35 Whelen Progress Report

[TCTex]

Thanks for the report"s"!!!!

I fells good seeing others say "un-very nice things" and progress forward.


I have run probably 350+ rounds threw my 35-06JDJ trying to get my 358009 to shoot anything but a shotgun patern. FWIW, I am running water quinched WW's at 2100 out of my 16.5 in barrel with IMR 4064.

What primers have you tried?

Duane

[TXGunNut]

I would think that even if you do not have a bunch of expansion it is still a .358 Hole at the smallest. . Go to the boiler room and I am sure there will not be a problem. -JesterGrin1


Excellent point, I've always said if you want a big hole start with a big boolit. My first CB kill was with that RD boolit in a 45-70 Guide Gun. Little doe didn't get the memo, went 25 yds into heavy brush, stopped bleeding and made a hard left for another 25 yards. Toughest track I can recall; she travelled less than 50 yds but we found her after two hours of tracking, backtracking and circling with flashlights in some pretty thick S TX brush.

[TXGunNut]

Thanks for the report"s"!!!!

I fells good seeing others say "un-very nice things" and progress forward.


I have run probably 350+ rounds threw my 35-06JDJ trying to get my 358009 to shoot anything but a shotgun patern. FWIW, I am running water quinched WW's at 2100 out of my 16.5 in barrel with IMR 4064.

What primers have you tried?

Duane

It's all fun, Duane, and our private range maintains a family-friendly atmosphere. If I could open a book (oops, access a website ) and find a 100% surefire recipe for a CB rifle load for any and all rifles I would have lost interest long ago. I like the 358009, just not mad enough at my shoulder or any TX game to try it (yet). Almost got in on that last group buy but passed at the last moment. I have 4064 and Varget and a few other powders in that class, my current 30-06 is a big fan of H4350 but for now I'm using powders a fair bit faster in the 35 Whelen and the 35 Rem.
I'm supplementing my favorite 210M primers with RP 9 1/2's; a sentimental favorite. I haven't gotten to primer testing yet, will explore that as other things progress.
What's your 4064 load?

[TCTex]

1st, my 35-06 has been a true "puppy dog in heat." I have never had so much grief over a barrel as I have this one. The best "I" could do with jacketed bullets as 1.5 in at 100. Long story short, If this barrel had not been a fully custom SSK barrel its fate might have been very different.

My pet load for my 35-06 JDJ (35 Whelen AI) is 51 gr 4064 and a Win primer. I have tried Fed, CCI, and Win primers with this barrel FWIW. Went threw JD's recommendation of RL 15 and Varget and even tried classic IMR & H 4895. This barrel produced the best results with 4064. Then went and tried both .358 an .359 bullets with the two top performing primers and 4064. After that I tried two different lubes.

So far my load is 51gr 4064 with Felix lube sized at .359 with aluminum GC's. It took me a couple of months of going out weekly to work on this barrel, but it was worth the efforts.

There is no doubt in my mind you know how to work up a load, just sharing what I went threw with mine. On the flip side, I only have 15 in of rifling and I have found that pet loads for cast bullets don't always work as well. I can go to "a" reloading manual and usually get 2000 when I use data for loads in the 2300 range, but accuracy is a poopy shoot.

FWIW

Duane

[TXGunNut]

A slower powder like 4064 is very tempting, seems to make good sense. I'm impressed that it works so well in a shorter barrel. 4064 was my go-to powder for this rifle as a 30-06 until Varget came along. Should also do well under that new 360-230 Thor boolit I hope to be casting this weekend.

[taco650]

All the 35Whelen loads I've seen posted in legit manuals show them using faster powders overall than the 30-06. I came up with a good shooting load for my Ruger 30-06 with 4064: 46gr under a 220gr Sierra RN. The recoil was more of a push than a kick and the 220gr RN would plow through a lot of stuff. Put three through a nice Blacktail buck years ago. He took four steps and fell dead. Heart was in little chunks but exit was about the size of a quarter. Shot was really close, like <10yds. Sorry for the hijack.

Back to 35 Whelen now

[JesterGrin_1]

Let me get this straight you shot 3 220 Gr Sierra RN's into the same buck? Were you worried that you did not have enough gun lol.

All the 35Whelen loads I've seen posted in legit manuals show them using faster powders overall than the 30-06. I came up with a good shooting load for my Ruger 30-06 with 4064: 46gr under a 220gr Sierra RN. The recoil was more of a push than a kick and the 220gr RN would plow through a lot of stuff. Put three through a nice Blacktail buck years ago. He took four steps and fell dead. Heart was in little chunks but exit was about the size of a quarter. Shot was really close, like <10yds. Sorry for the hijack.

Back to 35 Whelen now

[TXGunNut]

Have some HT'd RD boolits loaded up for tomorrow and the 360-235 Thor mould from JT was waiting in my POB tonight. Nice looking mould! I'll give the harder RD boolits a try tomorrow, will chrono some if the weather co-operates. If it doesn't I'll cast some from the new mould and shoot anther day. It's all good!

[JesterGrin_1]

It shows that it should Rain Saturday lol. Maybe you should Melt those Ranch Dogs back down and make some THOR'S and make it THUNDER .

Sorry could not resist lol.

[TCTex]

Well, I'm in North Texas and no rain yet...


I was able to get out and shoot a few 35-06 JDJ fireform loads from 35 Whelen brass. 42gr of IMR 4895. Accuracy is "OK" at best, but they are fun to burn. Registered 1650 over chrony at 20 yards.


Duane

[taco650]

Let me get this straight you shot 3 220 Gr Sierra RN's into the same buck? Were you worried that you did not have enough gun lol.

I was young and foolish. At least I can say I'm older now...

[TXGunNut]

Rain on N edge of FT Worth a few hours ago, my range is N of Denton so no issues with shooting or Chrony. The RD boolits did OK today, ES was 231 and AVG was 2249. Much better group as well, two 5rd groups of one load it seems to like with four rounds at 2" or a little bigger and a fifth flyer in each string. Amazing what a difference a little HT makes. Think I need to do a short ladder to see what a little tweaking will do, could do some primer testing as well. 35 Rem didn't like the hard boolit, tho. It liked it better when it was HT 50/50 with a touch of tin. My old load had an ES of 55, AVG 2103 but accuracy was very poor. Scored some IMR 4895 @ Cabelas today, just in time to load some under a few of those Thor boolits I hope to cast tomorrow.

[TXGunNut]

WooooooHoooo! Got a pile of those Thors cast, still need to size & heat treat. Wonder how fast I can go with LLA on a GC'd GG boolit?

[Artful]

Now that's a knock 'em flat looking boolit

[taco650]

WooooooHoooo! Got a pile of those Thors cast, still need to size & heat treat. Wonder how fast I can go with LLA on a GC'd GG boolit?

Nice!lovebooli

[35 shooter]

TxGunNut those are awesome looking boolits...congrats on the new mould. I was breaking in a new mould today also. My first aluminum mould... a NOE 200 fngc rcbs clone. Guess that makes two happy campers.
As far as the lla i got no leading all the way to 2500 fps with 2 to 3 coats and good accurracy but i would get a flyer every now and then kind of in a random way.....purging?

I've been running simple lube lately in all my 35 whelen loads and the only flyer i get is the first shot out of a clean bbl or if i swab between groups. The good thing so far is the flyer is always straight up 1 to 2 inches, so it can be adjusted for in a hunting situation as long as i'm aware of it. Also experimenting with Ben's Red with 5% more bees wax. Thinking about loading one round with 4 to 5% less powder for the first shot from a clean bbl in a hunting situation to keep it in the group and not have to adjust for it. Again this is in MY rifle yours may shoot the lla just fine.

Good luck with that new boolit, sure looks like a thumper.

[TXGunNut]

Thanks, 35 shooter. Broke in a NOE 311041 mould today as well, he makes an awesome mould as well. Couldn't get it to work last time but I scrubbed it down & lubed it again, finally got it to work. Other than RD moulds it was my first custom mould but I have several aluminum moulds now, awesome little machines. The 200 fngc looks like a fine boolit and should serve you well, if I didn't have the RD 359-190 I'd be ordering the NOE RCBS clone....unless he offers the RD mould.

[35 shooter]

TxGunNut i can't get that Thor boolit out of my head. I can't wait till the weekend so i'm taking the morning off and head to the range tommorrow with the new NOE boolits to try em out. I already know how well the RCBS boolits shot , so i expect same same or maybe better.

Point of it is i can't wait for you to try those Thors. I'll be looking for THAT report. Hope it's soon!!

[TXGunNut]

Weather permitting I'll send a few downrange this weekend. Will size & HT them tomorrow night, lube & check them Thursday. May be able to get two coats of LLA dry by Sunday, we'll see.
What powder is working for you, 35 shooter? 3031 and RL7 are showing promise; thinking about 4064 and Varget.

[35 shooter]

Weather permitting I'll send a few downrange this weekend. Will size & HT them tomorrow night, lube & check them Thursday. May be able to get two coats of LLA dry by Sunday, we'll see.
What powder is working for you, 35 shooter? 3031 and RL7 are showing promise; thinking about 4064 and Varget.

H 4895 has been the all around work horse with the 200 gr. rcbs boolit. It beat IMR 4895 by a long
shot in this rifle. Although 48 grains of the IMR did shoot just over an inch at 100 yds. Also 4759 with a dacron filler
(1 grain) has worked well from 1800fps to 2200fps. 3031 shot well at 48 grains with the 200 grain boolit for 2500fps according to the Lyman manual.That load stays in 1 inch all day if i do my part and so does 48 grains of H4895.
Of course no filler with those loads. I've shot up to 51 grains of the H4895 and it was still shooting about 1 1/2 inches on avg. RL7 sounds good to me and also want to try the 4064 just to see if i can go a bit faster just for fun.
Now to see if this NOE boolit shoots those same loads. May have to start all over with my luck.