anybody have any of these carts? any better than the other. i had a whelen years ago, but when i bought it, it had serious headspace problems. would like to know whether to get the ackley or brown whelen? what exactly is involved in fireforming brass (charge size etc)?
35 whelen ackley/35 brown-whelen
- Thread starter m1978
- Start date
I'm having .35 Whelen built as we speak so I've been doing lots of reading and research on it lately. From what I've read from most people who had .35 Whelen AI is that it wasn't worth the trouble and you barely get an extra 50fps ove the regular version. For fireforming the brass to AI you just shoot regular .35 Whelen ammo and the expansion foms them to the AI chamber. I'm not sure about the Brown.
The Brown-Whelen is a .35 Whelen case that has had the shoulder moved ahead and the sides blown out in order to increase case capacity. The cases are formed by necking the regular Whelen case up to a larger diameter(.375?) then necking back down in a Brown-Whelen die. The effect is to create a false shoulder for the case to headspace on. The case is then loaded and fired in a Brown-Whelen chamber with the result that the case is fire-formed to the new dimensions.
It seems like a lot of fooling around for what I understand is a minimal gain over the regular Whelen.
It seems like a lot of fooling around for what I understand is a minimal gain over the regular Whelen.
35 Whelen, about 2550-2600 fps with 250 gr bullets, 35 Whelen AI, about 2600-2650 fps, 35 Brown Whelen, about 2650-2700 fps, 35 Gibbs, 2700-2750 fps. Your milage may vary. - dan
If you're using an early mauser action, best to stay with factory SAAMI level loadings in the regular whelen caliber or you may experience setback of the lugs - unless you gas carburize and re-harden the receiver, which I understand is difficult to get done here in Canada.
If you're using something more modern like a Win70 or Remmy 700 receiver, have at 'er!
If you're using something more modern like a Win70 or Remmy 700 receiver, have at 'er!
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Your "years ago" comment is a clear hint that yours was likely a poorly done custom chamber job. I've owned a couple of regular .35's with no problems, and fooling around with "improved" models requires the same remedies you would employ to work with an overly long regular chamber. Stick with the standard model and odds are you'll be happier - unless you just need to tinker, then have at it!
