Best 35 whelen dies for converting military 3006 brass

[afish4570]

Lee, RCBS, & Hornady , in that order, lowest to highest price. Redding the costliest. Lee and RCBS seem to be the most available.Getting ducks in order to have a 3006 Ruger 77 tang safety model rebored by JES 3 groove, 1-14 twist. Will be using the 200 gr. RCBS bullet mold which I have. Any experience and recommendations on die selection appreciated. afish4570

[Mk42gunner]

The only Whelen dies I have is the RCBS two die set. The neck expander has a long taper on it that will work for any -06 based case from about .270 Win on up.

I have zero complaints about the die set I have, although I usually use factory headstamped brass. I have next to no milsurp .30-06 brass, so it isn't a big deal to me. I have tried expanding a few commercial .30-06 cases, just to make sure the process would work.

Robert

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I have been using Lee dies and they have worked ok for me. I also use them for loading the 35. No problems. I do anneal the necks before expanding the cases. LLS

[ChristopherO]

I charged primed 30/06 military brass with a small amount of pistol powder, filled up the case with cream of wheat (cow) and plugged it with toilet paper at the mouth. Walked outside and pulled the trigger. After this procedure any good set of dies work well. Then reload the brass with 35 caliber bullets on hand and you will have 35 Whelen rounds ready to go.
Yes, the cow did expand the case necks and shoulders well enough and the first full loading shot accurately, too. After shooting the completed Whelen rounds, though, the shoulders were sharper and more defined, as expected.