Winchester High Wall 35 Whelen?

[Tatume]

Hello Folks,

I've been thinking about having my Winchester/Miroku High Wall rebored and rechambered from 30-06 to 35 Whelen. Have any of you used cast bullets in the 35 Whelen? Is it a good match?

Take care, Tom

[kokomokid]

Cant say about a whelen but I have a 35/40 maynard and shoot a 330 grain postell cast bullet with BP. I would think you would have a pretty good combo but need a 1-10 twist if you shoot a long bullet. Might also look at the 35/30 maynard. You would be legal for BPCR with the Maynard-just a thought.

[Tatume]

Hi Kokomo,

I'd like to try something like that, but it would require rebarreling the gun. The 30-06 is pretty big, and it would probably take one of the belted cases to clean it up. I don't like them.

My big concern is whether the short neck of the -06 cases will work well with a cast bullet. I'm willing to have a mold made just for this gun.

Thanks, Tom

[Nobade]

Hard to get a better cast bullet shooter than a Whelen. OK, maybe a 358 but the Whelen is just more of the same. From pistol bullets at subsonic speeds to big 250gr. heavies at jacketed speeds it'll do it all. And do get a twist appropriate for what you are shooting, and not too fast. 1:14 will handle 280gr. bullets just fine, faster twist will limit how fast you can push cast boolits.

[Chill Wills]

I'm with nobade on this one. I have had two 35 Whelens. Still have the Rem Classic bolt rifle with 16 twist. I have taken a few elk with it with a 280 LBT bullet years ago. It is almost a one gun survival rifle because moulds handgun are everywhere and you can cast heavy rifle bullets that can be driven to 2200-2400fps and give jacket like performance. Yuchhh… I sound like an advertisement.
If you want to spend the $$$ it would be fun to own.

[Three44s]

Stop, you are torturing me!!! LOL!

Well, not quite ........... I just acquired a little used .35 Whelen barrel for the Savage 110 and have yet to install it.


Best regards and Happy New Year!!

Three 44s

[ammohead]

Should be very doable as long as the bbl doesn't have deep dovetails cut in it or cut where there is unsufficient bbl metal under it. Going from .308 to .358 requires removing .025 from under a dovetail. If you have a heavy enough barrel to begin with or it is free of dovetails go for it.

As for the chamber not cleaning up...the chambers for 30-06 and 35 Whelan are identical with the exception of neck dia. Neck length will be slightly increased at the shoulder/neck junction but the brass will shrink initially when it is sized out to .358

[DHB]

Norman Johnson, High Plains Reboring, can do it for you. If it's not safe he'll tell you. There's another reborer in Oregon or Washington (don't remember the name) that really knows his stuff. I've used Mr Johnson, takes some time but he's good.
DHB

[rhbrink]

Jesse Ocumpaugh, Cottage Grove OR. 541.942.1342
www.35caliber.com
Does great work I'm told, thought about it a few times myself.

[Hang Fire]

Hello Folks,

I've been thinking about having my Winchester/Miroku High Wall rebored and rechambered from 30-06 to 35 Whelen. Have any of you used cast bullets in the 35 Whelen? Is it a good match?

Take care, Tom

Never had a Whelen, but did have a 35 Gibbs about 42 years ago, I had the Gibbs built up on a 98 Mauser action and it was a very powerful round. As we were moving to Alaska, I wanted it for moose, but never got the chance. Wasn't in AK a month, when a bush pilot watching as I was sighting it in one day asked if he could he try it for a couple rounds, then made me a offer I couldn't refuse.

[onceabull]

If you do go with a rebore to 35 Whelen, and intend to shoot HEAVY cast boolits, 1:14 will likely do well...MY rem.760 rebore for 30/06 by Jesse O. was set up that way,and handles the 300 Gr .boolit OK..Doubt you need more than 1:12 for any practical boolit.. Onceabull

[OuchHot!]

I have really enjoyed the whelen with cast bullets. Another very similar cartridge is the 9.3X62 (or 9.3X74 if you want rimmed). Grafs has reasonably priced brass. The whelen molds make good slugs for pp the 9.3. I think that I actually like the 9.3 over the whelen but they are pretty close and both shoot real well.

[6.5 mike]

Always thought a re-bore to 35 Krag would be interesting. :Fire:

[rr2241tx]

I have an 03A3 Sporter rebored to .35 Whelen by Jesse Ocumpaugh and it is a great shooter. I've only ever shot Remington Express 250gr factory ammo, still collecting brass for the conversion to cast.

[uscra112]

Hi Kokomo,

I'd like to try something like that, but it would require rebarreling the gun. The 30-06 is pretty big, and it would probably take one of the belted cases to clean it up. I don't like them.

My big concern is whether the short neck of the -06 cases will work well with a cast bullet. I'm willing to have a mold made just for this gun.

Thanks, Tom

The Whelan is just the .30-06 necked up to .35 caliber. No problem at all, but using the Improved reamer will give it a better shoulder to headspace on.

I never felt the -06 neck was short. .308 maybe, but there's any number of boolits that work just fine in the -06

.

[Cornfused]

Why do you want to do it??

The 30-06 will kill 'most anything in North America.
The .35 Whelen is a good cartridge but not quite the equal of a 9.3x62 Mauser. Why settle for second best? If I were you, (and my wife would let me), I'd just keep the .30-06 and get a 9.3x62, too.

[35Whelen]

Love my Whelen. I tips over everything I have ever shot with it. Largest moose was an estimated 1800lbs on the hoof. Boned out, cut wrapped and frozen yielded 550 pounds of meat. No bloodshot meat the Whelen, and as Townsend said...you can eat right to the bullet hole. The Whelen really performs when you load it with the bullets it was intended to shoot. 250 grains and higher. Penetration is unbelievable and you have to experience it to believe it. THat moose was hit quartering away...he spun as I squeezed the trigger and I hit him in the right ham...the bullet ranged completely through ( no bone hit ) and exited the sternum leaving a fist sized hole. He just tipped over right there. " THE " cast bullet for the Whelen is the old Lyman 3589 it is a round nose that runs about 284 grains. NOE is doing a group buy on the new version which is the 358009. They are the bullet for penetration and killing power beyond belief. My old Jacketed rounds were Hornady 250 spire points with a load of IMR 4064 and they topped out at about 2540 fps. Very low standard deviation too...about 12fps was the average. Muzzle energy ran just shy of 3600 foot pounds of energy !!!! Anyone who tells you a Whelen is a short range cartridge, hasn't handloaded for it. My longest single shot kill...and it was a bang flop was a measured 400 meters. Moose didn't know what hit him, he literally dropped and bounced when he hit the ground.
When I did my Whelen I had a Kreiger barrel installed and asked the gunsmith to do the chamber with a 30/06 reamer, and then open the neck with a 35 cal. reamer. This makes for a very crisp shoulder and not the more typically rounded shoulder of the 35 Whelen reamer. Making for very positive headspacing. I cannot say enough about my Whelen, except that I now have a 358 Winchester as well for a tight quarters in the timber rifle...its just a mini Whelen trailing by only about 100 fps. 35 will impress the hell out of you and there is not an animal on this continent that I wouldn't go face to face with.

Oh...and if it's the heavy bullets you want to shoot. Do yourself a favor and get the barrel rifled in a 1 in 12 twist to stabilize those longer bullets. Stay completely away from the 1 in 16.

Good luck with the conversion....keep us informed on how it goes.

[Char-Gar]

The 35 Whelen makes a great cast bullet rifle. If I were going to convert a 30-06 into a larger bore with cast bullets in mind, I would go with the 375 Whelen. Bigger and heavier bullets for hunting and about the ideal max case capacity for cast bullets of the 375 persuasion.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

One has to respect the 375Whelan as being a powerful cartridge. To start at the beginning a 30-06 ("is never a mistake") loaded with a 220 grain bullet is pretty well capable of handling well any North American big game animal. A 35 Whelan is even more powerful. I have a 1917 rechambered to 35W with a 1:12 twist. Using Lyman 3589 at about 300 grains; it not only shoots accurately, but at velocities of 2200 fps it does generate enough smack to flatten anything in the Western Hemisphere and maybe a few other types of bigger game on other continents. A lot has been written on it over the years and the cartridge's performance has been well documented. LLS

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Imagine your 30-06 with the 311247 boolet at about 2100fps...

[crash87]

It's more than doable on the re bore. I had a Winchester '95 go from 270 to 35 Whelen. I had a 1;12 twist done with mine and shoot a LBT 250Gr LCFN, in it exclusively. No need for any rechambering, just need the neck reamed and your good to go. Experiment a little with your chosen bullet and get you cartridge overall length to where you want it and have him set it up accordingly.
CRASH87

[Good Cheer]

A compromise is clearly in order. Get it rebored to 338-06.

[jwp475]

Hi Kokomo,

I'd like to try something like that, but it would require rebarreling the gun. The 30-06 is pretty big, and it would probably take one of the belted cases to clean it up. I don't like them.

My big concern is whether the short neck of the -06 cases will work well with a cast bullet. I'm willing to have a mold made just for this gun.

Thanks, Tom
I had J E S Reboring to rebore my 30-06 to 35 Whelen I went with a 5 groove 10 twist. I shot a 3/4 MOA 3 shot group at 200 yards using Barnes 180 grain TTSX

JES does excellent work

[skeettx]

My 35-06 is on a Rem 722 action in a 700 BDL stock, a real accurate rifle and great with
Lyman 359009.

Douglas XX Supreme Barrel

Mike