PDA

View Full Version : Soft bullet 35 Whelen



L Ross
01-02-2007, 11:10 PM
I've been wanting to post in this forum for a couple of years but never got the photo thing down. With some help on the Testing thread I think I have it.

I have shot a few head of game with cast bullets and round balls. Here is a deer from last Nov. I shot with a 35 Whelen that Norm Johnson rebored/chambered for me. Bullet was an RCBS 35-200 my brother had cast up for his 35 Rem Contender. They are soft, I used a LBT hardness tested and got a reading of 6. Load was 30 gr. of XMP-5744 for exactly 1800 fps chrono'd.

I'll put in a photo of the deer and then one of the autopsy.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/Walnuthill/Nov05deerhunt001.jpg

L Ross
01-02-2007, 11:13 PM
Now the autopsy of both lungs. By the way, range 55 yards, steeply uphill, bullet did not hit either the shoulder blade nor the spine passing about an inch and a half beneath it. I expected the deer to run a short distance but it dropped to the shot and slid down the hill almost 100 ft, DOA.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/Walnuthill/Nov05deerhunt002.jpg

L Ross

MT Gianni
01-02-2007, 11:44 PM
Great Pics, How does a lbt 6 compare to Saeco or Brinell #'s or to pure lead vs ww? Thanks, Gianni.

Bass Ackward
01-03-2007, 07:22 AM
Ross,

Nice job getting those out of there like that. From the way you wrote, you almost sounded surprised things would go that well. :grin:

Bullet weight with cast often does not correlate to jacketed. And velocity is what does the damage. So when extra penetration is not needed, a lighter per caliber, chunk of lead does the job.

IF you ever feel you need it, you can hardened that with tin to 20-1, you could get 2200 fps out of it. And the lungs just pour out. So far, 20-1 is the most accurate mix in mine.

Gianni,

An LBT tester is a direct read to BHN.

L Ross
01-03-2007, 10:36 AM
Gianni, as Bass said it reads directly in Brinell. A store bought round ball reads 5.

Bass,
I was a bit surprised. I have killed big game with cast in a 50 cal flinter, a 54 percussion, a 03 Springfield with RCBS 150 gr fn @ 1630fps, a 44-40 loaded pretty snotty, a 40-70 SS, a 45x2.4"and a 45x2.1". Other than deliberately neck shooting an eight pt. buck with the 44-40 and breaking both shoulder blades and cutting the spine off another buck with the 50 flinter (not quite deliberately) most game seems to stay on their feet from 4 to 15 seconds with the usual distance of 20 to 100 yards traveled after impact. When I shot the 35 Whelen doe it was only 5 minutes after opening time and the light was poor. I had to establish the sight picture against the snow and then raised the sights into the grey of the deer. The way it collapsed I thought I erred and spined her, but field dressing provd otherwise.
Mr. Johnson's reboring was such a professional job I also really couldn't find any leading after firing a total of 12 rounds for sight in and the hunt. All that said i am still uncomfortable with a bullet that soft.

L Ross

Bass Ackward
01-03-2007, 06:14 PM
I can't tell you how this caliber surprises me. I have shot 17 deer to date with it and I have had more TV type, instant collapses than I have my whole life using everthing else under the sun combined. And the farthest run has been 40 yards on a heart shot. I have whacked them from about 70 yards out to 225 and stand in awe as distance doesn't matter.

I use a 250 grain bullet at 14 BHN for what is between 2000 and 2250 fps with all the different loads used, and the lungs just pour out. As I said in another thread, you eject that case out into your hand expecting to see a pop (soda) bottle with a belt judging by the reaction on game. It is just amazing to me, considering it's simply a medium bore. Why oh why couldn't I have discovered this sooner.

nicholst55
01-12-2007, 01:45 PM
I call my .35 Whelen my 'Bang-Plop' rifle, coz that's what I hear when I shoot something with it. I really like my Whelen! The only gun I have that compares to it is my .257 Weatherby - my 'Death Ray!' It ruins meat unless you use controlled expansion bullets in it, like Nosler Partitions, but it's a killing machine.