35 whelen brass question

[Blammer]

Ok after looking around for some 35 whelen brass and not being able to find any or it being crazy high priced I have some questions about my formed brass.

I took some Winchester 30-06 and necked it up to 35 and then fire formed it in my whelen.

Is the shoulder of this fire formed brass any softer compared to a "regular" factory 35 whelen brass?

the drag I'm getting on my expander ball is considerable and I was wondering if it may be affecting the shoulder area any?

I'm polishing my expander ball and cleaning the inside of the case neck to try to reduce drag/friction on it when resizing.

my formed brass is considerably shorter than the called for 35 whelen length.

[357maximum]

DJ

The shoulder area should actually be harder after the conversion...theoretically as I have no way to test such a thing.

I use .270 brass (rem preferably) for my 35whelen and it comes out to the right length. I did some with .280 rem brass and actually had to trim a bit for my chamber. Shaw barrel btw.

I find excellent accuracy with my 270 reformado whelen brass and it comes out dead on the money for my chamber's neck length. The bonus is around here .270 brass is very plentiful as more people drag a 270 to ye' ol hunting hooch than the 06. All 06 brass comes out too short for me so I use 270 exclusively and crunch the 06 into 7.65X53 now that I have that 1891 argentine mauser sporter.

I assume you are not using Hornady dies.....I sent my RCBS dies down the road as I prefer the expander ball as well as that excellent seater die. With the 270 brass I simply anneal and then fl resize in my whelen dies...one stroke conversion with the Hornady dies...........I like easy. :)

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I've made a lot of 35W brass out of 30-06 cases and its worked just fine. There is a fair amount of drag on the expander ball, but I am generous with the use of graphite which doesn't have to be cleaned up after. You could of course use a sizing lube, but then would have to clean the inside of necks afterward. Once fire-formed there is no problem with the shoulder. Even if the brass is a bit softer in the shoulder and I wouldn't know why that should be unless one annealed a bit too much.. but that area is not overly critical. I have not had a problem with resulting cases being shorter, but if they are, its not a worry as cases grow with use anyway and ultimately would have to be trimmed. You use "considerably" and even if that is .005 that is not a lot to worry about as it won't change much in terms of accuracy. The only difference between 06 and 35W is the neck diameter and once fire-formed or fired there should be no further problem. And other than the headstamp, the cases once fired should be identical. In the worst scenario a lot of wear on the expander ball...well the expense of a new one is nothing compared to what they want for new 35W brass or any brass these days. LLS

[Blammer]

all makes of my 06 brass, win, r-p and even milsurp come out too short. I'll have to give the 270 brass a try, once I get some.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Blammer, I have formed many .30/06 cases to .35 Whelen, and as others have said, .270s are even better because of the extra length. I was partial full-length sizing and began to experience misfires after about ten firings of 1700 fps cast loads. According to my case gauge the shoulder was moving back. The solution was to use a real neck sizing die. I now have formed cases that have been fired more than twenty times with the same moderate CB loads without any shoulder troubles. Whether the misfires would happen with fatory Whelen cases I can't say, because I reserve the factory cases for full power jacketed bulllet loads. My cast loads are with Lyman 358315, NEI 220358, and RCBS 35 200 FP, all with 20 gr. Alliant 2400 powder.

[snowwolfe]

You might save a few bucks by using 06 brass but then you really should fire form it to complete the process. So any savings is usually wasted in the fire forming process and then the brass is to short anyhow.

Cabelas sells Remington brass for $57 per 100 and has it in stock.

[Blammer]

well after some carefull measurements, I've discovered that if I necksize only 1/2 of the neck it doesn't touch the shoulder, I necksize 3/4 of it and it does touch the shoulder and shrink the dia .001.

that smaller dia is allowing the case to slip forward a tad I suppose, then the charge seals the case to the wall and the primer gets backed out that much.

I suppose I should only 1/2 neck size for now.

[phaessler]

Blammer, pm sent....

[Blammer]

thanks phaessler

[yondering]

It's normal to end up with short brass when necking 30-06 up to 35 Whelen. It also doesn't hurt anything.

[shotman]

I dont do the 35 but found that Military 06 works the best for the 338-06 It dont need annealed and dont split. also dont have a head stamp so you dont get booted from a gun club. I like the match brass but any seems to work if its not older than the late 50s

[nicholst55]

The Redding .35 Whelen FL die comes with a tapered expander, intended to neck anything 7mm or larger up to .35. I run my .270 brass through a .280 neck sizer first, or else I lose about 10% of it when forming .35 Whelen. Kind of a pain, bit one must only go through the process once.