30/06 or 35 Whelan for Eddystone Sporter.?

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have always wanted to convert a P14/M17 (Winchester preferably) to take 375H&H, but have never got around to it.

I have picked up an M17 Edddystone which has been reasonably tastefully sporterised some time ago and has seen a lot of use, the bore is really worn.

I was tempted to convert it to 458WM or Lott, but the more I think about it the sillier it seems, it is pretty easy to pick up a big bore which was built as a big bore and does not have any strength/feeding/magazine issues (I have also come across a Ruger No1 in 416Rigby in as new condition with cases, bullets, dies, etc for real cheep!).

Sooooooooo, I was thinking about rebarrelling it to 35Whelan, which would not involve any further gunsmithing.

The other alternative is to just rebarrel it to 30/06, a cartridge I have aways been fond of (my license plates are SP3006).

What cast bullet weights are good in the Whelan? I have 180Gn RNF and a mould that I bought off 357Maximum that you can cast a soft nose and then use them and cast the hard base. i also have a squillion 357 handgun moulds for plinking boolits as well. I am equally well set up for 30/06. the Whelan would be a better hunting round than the 3006 with cast.

Also, what twist and chambering recommendations for cast boolits?

Thanks, Mick.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Bolt%20Rifles/SporterisedM171.jpg

[Bass Ackward]

Sooooooooo, I was thinking about rebarrelling it to 35Whelan, which would not involve any further gunsmithing.

The other alternative is to just rebarrel it to 30/06, a cartridge I have aways been fond of (my license plates are SP3006).

What cast bullet weights are good in the Whelan? I have 180Gn RNF and a mould that I bought off 357Maximum that you can cast a soft nose and then use them and cast the hard base. i also have a squillion 357 handgun moulds for plinking boolits as well. I am equally well set up for 30/06. the Whelan would be a better hunting round than the 3006 with cast.

Also, what twist and chambering recommendations for cast boolits?

Thanks, Mick.


Mic,

Either choice. But the Whelen will cause you more trouble in having to sell guns and change your license plates. :grin:

I'm not sure what you have in mind. If this is to be a part time gun for cast, then do yourself a favor and stay with the 06. Much more flexibility for this and no recoil. The Whelen excels at launching cast for hunting. So look at the game and decide weight and hardness. If you need hard lead because of game size, then life is pretty simple for you. If softer is better for game size, then we need to go off line.

Throat length drives bullet weight. You know the jacketed rationale. If I needed hard lead for game size, less than 250, 14 twist. More than 250 to include 310 grain Woodleigh's and penetration, 12. With a 14 twist, you can shoot 35 BHN under 250 grains pretty much just like it was jacketed. 14 is clearly the greatest compromise for all trains of thought.

Standardized throat length is .250 which will drive you to heavy bore rides, but is too long for your 180 grainer. If by some chance you should need more length for the Woodies to get case capacity, then load one and have it cut. Then I'd just go 12 and not look back. Life for throat shapes and lengths only gets more complicated if you want to shoot soft lead which is most of my logic that has been regurgitated in the past. I don't think this need concern you, so I kept this simple to start your thought process. Feel free to use the PM feature for questions.

[jhrosier]

...

Sooooooooo, I was thinking about rebarrelling it to 35Whelan, which would not involve any further gunsmithing.

...

The .35 Whelen should be a great cast boolit gun, with either 200 or 225 gr boolits. I'm shooting 200gr boolits in my .358 Win BLR and don't find the recoil to be unpleasant.
The extra weight of the 1917 should make it a joy to shoot , even with heavy boolits.

[Char-Gar]

My first thought is to rebore the orginal barrel to 35 Whelen.

[Bret4207]

Boy, pretty hard to beat the 35W. Boolits from 75 gr to over 300. Jacketed choices are good too.

[9.3X62AL]

There's always the 9.3 x 62 Mauser. I would let j-word bullet availability dictate a lot of the decision between the 35 Whelen and the 9.3mm. On paper, the Mauser is supposedly a bit more powerful--on game, I don't think there's a penny's worth of difference. Both are GREAT cast boolit calibers.

[cobbmtmac]

Mick,
FWIW, I have a Rem. 700 in 35 Wh. All I have done so far is punch paper. I like the Lyman 358318. drops at 245gr and 250gr, after L & GC. I am using 27gr of IMR 4198 and sizing at .359.
Also have had good success with RCBS 35-200 F, 210 gr L & GC, using 23gr of 2400 sized at .358 :Fire:

[Bret4207]

OH PUHLEEEZE!!! The 9.3x62?!?! Really! As I understand the 9.3x62 is only used by Euro-centric, limp wristed, froggy wannabees who drink water bottled at a Belgian swamp and eat stuff that resembles dog barf with their pinky stuck up in the air, all while wearing plaid double knit polyester golf pants, a Hawaian shirt, white shoes and Hai Karate aftershave. Oh wait.... I just checked and it's the 9.3x62 Fluglemeyer Short I was thinking of. Nevermind Al.

[onceabull]

The twist ? for 35 Whelens lives on!! CobbMtMac shoots 245 gr boolits just fine with Remingtons factory 1:16 twist, If it's handles them fine at the speed he's reaching,no reason to assume things are going to go bad at higher velocity ???? I spent far too many hrs. considering forum inputs here and elsewhere when building my first one by reboring Rem.760 from '06 to 35 Whelen for "ultimate "pole timber elk rifle. Went with 1:14,and lived happily on..(should have done it in 9.3X62 and bought some white shoes in order to be seen as one of those forward thinking types.) I've often wondered why all the oem 358 Win.I've had were made with 1:12 twists,especially since few if any boolit shooters would be using anything much beyond 250 gr.boolits??????? Maybeso lower velocity expectations for factory jacketed needing faster twist ?? Can you tell why I'm not an engineer .??:roll: Onceabull

[lar45]

That rifle looks pretty nice to me, but then I have been accused of not haveing all my lug nuts torqued to spec.

Have you thought about the 375 Whelan or 375 Hawk? The Hawk would get you close to the H&H you'd originally thought about. You can alway load it down to plinking levels, but with a smaller case capacity you can't always get the velocity you want with safe pressures.

I'm sure you know about the problems with some of the Eddystone receivers being brittle. I don't know if there is a serial number range to check or a rockwell test for it. I converted a 30-06 Eddystone to 30-378 before I found out about the Eddys being brittle. So I sent the barreled action off for a chryo treatment. The process was supposed to increase ductility and toughness as well as promote tempered martensite growth of the crytaline structure.
After getting it back, I put a proof load through it by remote with a string and it held. The gun was very easy to get sub 1" groups with reloads. With a Brownells comp on it, the recoil was fairly pleasant with the solid butt plate. I built a new mag box for it and could get 3 down.

I've been wondering if you could do a 470NE on the M17 action. With my .4" nose 500gn cast bullets it looks like it would fit.

[Buckshot]

................There's always the 375-06 Improved.

http://www.fototime.com/E763D260E176835/standard.jpg

That jacketed slug is a 220gr 30 cal. The cast one next to it is 358 grains, and then loaded. The loaded pointy cast one is 328 grains. The RN jacketed one is 300 gr and finally a 270 one.

..............Buckshot

[stocker]

1/14 handles the 358009 (287 grain with check and lube) just fine to 200 yards which is as far as our range goes. 358318 is a tack driver from 1/14. With either boolit I expect sub-MOA groups on a regular basis. When they are larger I blame myself. Have not yet tried a 1/12 with cast as I currently don't have one while I have 2 with 1/14. It is a very useful cartridge but resist the urge to try and "improve" the Whelen. Small return for more fiddling around and has little application for real boolits.

[Safeshot]

.30/06 is a good choice. The heaviest .30 cast (or jacketed) bullet is adequate for most animals in this country.

Have you cleaned the bore and shot the rifle as is?. I assume it is .30/06 since you stated "sporterized" and did not mention "rebarreled". If it has the original 5 groove LH twist barrel or a military replacement 2 groove (J. A. manufactured) RH twist barrel. it can look really bad and clean up quite nicely. Even if it does not look good it may shoot accurately. I think you should try to shoot it for accuracy before you decide to rebarrel it.

Just one opinion, good luck in what ever you decide to do.

[lar45]

Even a washed out oversize barrel can shoot good given the right stuff.
I chopped up a Turk 8mm several years ago to do my first all by myself sporter job. Big 5 was haveing a sale and the early morning after thanksgiving price was $45ish(I should have bought more). After I got it all shortened, hacked, hammered, welded... into shape, I loaded some 150gn Speer 8mms and went to the range.
It was shooting maybe 8-10" patterns at 25 yards!! :( The barrel was closer to .328"
I asked for help here and was told to try heavier/longer bullets to give it more surface area for what was left of the rifleings to get a hold of.
I tried some Speer 170s with IMR4064 and around 2600fps got sub 1" groups at 100 yards ! :)
I think it turned out pretty good with less than $125 put into it includeing the 3x9 Bushnell scope. I use this as my loner gun now.

[Yukoner]

There's always the 9.3 x 62 Mauser. I would let j-word bullet availability dictate a lot of the decision between the 35 Whelen and the 9.3mm. On paper, the Mauser is supposedly a bit more powerful--on game, I don't think there's a penny's worth of difference. Both are GREAT cast boolit calibers.

What molds are available for the 9.3s to cast heavy weight bullets?

Ted

[lastmanout]

Hiya Mick, I have owned bunches of 30-06's. They come up used here in Pennsylvania all the time. 30-06 barreled rifles are VERY common and really don't bring a premium price used. If you have a 30-06 , go for the Whelen. It is a great nostalgic round and well suited to launching the heavy bullets (both kinds) for large game. I have one built on a Mauser K98. The magazine is a little short for spitzer J-bullets, but shoots round nose cast and J's close to MOA. I shot my first and only Elk in '99 with good results. I have total confidence in my 35 whelen out to 250-275 yards. 200 grain slugs feel like the 30-06, however shooting the 250-275 grains at full tilt increases recoil past my comfort zone. Dies are standard and not special order, brass is common, 357 cast bullets fit the bore, etc. I like the Whelen.:drinks: