.358 200 Gr Sierra RN PH @ 2560.

[ShadeTree]

Got a box of these in trade along with some 35 Rem cases for an old can of powder a while back. Unopened box of 50 and a price tag of $8.99, so OLD.

Finally got around to opening them up and discovered the lead was white and chalky on at least the exposed part you could see. Loaded some up in my Springfield rebored to a 35 Whelen. A sedate charge of 55 grains of H4895 and an OAL of 3.050 gave me an average of 2560 and they shot pretty darn good. Huh I says, might use these in the mix this yr.






Figured I'd better jug test them because for all I knew they might turn to dust when stressed. Set up gallon milk jugs at 20 yards. Didn't do bad at all...........laying just inside the 4'th jug. Shed 50% weight so ended up at 100 grains with probably another 25 grains or so of lead bits and chunks laying with the bullet and laying on the ground between the 3rd & 4th jug.

Measured .725 at the widest point.




Jacket peeled back even all the way to the base of the bullet. The peeling back of the bullet stopped at the base of the cannelure. In fact if you look at the 12:00 position you can see the cannelure in this picture. Other than the extra speed above a 35 Rem, with the slow 16 twist I ordered this rebore with, it's not overstressing this short bullet none. Will be a deer THUMPER.

 

[hunter24605]

Very cool, should thump anything pretty dang hard.

 

[DrMike]

I do believe that will work for you. Good job!

 

[JD338]

Indeed, that load will crush WT deer.
Welcome to the 35 Whelen club.

JD338

 

[wvbuckbuster]

You did good Jeff. Glad you didn't give up on your Whelen rebore. That load will smack em. Dan.

 

[ShadeTree]

You did good Jeff. Glad you didn't give up on your Whelen rebore. That load will smack em. Dan.

I was content for now to shoot that 70 grain round ball set up I use with it at around 1100 fps. Accurate and fun. The little bit I shot standard loads in it, it didn't shoot that well, and the rifleling looks like a bat cave when you look at it with a bore scope........not JES's fault as it's obvious the steel is a little soft in that barrel. So never worked with it much beyond initial testing, but according to what I'm seeing it might shoot decent after all despite the less than ideal bore.

Never used conventional bullets in it yet, but just the short bullets meant for a 35 Remington, since I have a lot of those. Makes it nice though when those shoot, as I can keep it loaded down, but still turbo charged compared to typical 35 Rem velocities, and with the slower twist I'm not trying to tear the jacket off of that short bullet.

 

[SJB358]

That should be a perfect woods sorta range Whelen load!

If the bore is a bit rough, try the Tubb's bullets in it. Might make you a believer.

 

[ShadeTree]

That should be a perfect woods sorta range Whelen load!

If the bore is a bit rough, try the Tubb's bullets in it. Might make you a believer.

I did.........that's why I say the steel is soft in this barrel and is probably why the rebore looked like a rats nest to start with. I think if I remember correctly I got through the first 2 segments of the progressively finer grit and after I cleaned it again I checked it with the borescope. I was shocked at what I seen.......pretty much removed the rifeling down to smooth 2" ahead of the start of the lands. Amazingly it still shoots the round ball experiment I use with it very well, and is not doing bad with these bullets. Might do well also with conventional longer bullets intended for cartridges like the Whelen, don't know, all I've used so far is the short bullets intended for the 35 Remington. Is what it is........I sent it out to JES and he done what he knows to do, not his fault the steel on this old barrel isn't up to snuff. Neither him nor I could've known that ahead of time.

 

[SJB358]

I did.........that's why I say the steel is soft in this barrel and is probably why the rebore looked like a rats nest to start with. I think if I remember correctly I got through the first 2 segments of the progressively finer grit and after I cleaned it again I checked it with the borescope. I was shocked at what I seen.......pretty much removed the rifeling down to smooth 2" ahead of the start of the lands. Amazingly it still shoots the round ball experiment I use with it very well, and is not doing bad with these bullets. Might do well also with conventional longer bullets intended for cartridges like the Whelen, don't know, all I've used so far is the short bullets intended for the 35 Remington. Is what it is........I sent it out to JES and he done what he knows to do, not his fault the steel on this old barrel isn't up to snuff. Neither him nor I could've known that ahead of time.

Ah okay. That makes sense!

 

[JD338]

I did.........that's why I say the steel is soft in this barrel and is probably why the rebore looked like a rats nest to start with. I think if I remember correctly I got through the first 2 segments of the progressively finer grit and after I cleaned it again I checked it with the borescope. I was shocked at what I seen.......pretty much removed the rifeling down to smooth 2" ahead of the start of the lands. Amazingly it still shoots the round ball experiment I use with it very well, and is not doing bad with these bullets. Might do well also with conventional longer bullets intended for cartridges like the Whelen, don't know, all I've used so far is the short bullets intended for the 35 Remington. Is what it is........I sent it out to JES and he done what he knows to do, not his fault the steel on this old barrel isn't up to snuff. Neither him nor I could've known that ahead of time.

Never heard of that happening ST. Good thing you used a bore scope when you did. Could have ended up becoming a shotgun.
It would be interesting to see how the heavyweight bullets like a Speer 250 gr Hotcore would shoot.
Are you considering a new barrel at some point?

JD338

 

[ShadeTree]

Never heard of that happening ST. Good thing you used a bore scope when you did. Could have ended up becoming a shotgun.
It would be interesting to see how the heavyweight bullets like a Speer 250 gr Hotcore would shoot.
Are you considering a new barrel at some point?

JD338

Yeah that's what I was figuring, just do a rebarrel at some point. Figured this one is a wash.......in the meantime I was content to use it with those 70 gr round balls I make up for it as it shoots those well and I got lots of other rifles to shoot. But if it's gonna show me what it is currently with the 35 Rem bullets I'll make use of it until the time comes that this barrel isn't holding up anymore.

At some point I'd like to try a longer conventional bullet in it just for curiosity's sake as much as anything. Don't need anything more than I got for whitetail, but you never know how stuff reacts.....might shoot them well despite the condition of the bore particularly at the start of it.