Time for me to rethink the .35 cal.

ben hunchak

ben hunchak

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I just finished testing a new bullet (cast) for the .35 cal. rifles, it is a 250gr. Flat point gas check bullet. I cast it hard from Lino/mono mix and 240grs., sized it to .359" and loaded it to 2100 fps. in my 94ae. in .356 Winny...39 grs. of AA2015 will do that, I also loaded some with 33grs. of RL-7 for slightly less vel.....results were excellent as the levergun was shooting 1" or less groups at 100yds. This is a gun that never shot well for me before in tests and I was thinking of getting rid of it or worst still, using j-word bullets in it. I have mounted a nice scope on it just to test this bullet on paper but I'm thinking of leaving it on and using the gun for deer, my .45/70s and .50s may have to move aside!!!
 
That's right - come on over to 35ville. You'll like it.

Our mutual friend Bob M. just sold his 350RemMag and kept his 45s. Very odd. I told him I didn't think any less of him as a person:D

I think my 356 Win Marlin336ER needs to try some of your new lead bullets some day. It says microgroove on the barrel but it doesn't seem it to me. Looks like deeper rifling - six grooves if I'm remembering right.

Any who - thanks for the report on those projectiles.
 
ben: You'll have to shoot some game to see if you really need a bullet that hard. I've found 16-1 or 20-1 air cooled to expand and penetrate very well at 2000fps or less. The 35's are very agreeable to cast bullets and I've come to expect MOA or slightly less from both my Whelens with darn little effort in load development. I principally use 358009 which are about 287 grains ready to go. A friend is shooting a 35 Rem/200 cast air cooled at similar hardness/velocity and was quite impressed with performance on deer. He recovered a couple of bullets this year and they appear to be close to 5/8-3/4" expanded.
 
In this instance the very hard bullet is most accurate, similar to some of my bullets in .308, besides I was just kidding about using it to hunt and not my .45s or .50s.
 
Ben, do you plan to sell those as part of your regular stock? I'd definitely be interested in a source of heavy cast bullets for my .356 and my .35 Whelens.
 
Bullets that hard will often shoot very accurately with minimal leading if they fit the bore correctly--but they will often give erratic performance on game if they hit any heavy bone and if they don't hit bone they penetrate like a solid with minimal tissue damage. Several years ago I shot a muley doe with a hard cast 250 grain (RCBS) bullet. range was about 75 yards quartering towads me--bullet penetrated from close side of upper chest through the body and nicked the last rib on the off side. no evidence of bullet expansion on the exit side and minimal internal damage. Also shot a good sized whitetail buck at about 125 yards side to side through the chest--missed the ribs going it and clipped a rib on the off side.. again minimal expansion from bullet--this one went for 75-100 yards before piling up.

I like the cast in the .35 whelen for hunting but would use a softer bullet--I would trade a little leading for expansion as long as the bullet maintained accuracy.

FWIW, 44Bore
 
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