Best brass for forming .35 Whelen

[Marlin Junky]

I'd rather not purchase new Remington brass and was wondering what Winchester brand case produces the best results when forming .35W. Or, would I be better off with Mil-Surp '06 brass?

Has anyone tried forming Winchester .270 brass to .35W, or do the neck walls come out too thin or inconsistent?

MJ

[357maximum]

My buddy Dale forms all his 35/06 from milsurp...not real sure of the particulars...but I do not think there are any real issues with it...his is mostly LC of varying years..I think..

[JSH]

From the wildcats and case forming I have done virgin is best. Cases that are known to be once fired are OK and will work, but your milage may vary. Cases of unknown, will give you end results just like that, unknown.
If you use once fired or unknown stuff I suggest you FL size in the parent brass die. Annealing may also be necessary. Unfired or once fired LC stuff has always went right through on the first for me.
I think the 270 would be pushing it a bit, neck splits etc. Wall thickness may also get you.
Jeff

[arkypete]

Marlin
For what it's worth. I bought 500 Remington 30-06 cases to make 375 Whelen cases. I used Redding dies with their long tapered expander and didn't loose a single case outside of scrunching a case mouth, by not putting the case fully into the die before raising the ram.
After forming I loaded all the cases with reject cast bullets, good enough to shoot but not good enought for hunting or target shooting. Then I uniformed the primer hole, trimmed to length, uniformed the case neck. I've not had a split nor any loss other then my screw ups. Anneal every 4th or fifth loading and the cases will last nearly forever.
Jim

[NVcurmudgeon]

I have formed .35 Whelen from .270 and .30/06 cases and when it comes to forming cases I agree with W.C. Fields. "On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." My .35 Whelen formed cases have always started with once-fired cases of more common calibers. After all the forming, annnealing, and trimming was done I still had cases of uncertain uniformity. As one poster pointed out, virgin brass is the best starting point. I agree with that sentiment and if I must buy brass for best results, I prefer to carry it a step further and start with virgin .35 Whelen brass.

[arkypete]

If the 375 brass should wear out I'll follow 'Curmudgeon's' lead and I use 35 Whelen brass.
Jim

[sundog]

I used either new or 'onceit farred' LC 78 Match brass (because that's what I had available when I did that project). One pass through the FL sizer set just deep enough in the press to get the shape, fire formed in the rifle, now NS only, and never look back. The ONLY boolit that gets shot in that rifle is the 358009 Improved. Granted, the cases are just a tad short, but it does not seem to affect accuracy, which is MOA at 200. sundog

[j4570]

Marlin Junky,

Why do you not want to purchase Remington Cases? Just Curious.

I can see it maybe if you have a ton of other calibers to form from or the brass isn't readily available at a good price.

But 35 Whelan? I guess I have less time to spare than some, I'd just buy it.

JW

[Marlin Junky]

Lately I've been unhappy with Remington brass because of inconsistent neck wall thickness and I would rather not spend time turning necks. But... it sounds like once the necking-up proceedure is performed, I may have cases inferior to Remington factory brass no matter what I start out with. I've got some various cases laying around so I'll experiment a bit.

MJ

[lovedogs]

Many, many years ago I had a .35 Whelen Improved. I found Remington brass to be a bit hard in the necks, not properly annealed, and they developed neck cracks earlier than did Winchester or GI brass. Once fired GI sized up fine and lasted forever, possibly due to the good annealing they had from their manufacturer. I never did have to re-anneal them.