35 Whelan

[jim1979]

PROBLEM FIXED
HE TRIED ONE OF MY"DUMMY"ROUNDS AND HAD NO ISSUES. IT DROPPED IN EASILY AND BOLT CLOSED WITHOUT PROBLEMS
MUST HAVE BEEN THE ORIGINAL OWNER/RELOADER WHO HAD SOMETHING GO ASKEW AS YOU ALL MENTIONED
THANKS AGAIN TO ALL
JIM D




A friend of mine has picked up a Whelan.
It has a model 98 Action and a douglas bbl.
He says he is reloading both necked up 30-06 brass and Rem 35 Whelan brass and has issues.
He says he almost has to hammer the bolt to get it to close. He has RCBS dies and wonders if they are undersized???
I shoot a Whelan on a Rem 700 Action and reload for it and have not had any of these issues.
Any one out there with some trouble shooting tips?
Please reply
thanks All in advance
Jim D
jim1979

 

[DANCESWITHEMPTIES]

1st: Have the rifle head spaced.
2nd: Check the overall length of the cartridge.
3rd: Compare the two lengths.

This will probably highlight the issue.

 

[H4831]

After he sizes a case he should try to put it in the chamber. If it goes in and the bolt closes normal, then the problem is in the loading and seating.
I will guess that a sized case will not chamber. If it doesn't, there are at least three probable reasons why it won't.
1) The seating die, under the tough pressure of resizing, is not being held perfectly tight to the shell holder, meaning the case was not full length resized. Rectify this.
2) The shoulder is being pushed back, but because of old, hard brass, the shoulder is springing forward as the case is removed from the die. Anneal the cases.
3) And this one is common! When the neck expanding ball is pulled out of the neck there is so much pressure on it that the shoulder is being pulled forward a bit. Solution? Properly lubricate the inside of the neck before sizing.
Obviously, it could easily be a combination of all three reasons why his bolt won't close on a new cartridge.

 

[Bigbore 35]

Yes you have to anneal the brass before running it through the dies. Make sure you are full length sizing when you are using brass fired from another rifle. I own a 35 WHELEN in a RUGER m77 and I full length size all my odd brass. I also use RCBS DIES with no issues.

 

[WhelanLad]

Hey Bigbore 35, what projectiles do you use mostly of which weight?

im just grabbing some Hornadys to try out in 250gr, '
the norm is 225Woodleigh RN although I want a cheaper projie to shoot around for a while an take the Whelen back to its roots... Up close an personal Thumper..

Im using Varget. interested to hear your loads?
fwiw I FLS RP brass but in the beginning necked up .270 brass
WL

 

[hoytcanon]

Whel"E"n...

See H4831's post...

Also, is the full length of the forward bolt travel stiff? Or, only at the end of the bolt travel, when seating the bullet and locking down the handle?