.35 Remington Contender

[Lonegun1894]

I have a 14" .35 Remington Contender barrel coming. Does anyone have any recommendations on a mold, or any thoughts on the caliber in general? Seems to me like it should be an excellent deer and hog round, but that is based on reading since I don't have any experience with it, yet. Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

[historicfirearms]

I just got one too, so won't be of much help. I have tried a few of the RCBS 35-200-FN boolits and had to size mine to .3585" to get them to chamber when crimped in the crimp groove. My other 35 is a Marlin 336 that I size this boolit at .360". This barrel seems like a perfect deer hunting tool.

[pietro]

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Although I didn't load for it, the .35 Rem Contender I had, put down (large - 200 +/- lbs) Maine whitetails as is normal for any .35 Rem.

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[Hickok]

The 35 Rem will put down deer, bear and hogs easily.

I always regretted getting rid of my 35 Rem T/C barrel.

Use a good 200 gr boolit and try H-322 powder. I could push 200gr slugs right near rifle velocities in a 14" barrel with H-322.

[357Mag]

Lonegun -

Howdy !

It's an interesting time for you to be starting-out w/ a .35 Rem.

Remington has ceased making brass for this case, and Hornady brand seems to be the most available brand; now.

Lyman's load data is pretty reliable. IMR 3031 is always a good choice. Ther newer IMR4166 also looks like a potential winner; in .35 Rem.


With regards,
357Mag

[Tatume]

Grumpa here on this forum makes excellent 35 Remington cases. He does a lot of work, and I don't see how he can sell them for the price he charges.

I second the RCBS 35-200-FN, it was made for the 35 Remington, and nobody I know has anything but high praise for it. I like mine so much I bought the 348-200-FN for my 348 Winchester Stevens/CPA 44-1/2.

[jhalcott]

It is a powerfull round and great for smalll/medium game. I've used heavy handgun bullets for small game.

[tward]

Perhaps take a look at the Lee 358-200gr. Looks like a winner for heavy 357, 357 max and 35 Remington. A 2 banger is cheap from Titan reloading, so no big investment. Tim

[JSH]

I would advise reading a bit on this cartridge on this platform. There could be issues with misfires because of generous chambering habits of TC.
On the other hand if brass is hard to come by or unavailable all together there are options, a wild cat of sorts. Go to a rimmed case, 303 British or the 30-40 Krag. And, if the right person that opens the face of the barrel up and modifies the extractor properly, all three will work fine. Providing you size the rimless case properly. In a nut shell, you want a bit of shoulder "crush". Bellm explains it fairly well. However his thoughts on sizing all TC brass don't work well for me. I think he runs right at a factory load pressure or possibly above a bit.
There are some that say that the 357 max can out do the 35 Remington, these are usually the same ones that say the 30x221 equal, or come close to the 30-30. When pressures are equal yes, maybe. When case capacity is used to its best the smaller ones lag behind, even more so with heavier bullets.
My 35 Remington R, is a favorite of mine. It can be used with lighter HP's a a a varmint round, and with standard 180-200+ for larger critters.
Jeff

[Lonegun1894]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Keep it coming. This one sounds like it's a very versatile combination, but takes a bit of careful reloading. That's ok though, I am used to that dealing with some of my other toys too. Load em the way they want, and they will amaze you, but feed em factory spec stuff, and they're nothing to write home about.

I ordered some brass, dies, and the RCBS 35-200-FN, so that should be getting here about when the barrel does. I can't wait.

[kenyerian]

http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/index.php?cid=172& Bellm Tc pages is a great source of information on issues with accuracy and other problems you may encounter if you like to shoot Contenders. 35 Remington is a great cartridge but can be very finicky in a contender as it is a rimless case and it headspaces on the shoulder.

[kenyerian]

RCBS 38-162-SWC 158gr was the mold I used to use for general target shooting with the 35 Rem. My nephew has it now . I also had a RCBS 35-200-FN 208gr for hunting. Not sure who has it.

[Lonegun1894]

Sounds like I need to keep in mind that I may need to fireform all my brass and then necksize only.

[Tatume]

The Contender works best with correctly full-length resized ammunition. Take the barrel off the gun, so the extractor can be pushed in flush with the breech. Size a case and drop it into the chamber. Run the pad of your finger over the breech. The case should be a few thousandths of an inch below the breech. Flush will work, but there will always be some variation in length, and the occasional case that is a thousandth proud may fail to fire (the Contender is deliberately sensitive to correct ammo length, and will not fire if ammo is not correct). When you have the length set so that the pad of your finger tells you case heads are just barely below flush, lock the ring.

When you reload this ammunition you will find that the die is just barely touching the shoulder of the case. It does not set the shoulder back, which would cause misfires. It does not allow the shoulder to move forward, which would also cause misfires. With a correctly set full-length sizing die you will find the 35 Remington cartridge works just fine in the Contender.

[Hickok]

Size the brass so the barrel closes properly and you are good to go. Like Tatum is saying. When you get the cases/headspace set correct, you will never have a bit of trouble.

If you cant find any brass, just buy 2 boxes of factory loads, as 40 pieces of brass will last forever when you get the sizing die set right. 40 rounds off the bench with a 200 gr boolit will be all you want at one session.

If you don't already have one, get a Pachmayr rubber grip, and throw the stock grip away.

[Tatume]

There is widely propagated advice to the effect that cases should be sized so that the Contender must be snapped closed. This is bad advice. What is happening here is the gun is being used as a sizing die. It is abusive of the gun, and will also result in misfires. Correctly sized ammunition will allow the gun to be closed normally. If fact, it should be exactly the same as closing the gun with an empty chamber. This will lead to 100% reliable ignition and long life for the Contender.

[Hickok]

Correct you are Tatume. I should rephrase my post and say "properly".

[Viper225]

I have a 35 Bullberry which is very close to a 35 Remington Rimmed. The cases are easily made from either 375 Winchester or Starline 38-55. As said above H322 is probably the best powder for top loads. Another bullet mold that should work well is the NOE 360-180. From my mold the bullet comes out at .360, so it should size to .358 or .359. This means the bullet will work in either .357 barrels (357 Maximum) or .358 barrels (35 Remington) when sized correctly for the application. My bullets with Hornady Gas Checks and Caranuba Red bullet lube weigh in at 188 grains.
I have used 180 SSP's for years. Updated Information: Per the bullet testing done by gunsmith David White, the 180 SSP is not likely to expand very well on deer, especially if not shoulder shot. The 180 SSP has had a pretty good track record on game. This is probably due to good bullet placement by handgun hunters with Contenders and XP's, not stellar bullet performance. The 180 XTP should perform much better in a J word bullet on deer from a Contender. Other good bullets are the Remington 158 SP and 180, as well as the Hornady 158 FP XTP.

Good luck with your barrel. I would consider changing it to the Rimmed version also.

Bob

[Ed K]

Updated Information: Per the bullet testing done by gunsmith David White, the 180 SSP is not likely to expand very well on deer, especially if not shoulder shot.

I had not seen David White's testing. What I had seen ran more to the other end of the spectrum:

170488

This is a fairly comprehensive look at the 35 Rem (in a Marlin): http://www.suitorsgarage.com/gunstuff/35remington/35rempart2b.html

[35remington]

Not true that the 180 SSP is likely to expand poorly on deer. As the guy who did the testing in the picture above, the 180 SSP is very expansive bullet and specifically designed to expand at lower velocities. SSP stands for "Single Shot Pistol…..thus lending credence to the fact that it does well in pistol length barrels. This should not be surprising as that is its purpose.

The skiving on the jacket is extensive, and it expands more easily than any comparable bullet. More so than the regular 35 Remington bullets do. Again…..not surprising.

[JSH]

"Take the barrel off the gun, so the extractor can be pushed in flush with the breech."
Not totally correct, the extractor will give a false feeling of it being fully chambered. If one wants to really do it properly the extractor should be removed. This goes for all rimless cases on the TC platforms and other designs as well.
If one doesn't want to remove the extractor, a bit of soot on a case from a candle can tell you a lot if you know what your looking at.
By no means of my crush fit did I mean for it to resize the case. Necked up a caliber,.375 and then back down will set the shoulder properly, thus a some what of a crush fit.
More times than not in my findings on the 35 Remington in the TC's, the chamber is a bit long, which in turn makes the brass a bit short. Drop the hammer on one and it miss fires because the inertia drives the short case into the chamber. The only thing that holds the case back is the extractor. This in turn if the round fires makes the case slide back against the breach and case growth will occur at the web rather than the should or body and you end up with short case life and separated heads.
There is another way. That is to seat a bullet out to engage the lands or throat, settling the bullet when the action closes. This may or may not work with the TC as most throats are longgggg. A full wad cutter can be of some value here.
As I mentioned above, Bellm explains the whole thing in depth.
FYI, the rimmed version gives 100% ignition. But it in no way replaces improper fire forming methods.

[tctender]

The 35 rem was the first tc barrel i had. I used the load in Hodgon manuel with H322 and got very good velocity and accurracy with the 200 gr bullets. I later had it rechambered to 358 JDJ as i wanted a little more power but did not actually need it. I killed the biggest deer (11 point) i have ever taken with the 35 with a bang flop. Since rechambering i have thought many times about getting another 35 barrel. I now have several barrels but still thinking about the 35 for old times sake. I full length sized my brass and never did have any of the problems you hear about the misfires with the 35.It is a good caliber although the brass is getting harder to find. That is true with a lot of the Remington cases now as brass from them is hard to find in several calibers.

[Tatume]

"Take the barrel off the gun, so the extractor can be pushed in flush with the breech."
Not totally correct, the extractor will give a false feeling of it being fully chambered. If one wants to really do it properly the extractor should be removed. This goes for all rimless cases on the TC platforms and other designs as well.
If one doesn't want to remove the extractor, a bit of soot on a case from a candle can tell you a lot if you know what you're looking at.
By no means of my crush fit did I mean for it to resize the case.

Yes, totally correct. If your barrel headspaces on the extractor, your gun and cartridges are not set up correctly. The cartridge shoulder should be in contact with the shoulder in the chamber, with or without the extractor in place. If you have to remove the extractor to set up the ammunition, what is going to happen when you want to actually use the gun? I guess you could use a cleaning rod to remove cases.

"Crush fit" means resizing the case in the gun. You can't say you "crushed" the case when you closed the gun, but you didn't push the shoulder back.

[JSH]

I wash my hands of the subject.
Sorry to try to be of help. I have been playing with the TC platform for over 30 years. When IHMSA was still running hard I was shooting 3-4 TC's a match, 3 weeks out of the month. Shooting more in a month than most do in a year. I sure thought I had learned something by now, I guess not.

[Lonegun1894]

I appreciate all the advice y'all are giving, and you are all teaching me a lot. I'm sorry I picked a chambering that seems to cause so much disagreement though.