.35 Whelen

[machinegun]

I am in the process of obtaining a .35 Whelen and want to shoot cast bullets for accuracy. I have linotype so hard it will shatter when hit with a hammer. I also have hard lead that I use for casting pistol bullets up to 1,200 fps.
When using gas checks, how hard does my bullet have to be to shoot 2,200 - 2,500 fps?
My mould will cast roundnose bullets that are 280 gr. Would it be possible to get 2,200 - 2,500 fps out of it?
Has anyone had accuracy issues with this caliber? Does anyone have a pet load they could recommend for starters?

[James C. Snodgrass]

I've been shooting a lyman 204 rn gc at about 2k fps with a case full of WC 860. I shoots M.O.A or better . The alloy is water quenched WW and I'de guess fairly hard. Good luck James

[Johnw...ski]

I have been having excellent results with my .35 Whelen shooting 290 gr. and 245 gr. gas check boolits using 40.0 gr. of IMR 4064. That should be putting the 290 gr. just under 2000 FPS and the 245 gr. just over.

Good Luck,

John

[Johnw...ski]

Oh, the hardness is 12.5 Bn on both boolits. These are from Glenhills Cast Bullets.
As soon as I get my Saeco #352 mold I will be trying some of my alloy which is 15.0 Bn.

[jhalcott]

I have used the 358315 and 358318 molds in mine with great results. They are 204 and 245 grain bullets, gas checked round nosed. I have flatnosed them and got MUCH better terminal effects than with the round noses. My alloy is a Lyman #2 copy at 15BHN. I have shot them at over 2200 fps but 2000 seems to be a good compromise of recoil and accuracy. I would make an alloy that was about 13 to 16 BHN for hunting. For pure accuracy you CAN go harder, but I don't think it is really neccessary.

[NVcurmudgeon]

I am in the process of obtaining a .35 Whelen and want to shoot cast bullets for accuracy. I have linotype so hard it will shatter when hit with a hammer. I also have hard lead that I use for casting pistol bullets up to 1,200 fps.
When using gas checks, how hard does my bullet have to be to shoot 2,200 - 2,500 fps?
My mould will cast roundnose bullets that are 280 gr. Would it be possible to get 2,200 - 2,500 fps out of it?
Has anyone had accuracy issues with this caliber? Does anyone have a pet load they could recommend for starters?

MG, so far nobody has mentioned twist. My Lilja barrel is 1:16 which is good for average groups of 1.5" at 100 yd. shooting 200-250 gr. CB at 1400-1700 fps. Accuracy with 220-250 gr. jacketed bullets is slightly better. Others on this board have reported good accuracy with 280 gr. CB in rifles with 1:14 and 1:12 twists. I only use the velocity range you aspire to for serious hunting loads with jacketed bullets, but have noticed that the Saeco 352 is too much for my rifle.

[Johnw...ski]

I am shooting a 1 in 14" twist.

The Saeco 352 250 gr. and the Lyman 358009 290 gr. boolits will probably shoot at 2200 FPS or so in my rifle but I am finding that at what I am guessing is around 2100 FPS accuracy starts to go away. I do not have a chrono so I interpolate the load data to get velocity estimate.

As to accuracy, it means different things to different people, I look for MOA or at least very near MOA to consider a rifle and load accurate. That level of accuracy probably is not needed for hunting, I only shoot paper so a one hole group is the "game" I am trying to get.

As I mentioned in another reply 40.0 gr. IMR 4064 works well with either boolit, the 250 gr. giving near MOA so far and the 290 gr. is closer to 2 MOA with this load but shrinks to near MOA at 39.0 gr. IMR 4064.

However go to 43.0 gr. IMR 4064 with the 250 gr. boolit and the group at
100 yds.opens up to around 4" and since the groups with the 290 gr. boolits
was already opening up with 40.0 gr. I saw no need to increase it further.

IMR 4064 has worked best for me, I just started shooting this rifle about a month ago. I have tried IMR 4198, IMR 3031, Re 7, H 4895,




MG, so far nobody has mentioned twist. My Lilja barrel is 1:16 which is good for average groups of 1.5" at 100 yd. shooting 200-250 gr. CB at 1400-1700 fps. Accuracy with 220-250 gr. jacketed bullets is slightly better. Others on this board have reported good accuracy with 280 gr. CB in rifles with 1:14 and 1:12 twists. I only use the velocity range you aspire to for serious hunting loads with jacketed bullets, but have noticed that the Saeco 352 is too much for my rifle.

[Machinegunson]

Machinegun,
Make sure you get that 35 Whelen shooting tight groups by this fall. I need a good rifle up here in ND. :kidding: