Look who found their way home.

ShadeTree

Handloader
Mar 6, 2017
3,515
3,019
My 03 Springfield with a barrel that had seen its better days, must of got tired of not being payed any attention to, and ran off. Not sure who she was out galavanting around with, but showed up back home with a bigger bore and a new tattoo. :unsure::D





 
Well, while she was playing around, things must have gotten weird for her to be sporting a bigger bore and a new tattoo. Maybe it's for the better. Actually looks rather nice.(y)
 
Well, while she was playing around, things must have gotten weird for her to be sporting a bigger bore and a new tattoo. Maybe it's for the better. Actually looks rather nice.(y)
Ha. Thanks. Need another rifle project like a new hole in my head, but it was finally make the decision to do something with it, or else there it would sit. The one nice thing is I already done all the work before bedding it and free floating the barrel etc, back when it was a 30-06, so it should be ready to roll.

I specifically requested the slower 1 in 16 twist as I plan to do a lot of learning and experimenting with cast bullets with it. Jesse assured me that twist would also handle up to 250 grains easy with conventional jacketed bullets.
 
Yeah, the 16 twist will handle the 250 gr pills. I built two Whelens--one with a 14 twist and the other with a 12 twist. They will handle the heavier bullets, but it isn't clear that I gained all the much over the more traditional 16 twist. Normally, I'd be suspicious if my girl showed up with a tramp stamp, but I kinda like that one.:giggle:
 
ST,
I have a 700 Classic 35 Whelen that I bought new in '88. She is a shooter and has accounted for 18 bucks.
I've gone from the 225 gr PT to the 250 gr PT. Wii RL15, I'm getting 2585 fps and sub MOA accuracy.
It's a hammer.
You are going to have fun with your Whelen.

JD338
 
I found a neat custom Mauser in .35 Whelen at a gun show. It was so well done I didn't even haggle on the price. Oberndorf Mauser action, 24" barrel, 1 in 14" twist and shoots the 225 gr. Barnes TSX into half inch groups at 2710 FPS with my handloads. Kills elk dead right there. I haven't seen the need to try anything else in that rifle. I have shot Speer and Hornady 250 gr. bullets i a Ruger M77 and a Remington M700 Classic chambered to the whelen but when I got that Mauser, the other two stayed at home.
Paul B.
 
Thanks fella's. At some point I will experiment with it's full potential as a Whelen, but for now I'll start out experimenting with cast bullts, and I'll also try a reduced load with the 180 Speer FP's I have on hand.

I necked up forty 30-06 cases before I got it back. They were all older previously fired cases. I annealed them first, then used a Lee 8x57 stem in my Lee 348 die, then went from that to my 348 stem, then through the Whelen die. Didn't lose a single case doing it that way.

Just for kicks I tried necking up 2 that were not annealed and went straight from 30-06 to 35 Whelen. They sized up easy enough but 1 of the 2 split the neck wide open. In the future I might try going straight to the Whelen die with annealed cases and see what it does. Might just lose a few that way, or maybe none, don't know.
 
I take it this is a JES rebore with cut rifling so since you plan on shooting lead and cast bullets you might consider using powder coated lead bullets till you smooth out the bore.
Powder coated bullets will cut down on lead fowling the barrel and will also cut down on the smoke from burning lubricants.
 
Thanks fella's. At some point I will experiment with it's full potential as a Whelen, but for now I'll start out experimenting with cast bullts, and I'll also try a reduced load with the 180 Speer FP's I have on hand.

I necked up forty 30-06 cases before I got it back. They were all older previously fired cases. I annealed them first, then used a Lee 8x57 stem in my Lee 348 die, then went from that to my 348 stem, then through the Whelen die. Didn't lose a single case doing it that way.

Just for kicks I tried necking up 2 that were not annealed and went straight from 30-06 to 35 Whelen. They sized up easy enough but 1 of the 2 split the neck wide open. In the future I might try going straight to the Whelen die with annealed cases and see what it does. Might just lose a few that way, or maybe none, don't know.
Shade I use a RCBS FL sizer die necking up 30-06 brass to 35 Whelen with no problems. I anneal the necks then lube inside the necks before running thru the die with Imperial sizing lube. Haven't lost any yet. You might have had a couple of weak cases. Dan.
 
Dan, just lost that one and that was testing sizing 2 cases up with no annealing just to see what it would do. Took the extra steps with the annealed cases on the first 40 as I had plenty of time and didn't want to deal with overstressing them in one go. I'll try a single step up in one go with annealed cases when I get to where I need more. Thanks.

Hopefully be able to test it out in a week or so. Very anxious to try it out. Crappy weather here now and I'm waiting on a different set of rings than what I had on it before.
 
I take it this is a JES rebore with cut rifling so since you plan on shooting lead and cast bullets you might consider using powder coated lead bullets till you smooth out the bore.
Powder coated bullets will cut down on lead fowling the barrel and will also cut down on the smoke from burning lubricants.
Yep a JES rebore. I'm gonna start out running some Speer's through it to get an idea of how it shoots and I'll see how bad or not it's coppering up and go from there. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Though not for rifle I do powder coat pistol bullets to eliminate leading in my custom 1911s .
My custom .38 spl wad gun leads with soft lead full wad cutters and powder coating has eliminated the problem.
The one recovered was from the 50yd berm as you can see the powder coating stayed on the bullet.
the poly coating is very tough.
 

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Thanks TD, I'll keep all that info in mind and see what all I get into as I go along.

I'm planning on experimenting quite a bit with this setup with cast bullets, unless it just isn't working out to do so. I of course will also shoot conventional bullets as mentioned above, but it's gonna have to impress me in one form or another to substitute it as a front runner for hunting in 35 caliber. I really like my 760 in 35 Remington. I've very quickly gained a ton of confidence in that setup both in load consistency on target, and using it in the woods. Perhaps this will change my mind.......should be a lot of fun regardless. I can shoot cast cheap. Looking forward to the fun!
 
JES does wonderful work. I stopped by one day just to chat with him in his shop and he's and nice as his work is good.
 
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