35 whelen 300gr loads

[stuffy]

Hi i have just bought a 300gr gascheck mold to suit my 35 whelen and i am on the hunt for some suitable loads adi and alliant powders are easily available to me any suggestions? My calculations and research say it should stabilise down to 1700fps give or take thans in adcance for your help

[86er]

Really depends on what the twist is. Typical 1:14 doesn't do so well with 300's.

[stuffy]

The bullet is short for weight and should stabilize if not it be fun to try

[BigSky56]

If ADI is Accurate Arms powder AA5744 would give you good results as a reduced load. Alliant RE-15 is close to IMR 4895 and RE-17 is close to IMR 4350. You might want to email Alliant powder co. and ask them for starting loads with their powders. Ive seen a load for a 280 gr with RE-15. danny

[stuffy]

Thanks big sky56 adi is was Australian Defense Industries now a division of Thales group I have emailed them will email allaint too

[earlmck]

stuffy, it looks like there isn't much in the way of published data for that 300 grain bullet, is there?

I played with it a little in the "QuickLoad" ballistic program but they don't list such a bullet so I had to guess at a bullet length just to get something go on (I guessed 1.12" bullet length for my testing purposes, which is probably not far off). I tried to find you a 40K psi load that would give around 1800 fps from a 24" barrel, and came up with 33 grains of AR2205 or 35 grains of RL-7. Be interesting to see if any of that matches suggestions you get from Alliant or ADI in response to your e-mails.

42 grains of RL-15 would also give you around 1800 fps but down around 25K psi. I haven't used RL-15 in low pressure loads like that, but IMR 4895 that is it's competition does those kinds of loads very nicely. I'd be tempted to give that one a try while waiting for a response from the Ivory Tower set, just 'cause pressures should be low enough that even if QuickLoad's pressure estimate is off by 50% you'd still be in good shape.

[stuffy]

thanks earlmck the length of this bullet is 1.23" Alliant have replied their answer is no so your info might be the best i get for alliant powders I will let you know what adi come back with

[earlmck]

thanks earlmck the length of this bullet is 1.23" Alliant have replied their answer is no so your info might be the best i get for alliant powders I will let you know what adi come back with

Plugging in that bullet length and also assuming your COAL is 3.34" you might drop those powder charges I gave you by a grain to get the 1800 fps level (which is where I am guessing you'll find decent accuracy, though some folks seem to do OK at higher velocities).

If you don't come up with published data and have to develop your own loads I'd be tempted to take the RL7, start around 32 grains and chronograph 'em to make sure velocities were not far off of predicted. If that's the case I'd be thinking pressures were close to predicted and continue playing around looking for accuracy. QuickLoad shows that 34 grain RL7 load hitting the 1800 fps velocity at under 30K psi and topping out at 44 grains for almost 2200 fps and 55K psi. 32 grains should give around 1725 fps and 25K psi.

QL shows the AR2205 hitting the 55K psi level with 39 grains, producing a bit over 2000 fps, and also shows 30 grains giving just over 1700 fps and 30K psi. So it also looks like a real useful powder for your application; at a bit faster than 4198 and RL7 I wish we had that available here -- looks like it would be a useful powder for some of my kind of stuff...

[stuffy]

earlmck most adi powders have a hodgdon equivilant ar2205 = h4227 heres a link to the best list I can find
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/201 ... uct-codes/

[earlmck]

earlmck most adi powders have a hodgdon equivilant ar2205 = h4227 heres a link to the best list I can find
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/201 ... uct-codes/

Hah! No wonder I thought that would be handy powder to have around. It is handy powder! I've used bunches of it, though at the moment I have a jug of Accurate 5744 that is being used in those applications.

So what mold are you using? and what rifle? Let us know how this all works out.

[stuffy]

I finally got my mold and cast some bullets and took some photos. Sorry for the poor photo's

firstcasting.jpg

new mold resized.jpg

newmold2resized.jpg

first casting3.jpg

[AJMD429]

Ammoguide shows four loads for 280 grain and one for 310 Woodleigh bullets.

The 310 grain claims 2140 fps with H-380 powder.

[Marc]

I started to work up loads for a 35 Whelen and a 300 grain cast bullet a couple years ago. The stock split behind the tang and, sad to say, I haven't yet repaired it. At any rate I can't find my data right now. I will take a look again tomorrow. Off the top of my head the powder I would recommend is Varget. It is well behaved and has done well for me with other cast bullet loads.

[earlmck]

Nice looking mold, and that bullet should be a real thumper. Nothing wrong with those pictures, either, stuffy.

Keep us posted when you get a range test; obviously you've got several of us interested in your project.

[86er]

Let us know the range results!

[stuffy]

Thanks for the replies guys i will post results when i get to the range. It will be several weeks I'm waiting on the gas checks I ordered as no-one near here keeps any in stock and they cost three times as much as importing them from the US. So I am impatiently waiting to get my stuff together

[Marc]

I found some of my scribblings. The powder charges I tried with the 300 grain cast bullet in the 35 Whelen were 40 gr. IMR3031, 43 gr. Norma 202 and 48 gr. 4350(I didn't note whether it was IMR or H4350). I chronographed one of the loads and got 1800 FPS. I didn't note which load that was but I think it was the 4350 load. You probably have the equivalent of H4350 there. It has also worked well for me with cast loads in other rifles.

Nice looking mold you have! My mold is an old NEI mold. The bullet is the right one in the picture of my 35 caliber bullets and loaded 356 Winchester cases. The other two bullets are the RCBS 200 and Saeco 250 grainer. The 300 grain NEI bullet shoots great in the 356 as you can see in the next picture.

[stuffy]

Hi Folks I finally got all my stuff together and loaded a few rounds

IMG_4896.JPG

IMG_4924.JPG

So off to the range this weekend I will let you know how it shoots
Stuart

[Twodot]

A question for Marc,
those bullets in the .356 Win look like they would be too long to cycle in my Marlin. What rifle did you use to shoot that nice group?
..

[Marc]

Twodot, I used a Winchester Model 94 Big Bore. It has a heavy barrel and is scary accurate for a lever gun! The bullets are seated long. I modified the Model 94 to feed cartridges up to 2.73" in length.

Please keep us posted Stuffy. I really should get back to working with my Whelen. I have been thinking of fitting the barrel to a 1895 Winchester. That would be fun!