not sure it could be done without removing the barrel from receiver). This would be outside my skill level.

Or

Could I pull the bullets out of the Fusion rounds and replace with Nosler Accubonds?
This is something I could accomplish and I wouldn't be left with 64.00 worth of shells I cant use.

Any suggestions would be helpful? Thanks

[LAGS]

I have a Mauser 98 that I rebarreled to .35 Whelens.
It will sometimes hang up on ammo with certain Boolits.
I polished the ramp a bit and trimmed the guides so it feeds Most ammo reliably.
But it still hangs up a bit with wider Cast Boolits with a very wide round nose.
But all Spitzer Boolits feed fine

[DeepSouth]

How were you able to get to get inside the receiver to polish

[Rich/WIS]

Have had a similar problem in my A3's with the flat point 311041. The bullet point would hit the flat of the extractor cut in the rear of the barrel, although IIRC it was when feeding from the left side. Perhaps the larger bullet is doing the same thing when feeding from the right side. Only solution I found was use a different bullet (311291).

[LAGS]

To polish the ramp , you can just pull out the bolt and remove the magazine box.
I also have the tools to pull the barrel , since I was the one who installed the barrel.
But light polishing and reshaping should not require that you pull the barrel

[Larry Gibson]

There are 2 cures to solve the problem.

Polishing the feed ramp may help but probably won't. The problem is not the feed ramp as the bullets aren't hanging up there.

First solution and the easiest is to simply use a more pointy or more round nosed bullet as already mentioned.

Second solution gets to the heart of the problem. This should only be done if you understand what is being done or by someone who actually knows how to do it. The problem is the rear of the cartridge case, as it is being pushed forward by the bolt, is not being released by the rail for the rim to slip up under the extractor soon enough so the bullet point stays aligned with the chamber mouth. Sometimes polishing the offending rail will solve the problem as does simply installing a weaker magazine spring.

However, sometimes some metal must be removed from the forward part [1/2 to 1/3] of the underside curved part of the rail. This is do a little and test proposition as only just enough for reliable feeding should be removed. Removing too much causes other problems and can ruin the action. It's kind of like altering the rails to feed magnum cartridges but not removing as much of the rail. Frankly, I would try all the other remedies first including polishing the rails if you really want reliable functioning with a meplated or blunt nosed bullet.

One last trick, I've found many times such bullets feed reliably if the bolt is worked fast. Working the bolt fast tends to make the rails release the rim earlier. Working the bolt slowly seems to aggravate the problem.

[Tripplebeards]

Im still messing around with my 35 whelen Remington 7600 to feed cast. I believe bending the feed lips on my magazines will help. It wasn’t feeding jacketed ammo either. It had some ruff, jagged looking feed ramps that looked like a flat wall instead of a smooth sloped ramp. I sent it into Remington for the issue. It came back with a new barrel and only one side of the feed ramp polished. It now feeds jacketed ammo but not cast. I’m even using a narrow tapered nose HP cast boolit with no luck. I believe a really hard alloy would help so it doesn’t snag on my feed ramp buy that defeats the purpose of a hunting round. I have a couple of donated 10 round magazines from another member. Plan is to bend their feed lips to see if they will get cast to feed. Right now the 10 round mags won’t even feed jacketed ammo. Sounds like a lot of 35 whelen 7600's have the same issue mine had.

[HangFireW8]

Your Whelen may have been made before the cartridge was standardized. Early Whelens had a non-Ackley "improved" profile. If yours has such a chamber, the different cartridge shape will affect magazine release timing and feed reliability with SAAMI cartridges.

[DeepSouth]

Thanks to all who replied I appreciate the advice. I'm going to try the polishing see if that helps. Mr Gibson I have tried running the bolt fast and it results in a deformed bullet nose and a shell jammed into the back of the barrel. Thank you though for the advice though.

Would it be a problem to pull the bullets from the Federal Fusion 200gr rounds and replace them with 225gr Accubonds ? Basically so I can at least use the ammo. I have several boxes.

[Wayne Smith]

Thanks to all who replied I appreciate the advice. I'm going to try the polishing see if that helps. Mr Gibson I have tried running the bolt fast and it results in a deformed bullet nose and a shell jammed into the back of the barrel. Thank you though for the advice though.

Would it be a problem to pull the bullets from the Federal Fusion 200gr rounds and replace them with 225gr Accubonds ? Basically so I can at least use the ammo. I have several boxes.

If you have a relatively strong reloading press and a bullet pulling die no, not difficult. A little time consuming, and you will need to adjust the powder as well. Probably not something for a novice reloader to consider.