OK, finish barrel at 22" and go with a 1:14 twist, 16 is OK up to 250gn bullets though.
May want to consider a brake, I don't know who does Mag-Na-Porting anymore.
Advice for first build in 35 Whelen?
- Thread starter Potshot21
- Start date
OK, finish barrel at 22" and go with a 1:14 twist, 16 is OK up to 250gn bullets though.
May want to consider a brake, I don't know who does Mag-Na-Porting anymore.
The 35 whelan has been around a very long time ... and for good reason. I have a pair of Newton rifles which came with a couple spare barrels including a 35 Whelan and a 257 Roberts .... I am betting they are older than most on this forum.
The 35 whelen was and is referred to as the poor mans magnum. It was the american counter to the more expensive british 375hh. Can be made from any 3006 rifle with a mere barrel swap. 3006 brass can be used to form it. It has both light pistol bullets and heavier med range bullets for big game hunting and even heavy for cal bullets like the 310 gr woodlieghs. Cup and core bullets work great in it thru the velocity range. The greater frontal area really shines on game. It equals or bests the original rigby 350 and it had a darling reputation in africa and india. Its named after a great peer of the shooting world and lastly looking at the empty cases the 35 leaves an imposing and impressive hole. Not like the 458wm but still much larger than your buddies 3006s and 7mm's. My vote is build the whelen. Ill be adding one to my collection as its a perfect match to my 2506 and balances perfectly as the medium to my 458. So maybe im a little biased
Or maybe....
Nice! I am a very big admirer of Newton and his developments. I currently shoot two 35 caliber rifles .. a 350 RM Model 700 and a 35 Whelan 7600 ... I consider myself an average shooter but I am always surprised at how well (and how consistently) these 35 Calibre rifles shoot factory or reloads. If I was thinking of a .338 I would probably get a .338 Win Mag ... actually have two of them but really dont shoot them as I should. And for medium/larger game North American hunting purposes I can’t imagine a better calibre than .35 although there are others as good of course.
Well, here I am a number of years later and still no rifle built! Hoping to get cracking on this project finally now that I have time and some spare change again.
Kind of looking for a sanity check to ensure my plan is good and pick the brains of some knowledgeable folks here on CGN.
Donor action is a Savage 116 long action bottom bolt release. I settled on 35 Whelen, simply because I don't have a 35 Cal rifle in the stable and its different enough to blow what's left of my hair back! It may not be the most optimal choice as was discussed on this very thread all those years ago, but I'll try it myself and form an opinion, something tells me I'll like it anyways. Worst case Ontario, somewhere down the line I rebarrel it again if I hate it that much
I was originally thinking of going with Shilen pre-fit barrel and slapping it in a Bell and Carlson Sporter stock.
The barrel is where I'm running into issues with my lack of knowledge and experience.
Specifically:
1. If Shilen is the best choice for pre-fit barrels now that a number of years have passed?
2. Barrel length I'm thinking of 22" or 24". I usually gravitate towards more compact rifles, but wringing some extra velocity out of them big 358s is a tantalizing thought too.
3. Contours. For whatever reason I have a hard time visualizing different contours and determining a confident choice. As it is a hunting rifle, should I stick to a sporter contour? Heavy sporter? Varmint? Palma? Sendero? I don't want to have a rifle I need a sled team to haul around, but I don't want to compromise accuracy potential too much. Perhaps custom barrels today are accurate enough that I wouldn't notice much of a difference between sporter or heavy contours?
Lastly, I have never heard much about Bell and Carlson stocks, seems hard to find decent Savage stocks in the sea of Rem 700 aftermarket, curious if there is a better option out there I may have missed? I'm not looking to drop my life savings on a stock for this thing. Just a simple no-nonsense hunting-style stock that I won't loath completely while stumbling through the tag alders and hazelbrush! Adjustable LOP and comb height would be cool feature, but not willing to shell out mega bucks just for that.
Once again, I appreciate the help folks!
Kind of looking for a sanity check to ensure my plan is good and pick the brains of some knowledgeable folks here on CGN.
Donor action is a Savage 116 long action bottom bolt release. I settled on 35 Whelen, simply because I don't have a 35 Cal rifle in the stable and its different enough to blow what's left of my hair back! It may not be the most optimal choice as was discussed on this very thread all those years ago, but I'll try it myself and form an opinion, something tells me I'll like it anyways. Worst case Ontario, somewhere down the line I rebarrel it again if I hate it that much
I was originally thinking of going with Shilen pre-fit barrel and slapping it in a Bell and Carlson Sporter stock.
The barrel is where I'm running into issues with my lack of knowledge and experience.
Specifically:
1. If Shilen is the best choice for pre-fit barrels now that a number of years have passed?
2. Barrel length I'm thinking of 22" or 24". I usually gravitate towards more compact rifles, but wringing some extra velocity out of them big 358s is a tantalizing thought too.
3. Contours. For whatever reason I have a hard time visualizing different contours and determining a confident choice. As it is a hunting rifle, should I stick to a sporter contour? Heavy sporter? Varmint? Palma? Sendero? I don't want to have a rifle I need a sled team to haul around, but I don't want to compromise accuracy potential too much. Perhaps custom barrels today are accurate enough that I wouldn't notice much of a difference between sporter or heavy contours?
Lastly, I have never heard much about Bell and Carlson stocks, seems hard to find decent Savage stocks in the sea of Rem 700 aftermarket, curious if there is a better option out there I may have missed? I'm not looking to drop my life savings on a stock for this thing. Just a simple no-nonsense hunting-style stock that I won't loath completely while stumbling through the tag alders and hazelbrush! Adjustable LOP and comb height would be cool feature, but not willing to shell out mega bucks just for that.
Once again, I appreciate the help folks!
Nosler for whatever reason shows data for the 338-06 that is quite different than Hornady , Speer, and Barnes. In most loads Nosler is 100 - 200 fps slower than the others.
Most loads in my rifle have matched pretty well exactly what Hornady predicts. I have some cases now with better than a dozen reloads on them so I know I'm not stepping on them too hard.
As to the greater bore size of the Whelen not getting better velocity it has nothing to do with pixie dust but rather the 338-06 is more efficient and better balanced that the fatter-necked case. To get faster velocities out of the Whelen you would have to move up to faster powders which physics doesn't allow.
