loads for 35 whelen?

[stuffy]

Hi i,ve got my first whelen on order and I am looking for a starting point for loading lead bullets for it in two areas. A sub 180gr or less bullet for my walks in the scrub, ranges <150 metres and a load for a 250gr + load for taking north (water buffalo scrub bulls) Adi, alliant and Vihtavuori are the only powders readily available locally
Thanks in advance
Stuart

[missionary5155]

Good morning & WELCOME !!!
Good to have another Pacific Rim Caster about. I was flipping through my older Lyman Cast Book and there is no 35 Whelen info. That is one caliber I do not load for. But there will be several fellers that do.
How BIG are your Buffs over there ? Here in our high altitude desert (8000+) we have NO large critters roaming about. There a couple bulls but they escaped years ago and are content to stay far away for me on my 2 Wheeler.
Mike in Peru

[stuffy]

Thanks for the welcome Buffalo in Australia top out at a little over 1000kg

[Dean D.]

G'day Stuffy, welcome to the board!

I load for a .35 Whelen, I use the Lyman 358318 245gr. RNGC boolit. I have been working up a load using SR 4759 has been looking good on paper. I will check when I get home to find my data on those loads and edit this post later.

I do not have any .358 sub 180gr. boolit molds except for pistol boolits like a 158gr SWC.

[MT Gianni]

One of the quirks of the 35 bores is that often bullets of different weights print far apart. In my case, 220 gr vs 180 gr were 13" apart. I have found it useful to use a heavier bullet at 2 different speeds and live with the trajectory issues rather than changing weight frequently. I use surplus powder and can't really help with a load.

[Crooked Creek]

Hi Stuffy,
Welcome aboard ! I don't have a great deal of experience with the 35 Whelen, but I will share the little that I have. Mine is a Ruger M77 and the bullet mold I have is a Lyman #358008 that throws a nominal 280 gr. round nose gas check bullet. It should be great for deep penetration, even at modest velocities. I don't see it listed in the current Lyman offerings, so it may be tough to find. I think it is a good looking bulllet....see picture below. I have done no load development to attain optimum accuracy, velocity or any other particular attribute. I have only fired three five shot groups with it so, when looking at the group photos below keep that in mind, and I believe it will do much better if/when I take the time to get serious about fine tuning the loads and trying other powders. The bullet in the photo weighs 283 grs. as cast of 50/50 lino/WW.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u43/crookedcreek/35Wheleninfo001.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u43/crookedcreek/35Wheleninfo002.jpg
This is loading data from the Accurate manual #2, showing this particular bullet.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u43/crookedcreek/35Wheleninfo004.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u43/crookedcreek/35Wheleninfo005.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u43/crookedcreek/35Wheleninfo003.jpg

If the chrono data is not legible, or you have any questions, let me know.
Good luck with your Whelen,
Roger

[Barstooler]

I gave up trying to find a used Lyman .35 280gr mould and finally sent off to Mt. Molds and had a custom 280 gr. GC made for my Whelen.

It took 8 weeks to arrive and I have not had a chance to even start load development.

My Whelen is made on a re-bored 1903 Springfield Mk I, which has a 1:10 twist and should be able to handle the heavier bullets.

Should be fun!!

Barstooler