Building a 35 Whelen need a bit of assistance

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rpcw

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I’m taking a 30-06 savage 14 and having a JC custom 35 Whelen barrel made up for it.

I’m trying to find either a set of go no go gauges or someone in southern Ontario that can set the head space.

I called my local fellow and he said he doesn’t have the gauges. They are nothing special as 30-06 apparently is the correct HS gauge set.

Suggestions are appreciated!
 
They aren’t different but I don’t own a set of 30-06 HS gauges.

Another fellow CGN’r reached out with a method using a factory cartridge that I may try.
 
Using a factory cartridge as a gauge is close to useless... they can vary so much. If you are a re loader you could fully size a fired 06 round a couple of times and use that as a go gauge...making sure the body of the case is smaller than the chamber... it would be better than using one factory round... but not as good as a steel go gauge.

And you don't need a set of gauges, you just need a go gauge to accurately 'gauge' the headspace.

It would be surprising to find a gunsmith who would not have a 30-06 go gauge.
 
nowarningshot said:
Why would it headslace differe t than 06?
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If his chamber is cut to SAAMI spec, then you're correct. I've come across 35 Whelan marked rifles with shorter necks and 40 degree angles on their shoulders.

I've also come across chambers where the smith that did the work ran the reamer in a tad to far and the list goes on.

I'm under the impression that the OP's new barrel has a jam nut with a chamber precut by the manufacturer to SAAMI specs.

I will have to disagree with guntech about using a loaded factory cartridge to check headspace. I've found factory cases from good manufacturers to be very close to mean tolerances and with a bit of fiddling, either with layers of masking tape or even the goo used for checking tolerances by clamping to a certain point and measuring the width to give quite accurate settings.

I'm not knocking him at all. He's just being extremely careful, which isn't a bad thing.
 
guntech said:
I have seen 6 thou difference within a box of 20 factory ammo...
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Yup, and factory chambered rifles are chambered to accept that without a hiccup.

Don't think for an instant I'm knocking how you do it.

I do it the way I do because I don't want to purchase or make up gages. I've never had an issue with any of the chamberings I've done, when they've been checked later with jobber headspace gages. They're usually just around or under .003 in.

Yes, it's not precise but it works quite well.

I usually will ask the client to bring me a box of the cartridges he intends to use in the rifle. If it's his personal hand loads even better, as I can set up about .002 headspace for his hand load, using plasti gage.

I agree, even with premium ammo case lengths can vary as much as .006+. If that's the ammo the fellow intends to use in that rifle, I try to find the longest case in the box, measured half way up the shoulder with a very precise Starrett height gage, on a ground flat surface.

I wasn't going to go into detail because many with their cell phones complain the posts are to long for them to wade through on small screens.

But in this case I felt some clarification was necessary.
 
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A little more detail on this build.

I’m expecting to make this a switch barrel setup to explore other calibers based off the 30-06 parent cartridge.

I have a good barrel vise and barrel wrenches and have used them to replace savage ML barrels to custom 45’s, build my smokeless ML’s on CF actions, or replace bulged factory barrel from a friends oopsie when he shot a tree with his ramrod.

The barrel will use a factory barrel nut so easy to adjust and barrel maker is cutting a saami chamber.

Hoping to try a 6.5-06, 338-06 on this rig as well…. Eventually.

Thanks for the advice above. Lots of knowledgeable members on this site and I appreciate the assistance!
 
rpcw said:
Do you expect the 1/16 twist to be easier on the cast bullet?

My 1/20 .458 barrels work well with powder coated cast.
Click to expand...

if you use the rpm thery

RPM……….120,000……….140,000

Twist……….FPS…………..FPS

7”…………1166…………..1361

8”………….1333…………..1555

9”………….1500…………..1750

10”………...1666…………..1944

11”………...1833…………..2139

12”…………2000………….2333

14”…………2333………….2722

16”…………2666………….3111

if you use the above values I should be able to shoot cast to the same speed as jacketed .... or very close

more than enough to punch paper or knock down a deer etc
 
That’s interesting.

Do you factor the BHN into this equation somehow?

I have never seen this chart.

I have learned that soft lead powder coated will shoot 2450 FPS in my ML at same poi as my regular bullet.
 
It tends to happen!

I got the answers I needed and ordered a set of 30-06 HS gauges from Brownells.

Thanks to all that provided assistance.
 
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