35 Rem success

[high standard 40]

I have a T/C Contender Carbine that I deer hunt with. It sports a 20" MGM barrel and a 4-16X scope. I've had it for 3 years now and have been working with it as I've found the time to develop a cast bullet load. I think I have arrived. A little tweak here and another tweak there and the result is the 3 shot group shown below that I fired today.

http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee324/highstandard40/35Rem-Group_zps4rnrxdnd.jpg (http://s532.photobucket.com/user/highstandard40/media/35Rem-Group_zps4rnrxdnd.jpg.html)

The bullet is an RCBS 200 FN, alloy is 50/50 COWW/PB. Gaschecked and sized .360" on the drive bands and the nose is sized .350". Felix lube only in the small space just ahead of the gascheck. The main lube groove was left empty.
34.0 gr H4895, CCI 200 primer, Rem brass. Distance was 50 yards.

Sized and seated as I do, this bullet fits my chamber so well, that I get zero fouling in the bore. In fact, the reason I use the small amount of lube that I do is because I was getting lube purging with all the lube grooves filled which was affecting accuracy. I didn't arrive at the group shown above till I reduced the amount of lube. Just goes to show, if you achieve good bullet fit to chamber, the rest is easier.

[marshall623]

Nice shooting , I've noticed better accuracy in my 30 Herrett by leaving the top groove empty , per advice of another member here.

[hicard]

Great looking load high standard 40. Might have to try the lube trick myself.

[JWFilips]

Very Nice Shooting!

35 Rem is a real hoot with cast bullets...Have to try real hard to make it shoot bad!
I have been shooting Matt's bullets 147 grain "38 S&W" round nose boolits recently sized .362" in My old 336 Marlin 5 grains bullseye! What a fun & accurate load!
If I could load enough I would spend the whole day plinking things!

[gpidaho]

As JW just said, the 35Rem is my new favorite plinker. The Lee 356-125-2R is my favorite but it shoots the 124RN and the 120TC pretty well also. In fact I can't complain about any of my 9mm or 357 pistol boolits when Powder coated and sized .358 and fired in my Handi rifle. Any of the fast powders work well but the best for me is TiteGroup at 6.5 to 8.5gr. Accurate, very low recoil and best of all FUN! Gp

[dougader]

That's excellent accuracy! I hope I can get my 35 Rem CVA Hunter to shoot that well.

[35remington]

Might I ask where the other groups went? While that is good, I will remind that one group does not an average make. How about shooting five, five shot groups at the same range on the same piece of paper and coming back and showing us that?

[shredder]

I already suspected the boolit you were using! It shoots very well in my .35 Rem as well. Your posted group is better than any of mine though! I too use 4895. Thanks for posting, that made my day.

[GooseGestapo]

I too use that boolit in my .35 and exact same load. Killed a deer with it last year. However, I found BLC2 (39.0gr) to be much more accurate from my Marlin M336. I'm using SPG lube, all lube grooves. I'd never have thought too much lube would hurt accuracy.

[dougader]

I finally took my 35 Rem out, the CVA Hunter single shot. While it shoots great with factory ammo, my own loads need work. Good groups at 25 yards while dialing in the scope, a cheap Tasco 3x9, but they fall apart at 50 after 2 rounds. The powder was definitely on the way out and left tons of unburned kernels in the barrel. I knew the powder was going downhill and eventually dumped it when the tell-tale red dust and nasty smell showed up.

Can't wait to try more powder combinations. The rifle certainly has potential, and for $160 it's a bargain.

[35 shooter]

Nice group and a very nice caliber choice. The TCs will flat shoot when you find the right load. I love my Encore in 35 whelen and i think the rcbs 200 gr. or the noe clone of it is hard to beat in a 35 cal. rifle.

The 35 rem. in a TC contender makes for a very compact and powerful combo!

[OnHoPr]

Nice little group.

[Hickok]

I had a .35 Rem. T/C Super 14 barrel some years ago and sold it. Another one of my BIG mistakes. It was a great deer and wild boar killer.

I really like that cartridge in the woods and thick timber.

If you can find some old Bob Milek articles on the .35 Remington in a Contender, he had a wealth of load data for this cartridge with jacketed bullets. He took the .35 Contender to Africa and flattened zebras with it.

I used H322 powder in my Contender with 200 gr. jacketed bullets ( as recommended by Milek) and got velocities nearly the same as Marlin 336 .35 Remington rifle velocities, if I recall correctly.

Might be a good powder for cast also.

[richhodg66]

I'll have to try the only filling the base lube groove. I have the NOE clone of the RCBS bullet and it shoots well in my .358 and has in one .35 Remington I shoot it in. Killed a nice doe with it in the .358 last year.