35 Whelen Load with 180gr Speer

[Camba]

Last saturday I made a ladder load for my tc encore 35 whelen using the speer 180 gr powerlock bullet over some AA2230 powder. I have not used this powder due to not so good results with other calibers.
Anyhow, since there is difficulty getting component for reloading, I decided to try the aa2230 and 180gr bullet combination.
I check my Speer #14 reloading manual and it has a min of 54gr (2671 fps) and a max of 58gr (2852 fps).
I decided to start at 56.5gr, next 57gr, and then the 58gr.
First group with the 56.5gr went to one hole with 3 bullets and last shot opened up to 1/2” at 100 yds.
I thought that I was not hitting the paper with some of the shot; but to my surprise, it is the best group I ever made with the 35 whelen.
I tried the next load (57gr) and I’ve got a flat primer. Since I already made such a nice tiny group, I stop the test and will be pulling those loads down to reuse the components.
I hope I can repeat that test and get similar or near that result.
Anyone have some good loads using the same bullet/powder components?
The primers I used were WLR standard primers.
I would love to find a similar load for my 358 win rifle too.
Camba


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RU shooter]

I'd try the 2230 in your 358 also . Back some years ago pre cast bullets i used it in +P loads in my bolt 35 Rem gave me better accuracy than H335 or other similar powders in that burn range seems like I didn't have to get it to near max pressures to get accuracy ,my loads were guessing in low to mid 40k range. My powder is the older version 15-20 yds old don't know if the formulation is different now or how it behaves

[Norske]

This from the Western Powders Handloading Guide: (35 Whelen) Fed 210 primer, Speer 180 gr bullet, starting load for AA 2230 is 51.3 gr, max load is 57 gr.

[Camba]

Wow!
That is a good discrepancy between reloading manuals. Some one said back in time that it is good to have multiple manuals. It makes sense.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk