35 Whelen 180 GS Customs and RL10X

[SJB358]

Well, I have had these bullets for quite awhile. Some good friends went through a bunch of work to send them, but I had been sitting on my duff. I ran some data and it looked like 10X was a good powder to try with 180's in the 35 Whelen and I had some, sooooo, I loaded them up. RP cases, CCI primers, etc.. Nothing special.

Reading their loading guide said to load 2 round charges and continue working them up to the speeds they said were attainable. I also seated them according to their instructions. I can't recall what it was now as it was a while since I loaded them up, but it was something about having at least 1 or 2 driving bands in the case..

Anyhow, this is what they looked like as 2 shot groups.















Speeds weren't super consistent until I started getting towards the upper end of the charges either. Matter of fact, you'll see in the chrono chart, they were sorta erratic in the lower end charges while accuracy certainly wasn't poor.. These were all fired with the MagnetoSpeed hanging off the nose as that was the priority for them at this point.



Still, for my initial shot at these bullets I can see a screamer of a load being available pretty easily. GS puts out great instructions for loading their bullets which I tried to follow as closely as possible. I don't have a ton of them to work with but will try to sort them out as I go along. I can see it being a very decent bullet and being a slick mono, might be very good. Seems weird to shoot such a light bullet, but the bullet is very sleekly shaped.

Anyhow, here are a couple pictures of what it looks like loaded up..

 

[kraky1]

Excellent report! About 15 or 20 years ago there was a quite a few people talking about these bullets and I got some in 270, 7mm, 30cal. I remember back then with shipping they were about a dollar a piece and that seemed really like a crazy price ....not so much today ....but back then it was. It sure seems like the raised ribs vs cut grooves like you see on so many bullets today would be a big friction reducer. I still have a few of those bullets and only shot some up sporadically. Based on what I saw on the chronograph I didn't really think they were necessarily that much slipperier than other bullets made here in America like cup and core bullets.
Years ago when Mr 2000 powder came out and was thought to be the holy grail velocity getter for 308 there was a guy that had a strain gauge hooked up to a 308 and was testing some different bullets with the new powder. I sent him a few of my GS customs and he ran over his chronograph and checked them with pressure. I only sent him five bullets because they were pretty pricey....guess I'm a tightwad! Anyhow his results compared to a cup and core bullet where that the GS were 50 feet per second faster but they also made about 3000 pounds more pressure.
I'm not sure how to balance all that or compare it to stickier bullets like bonded bullets or other mono metal bullets..... they usually peak pressure at less powder and a little slower than a cup and core. But I guess my takeaway is that once you see 50 feet per second more than other bullets you probably pretty well tapped out and might be just up a hair on pressure.

 

[SJB358]

Great info. Thank you..

 

[JD338]

Looks good Scotty. 55.0 grs is there making it a fast 30-06.
The heavier charges should come together with some COL tweeks.

JD338

 

[FOTIS]

I have to get on this.

I have GS Customs HV's in

85 gr for the 257 Bee
300 gr for the 378 bee
and 330 gr for the 416 bee

AND these expand down to 1200 fps or so

 

[SJB358]

I have to get on this.

I have GS Customs HV's in

85 gr for the 257 Bee
300 gr for the 378 bee
and 330 gr for the 416 bee

AND these expand down to 1200 fps or so

I am looking forward to running them into some jugs once I get a decent load worked out Fotis. They seem like very high quality bullets.

Where are you getting yours from?

 

[kraky1]

Here's one I'm betting you guys don't have lol

It's a pair of 130 s in my 7 30 waters for my contender pistol the one on the left is a Sierra

 

[SJB358]

Very cool Kraky.. Have you shot anything with them? If I could make them shoot, they might get a chance to hunt this Fall, maybe... It is a race between those and the 200 AB's..

 

[kraky1]

I've been taking care of a sick family member and havent been hunting for 4 years. I have a caretaker that gets me off for a few hours a few days a week though and get a little paper punching in once in awhile. That little contender will throw one inch groups of 100 yards if I do my part with almost any bullet your feed it .....it's really crazy. The 130 GS was no different story.... I'd have to check my records but I think it launches them around 2100 fps. It would really be fun some day to have the thirty pointer looking me in the face and I could run one from brisket to ham...... I think it would do it...lol!

 

[SJB358]

Here's to hoping you can do it buddy. Noble deal taking care of family. I'm sure you'll be rewarded for that in the future.

That 7-30 is a cool cat. Hope your able to count coup with it.

 

[FOTIS]

Here in the USA


http://www.gscustomusa.com/

 

[DrMike]

I let the few GS Custom bullets I had on hand slip away a year ago. They were interesting, but difficult to secure for a steady supply. That 55 grain load sure looks promising. Mind you, the velocity is not all that much lower than what you were seeing with the full charge. Could prove very attractive.

 

[truck driver]

Here's one I'm betting you guys don't have lol

It's a pair of 130 s in my 7 30 waters for my contender pistol the one on the left is a Sierra

Oops yeah I do, I had my TC 7-30 Waters muzzle braked and it screwed it up.

 

[kraky1]

Dang mine came with the factory muzzle brake and it's terribly loud...... I wish I wasn't there ....but it is a great shooter.
My 4570 contender has a factory break to..... it's also very loud and .....still kicks like a mule ...lol

 

[gerry]

That is a neat bullet. Should be able to get some pretty impressive speeds with a 180 gr bullet in a 35 Whelen.

 

[truck driver]

Dang mine came with the factory muzzle brake and it's terribly loud...... I wish I wasn't there ....but it is a great shooter.
My 4570 contender has a factory break to..... it's also very loud and .....still kicks like a mule ...lol

mine came with out and was 14" before the smith whacked 2" off for the brake and threaded it off center,the muzzle blast will rattle the nerves after while if range shooting. Shooting it off hand the recoil was a trip and would end up with the muzzle at 1:00 so you had to watch your over head but goodness that thing would shoot and as long as you could see the target you could hit it. Unbelievably flat shooting.