Hammer .35 Whelen data

Joe has no more excuses. I just found 50 Lake City 30/06 brass for him. Can we see 4,000 plus out of a Whelen??⁉️
 

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Years ago when I couldn't afford one, I could carry that nice rifle now that I can afford one I can't carry one that heavy any longer. I just sold my Savage 375 Ruger to build this 7 lb 9 oz scoped out 35 Whelen. That is a beautiful rifle bub 👍👍
 
Thanks Les, I might have a reason to bust out the grinder now. 🤔

Maybe we'll make a medieval squirrel load💥🚀🔨🐿
 
I thought Joe was whining too much about brass. He was not. I am learning a lot about the less popular cartridges. The Barnes brass I got is not the best. It is hard to find good brass. I was running the wife around to doctors appointments yesterday and spent a lot of time searching for good brass on my phone. Several times I found Norma, and then went to buy it and it was back ordered. I finally found some Nosler. I have found Nosler to be pretty good stuff in my 300 RUM. I also have collected some starting load data for AA 5744 and a few other powders. I finally found a pound of Winchester Staball Match. It has a burn rate close to Varget. I have a meeting this morning and a date at the range this afternoon. Nice to get the thread back on topic. I really have liked Staball 6.5 in the Creedmoor and in the 300 WSM. Hoping to get a nice load in the Whelen with the Match.
 
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New Generation Nosler is way better than their first attempts. Their first attempts in my opinion was just a prettier box wrapped around Remington quality.
 
I shot the 35 Whelen yesterday using the 140 shock hammer. The Lapua brass coupled with 60 grains of imr4198 produced the highest average velocity of 3392. The Hornady brass with 59 grains of imr4198 produced a Velocity of 3344. 59 grains of AA 1680 produced an average velocity of 3342 with a terrible extreme spread of 100 ft per second, first bullet was 3292 second one was 3341 and the third shot was 3392. It is very apparent that this powder in this shaped powder column will require a magnum primer I'll start the test over and work up.

This place is awesome
 
I just got back from the range. The break-in was fun. I really like the 35 Whelen in the CVA Scout. It is very tame. I shot several powders. The best powder with the the 140 grain Shock Hammer was 64 grains of TAC. I averaged 3104 fps for 3 shots with an 8 fps spread. There were no pressure signs and still room in the case, so TAC has a lot of potential. The best load with the 200 grain Power Hammer was 60 grains of 4895 with an average speed of 2846. No real pressure signs.

I'm really enjoying the CVA Scout. They are well thought out and well made. The forearm is hinged so it doesn't put pressure on the barrel. The bore on the muzzle-brake is a tight .376, so it really tames it down. The barrel is well made, and the trigger is nice and crisp. They are very accurate. They are also very strong. It is not a Handi-Rifle. A lot of bang for the buck. Pun intended.
 
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joe16 said:
I shot the 35 Whelen yesterday using the 140 shock hammer. The Lapua brass coupled with 60 grains of imr4198 produced the highest average velocity of 3392. The Hornady brass with 59 grains of imr4198 produced a Velocity of 3344. 59 grains of AA 1680 produced an average velocity of 3342 with a terrible extreme spread of 100 ft per second, first bullet was 3292 second one was 3341 and the third shot was 3392. It is very apparent that this powder in this shaped powder column will require a magnum primer I'll start the test over and work up.

This place is awesome
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I started using mag primers in all of my 35 Whelen loads. I experimented quite a bit, no one can convince me there is any advantage to using standard primers in the 35 Whelen.
 
les said:
I just got back from the range. The break-in was fun. I really like the 35 Whelen in the CVA Scout. It is very tame. I shot several powders. The best powder with the the 140 grain Shock Hammer was 64 grains of TAC. I averaged 3104 fps for 3 shots with an 8 fps spread. There were no pressure signs and still room in the case, so TAC has a lot of potential. The best load with the 200 grain Power Hammer was 60 grains of 4895 with an average speed of 2846. No real pressure signs.

I'm really enjoying the CVA Scout. They are well thought out and well made. The forearm is hinged so it doesn't put pressure on the barrel. The bore on the muzzle-brake is a tight .376, so it really tames it down. The barrel is well made, and the trigger is nice and crisp. They are very accurate. They are also very strong. It is not a Handi-Rifle. A lot of bang for the buck. Pun intended.
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I really like the CVA scout. It was the 1st 35 Whelen I got, I still shoot it more than the 35 Whelen bolt guns I have now. All of the current CVA barrels are made by Bergara. They have always been known for making good quality barrels. My Scout is as accurate as anything else I own.
 
Just came in from my first shooting session with the Ruger M77 African in .35 Whelen.....It went good!(y) I had three 245gr Shock hammers loaded, shot them through the chrony. I liked it so I went back in the house and loaded five more to shoot for accuracy, five shot group of 1.3 inches. I had a "flyer", the group would have been .8 if I kept the best four. I was NOT expecting a group that good out of a brand new barrel. Now the specifics!

.35 Whelen
Ruger M77 24in 1/12
R-P Brass
WLRM Primers
66.1gr A2000-MR (Slightly Compressed Load)
.358 245gr Shock Hammer (they weigh 241gr)
COL 3.280
Light Crimp
2781 fps average over eight shots

I worked this load up in the CVA, it is almost 40fps faster from the Ruger. CVA Barrel is 23 inches vs 24 on the Ruger.
 
I shot the 140 shock hammers with Magnum primers today using aa1680. I started at 57 grains and ended at 62 grains. I still hadn't seen pressure signs so I stopped there and loaded four up at 62 grains and two additional at 63 grains and shot them across the chronograph. Results were terrible, extreme spreads of over 100 ft per second. the only saving grace was the two rounds that I shot at 63 grains, they ended up in a two-shot group at about an inch where the first four were two and a quarter inches. Muzzle flash and blast was atrocious. I feel aa-1680 produces, well at least after collaborating with Les, I feel that 1680 has too fast of a pressure curve and is causing Blow by on the short 140.

Edit to add vel.
62.0 avg for 4, 3480.
63.0 avg for 2, 3538.
These are adjusted to the actual muzzle velocities.

I'm going to go back to standard large rifle primers and run a pressure column using a slower burning powder probably N120. I have had success using this powder with light pills in the 45-70 in the past.

💥🚀🔨☠️
 
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joe16 said:
I shot the 140 shock hammers with Magnum primers today using aa1680. I started at 57 grains and ended at 62 grains. I still hadn't seen pressure signs so I stopped there and loaded four up at 62 grains and two additional at 63 grains and shot them across the chronograph. Results were terrible, extreme spreads of over 100 ft per second. the only saving grace was the two rounds that I shot at 63 grains, they ended up in a two-shot group at about an inch where the first four were two and a quarter inches. Muzzle flash and blast was atrocious. I feel aa-1680 produces, well at least after collaborating with Les, I feel that 1680 has too fast of a pressure curve and is causing Blow by on the short 140.

I'm going to go back to standard large rifle primers and run a pressure column using a slower burning powder probably N120. I have had success using this powder with light pills in the 45-70 in the past.

💥🚀🔨☠️
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I'll bet Reloder 7 and 10X would be pretty good.
 
Ought 6, I agree with Reloder 7 with the 140 gr Shock Hammer. With 64 grains of TAC, I was able to get an average of 3,104 fps. I had no pressure signs and I have more room in the case, so I'll be building a ladder to see where the max occurs in my gun. The other promising powder was Benchmark. I shot a preliminary load of 56 grains of Benchmark and it averaged 2,908 fps. I have room for more Benchmark too.
 
joe16 said:
Starting load?
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Gordon’s Reloading Tool has around 2870 and just under 63k at 59.6 gr with a 25” barrel. In my limited experience with shooting GRT loads hammers run 60-100 fps faster than predicted and charges to be a little too high on predicted pressure with LVR. Neither are popular enough to have strong models, but get you in the ballpark. My stingy loading procedure would have a starting charge of 58 and load singles in 0.4 gr increments up until 61.2. I shoot them at one target and mark each shot. I find they often group well in a single shot ladder, climbing vertically but often touching as they go. I’ll often see a POI shift which I interpret as a new node. The second node is usually close to pressure IME and you often have pressure by the third charge. If both nodes group try a charge in both and see what the gun likes. LVR is supposed to be somewhat temp sensitive so aim for the middle of a node rather than an edge even if groups are somewhat worse.
 
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