Heavy weight boolits in 1:14 twist whelen

[35 shooter]

I'm curious about the results others have had with boolits 250 grains and heavier in a 1:14 twist 35 whelen. I'm using a 200 grain NOE fngc in it now and am well pleased with how it performs. A fellow member here sent me some 235 grainer's to try and they have shot well also and that's what got me wondering how heavy this twist rate will go in the whelen. The 235 is probably more than i would ever need for anything and judging from what little i've shot it i'm pretty sure a 250 would do well too.
But what about say 275 to 300 grains? Guess i'm just wondering what others have found accuracy wise with heavy weight boolits in the 1:14 bbls. My rifle has proven capable of 1.5" and better @ 100 yd. with a variety of loads and vel. with the 200 grain boolits and the 235 looks like it's going to do it too. Will the 1:14 handle the true heavy weights just as well?...Thanks 35shooter

[TXGunNut]

As you know I'm very interested in the responses here. My SWAG at the optimal weight for this cartridge is 250 grs but mine seems happiest with a 200 gr RD boolit, seems the NOE boolits will do just as well. The 280 gr 358009 seems to be a sentimental favorite around here but I'll have to put it on my project list for another time.

[35 shooter]

TXGuNut i kind of figured you might be interested in this too, but i thought you were on vacation this week...maybe honolulu or something.:D Anyway looks like the old man stayed up to late again tonight...I'm goin to bed.

[Blammer]

280gr works well in my 14T brl 35 whelen.

[Outpost75]

I can stabilize #3589 with full charge hunting loads in my 16" twist at 1800 fps.

[paul h]

I had a 1-14 twist whelen and with the 3589 mold I was able to shoot a 5 shot 1" group at 100yds, the best cast group I've ever shot. I'm guestimating the velocity was ~2000 fps. With jacketed bullets that rifle would shoot 1/2" for 3 shots at 100.

IMHO 1-14 is the ideal twist for a cast bullet shooting 35. Fast enough for the heaviest of bullets, yet not so fast as to require hard alloys to prevent the rifling from shearing the bullet.

I've tried the 3589's in my 1-12 twist 350 rem mag and accuracy hasn't happened yet. That rifle has also shot 3 shot 1/2" groups at 100 with j-bullets, so the rifle is capable, just need to dial in the powder and seating depth. Those ~285 gr bullets get your attention at near max loads in a light rifle, should have taken my past shoulder pad to the range.

I think that a well designed 250 gr cast with a nice meplat is probably the ideal weight for a 35 hunting rifle. I really can't see a situation where more weight would be needed in the 35 bore with cast boolits. Some day I'll probably have to design such a boolit for my 350, nice bore riding nose, ogival wadcutter and ~80% meplat with the gas check flush with the case neck.

[MarkP]

My 350 Rem Mags 1:16" will stabilize a 273 gr FN (1.13" length) at 1,500 fps out to at least 170 yds. Never shot these low vel loads any further on paper.

[OuchHot!]

I have a 1:14 whelen but have never gone past 250g. Up to 250g, accuracy has been wonderful. Using a j type, 225g accubond I had complete penetration of a brown bear at 170yds. I do not hanker for more penetration.

[35 shooter]

Thanks for the 1st hand information. It definitely sounds like i'm set for any boolit i want to try. I must admit i was hoping that would be the case but still a bit surprised it works so well on such a big spread in weight. In a lot of smaller calibers the 1:14 twist seems to fall a bit short with heavy for cal. boolits. This all goes to further my opinion of something very special going on with the 35 cal. in general. Another thing i'm loving about it is it's ability to shoot center with every load i've tried so far. All that's needed is an up or down adj. as center is always there. From the above posts it seems all the different twists can be made to work.

BTW paul h there's a group buy discussion going on about a 250 grain with wide meplat now. The other day it was on the 2nd page....Thanks again everyone...35shooter

[paul h]

That barrel was very versatile, from 150 gr pistol bullets on up. The only bullet which I didn't try was the 310 gr woodleigh jacketed bullet. They said that 1-12 was good to go, 1-16 was too slow and they couldn't vouch which way a 1-14 would go. I figured if I couldn't kill it with a 250 gr a-frame at 2600 fps, It was an appliction for my 458 lott.

[MarkP]

That barrel was very versatile, from 150 gr pistol bullets on up. The only bullet which I didn't try was the 310 gr woodleigh jacketed bullet. They said that 1-12 was good to go, 1-16 was too slow and they couldn't vouch which way a 1-14 would go. I figured if I couldn't kill it with a 250 gr a-frame at 2600 fps, It was an appliction for my 458 lott.

Hangun boolits are very fun to shoot I shoot the NOE 360-180 HP's with Trailboss; I tried them just to see, and they were better than expected.

[35 shooter]

Hangun boolits are very fun to shoot I shoot the NOE 360-180 HP's with Trailboss; I tried them just to see, and they were better than expected.

Markp just curious what kind of groups did you get with the NOE 180's and what distance. Have you tried any hotter loads with them?