35 Whelen

[theoldblock]

Hello to this great resource. I can not find jacketed Round Nose 250 grain projectiles for this fine old round to save my wife's tomcat. My old source of cast bullets seems to have gone over the great divide. Can youall put forward a good source of cast bullets like a Lyman 280 grain as in the 47th Handbook? I would use 300 grain RN cast if I can find them.

A question I just thought of. My old source believed in a high Brinell number like 27 or 28 as I recall. His 500 grain 45-70 bullets sure went through wet phone books with a big hole. Is that high for a 2000 fps velocity cast bullet?

Thanks.

[LAGS]

I think like the others of us, you are just going to have to buy yourself a mold and start casting your own.
I got the NOE 360009 280 gr mold as well as the 245 gr .360 mold not to long ago.
I am still in the load testing mode, but am having good results and lots of fun.

[pworley1]

Welcome! I agree with LAGS. The only way to be really satisfied is to make your own.

[depoloni]

From my experience, yes. A 20+ BHN cast bullet is REALLY hard for that application.

Not saying it couldn't, or wouldn't work... but at that velocity, even if you held the muzzle 1ft. from a game animal, you could just as easily get 2000 fps from an 18-20 BHN bullet (or less?) that wouldn't expand and would drive a deep hole through about anything.

Interested in hearing others' thoughts, naturally, same as OP...

[Yodogsandman]

Welcome to the site, theoldblock!

If you can wait and wait, you might find an old discontinued Lyman 359009, 280gr. The NOE 360009 is the best alternative. It might drop from the mold between 288-300gr depending on your alloy.

As far as using a hard alloy, it will help you to shoot upwards of about 1800-1900 FPS with accuracy. That was about the limit for me, attempting faster loads was futile without (HT) heat treating. That high a brinell hardness is attainable by oven heat treating your boolits if made from an antimonial alloy like clip on wheel weights (COWW). Many here are shooting that boolit around 2200 FPS.

It will handle any game animal in North America. That's with or without any expansion. A 35 cal hole in and at least a 35 cal hole coming out.

[94Doug]

Or if you want, use softer alloy and have a mould hollow pointed. At 16-1800 fps it will work on most game in these parts....

Doug

[35 shooter]

Welcome to the site. Don't know of anyone producing the 358009 commercially, but that is my favorite boolit for the 35 whelen. NOE has the round nose version moulds and i believe accurate makes a flat point version. I have the noe mould and love it.
As far as bhn or hardness of the boolit, i had to heat treat to get accuracy over about 1800 fps. in the whelen. 465* in an oven and water dunked produces a bhn of 27 for me with straight wheel weights. 4064 or 4350 powder will easily get 2000 plus fps. with very good accuracy. It's far more rewarding to cast your own if you have the time and space.:smile:

[theoldblock]

Thank you for the encouragement. I have the time and the place.

[pls1911]

Old block,
I'll extend a helping hand if we can find a mold.
I cast soft alloy and then heat treat to mid 20s bhn. This provides a bullet that maintains maleability to not break up on impact, yet withstand 2100 fps velocity like linotype.
Acceptable bullets are +/- 1 grain segregated to +/- .5 grain, gas checked and can be powder coated if you want.
The best bullet available today is the NOE 280 grain per the attached data.

I helped a fellow earlier this year...he bought the mold, I cast a pile of bullets for him and returned it all in bulk USPS box.

Let me know if you're interested .