Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Pistol Bullets in the Whelen

Hello,
First post here; just wanted to say that I joined the forum to thank the OP for posting that chrono data - very rare to find this info for reduced-load _jacketed_ bullets for the Whelen.

Since everybody loves pics, I thought I'd include some of a recent project: a Rem 660 with the very similar .350 Remington Mag, cut to 16.5"&threaded, and a Liberty Hoosier .35Whelen-rated suppressor.



This year (after reading this thread), I finally purchased Quickload to help me develop some subsonic loads for this rifle.
Needless to say, starting with the chrono data posted above was very helpful, thanks again.



Above are a few candidates. From left to right:
- Speer 158gr 158gr swaged HP
- Winchester 158gr JHP
- 180gr cast SWC
- Badman Bullets 230gr cast WC (similar to the Penn 230gr 'Thunderhead')
- 200gr Remington factory load

So far, the two best candidates are the 158gr JHP (I'm transitioning to the excellent Hornady XTP) and the 230gr WC - which my LGS actually got to feed from the magazine after some feed throat polishing.



My particular goal are velocities below 1100 fps of course. Although I don't have any Trailboss, I'm fortunate to have plenty of SR4759, Blue Dot, and Red Dot. It looks like the SR4759 data posted at the beginning of this thread is pretty close to subsonic already. Also, I am prepared to go down to 30% loading density for Red Dot, which should also give me a safe & accurate subsonic load. Blue Dot is a less-desirable candidate IMO; but I have gone down to 50% loading densities on other loads with it - so I know there are at least some possibilities with it.

Good stuff.

That is one of the beautiful things about the 35's. Be it a .350 Griffith and Howe, .358 STA, .358 Norma, ect. memtb

Welcome to the forum Kestrel. Hope you keep us updated on how your 350 RM does, cool project you have going.

Nice 660, that looks good with the suppressor. My Whelen is a 700 and I use a Liberty Mystic, so different but similar in a lot of ways.

My preferred powder for subsonic loads is Bullseye; the loads are quieter than slower powders, and Bullseye doesn't seem to suffer as much from position sensitivity. Most of my subsonic loads are with powder coated cast bullets though.

Thanks for the welcome.

An update:

I am in the process of using up the last of my Winchester 158gr JHP's before going to the excellent Hornady 158gr XTP. My experience is that these Win158's provide ~50% larger groups _in good loads_ compared to the XTP - so I would expect that a 3/4" group with them would give me ~1/2" groups with the XTP. After I've defined the performance/velocity envelope with the lower-grade bullets I will naturally do the fine tuning with my XTP's.

All primers tested are Winchester Large Rifle - reputed to be on the 'hot' side which should assist the SR4759.

Red Dot:
From other testing I have had consistently excellent results from subsonic Red Dot loadings so I am optimistic on this combo.
My lowest RD charge for these (8.5 grs) were supersonic already @ 1195 fps, so I didn't bother to shoot them for groups. I'll break down my relatively few testing loads and go lower the next time around, 6.5 to 8.0 grains. The bottom load will be only ~20% loading density which I do not want to go below.

SR4759:
3 shot groups, 50 yds distance.
14.8 grains: 853 fps, STD 22. Quite smoky. 3.0" c-c w/ vertical stringing. Certainly on the low end of ignition consistency for this charge.
15.9 grains: 952 fps, STD 10. Quite smoky. 0.75" c-c.
17.0 grains: 991 fps, STD 20. Quite smoky. 1.2" c-c.
18.1 grains: 1085 fps, STD 13. Much cleaner. 0.55" c-c.

Excellent preliminary results from the last loading.

Will next post back with the Red Dot results.

I have another top powder candidate with 800x (my guess would be to start at 9/10/11 gr), which I will probably make a serious effort with if RD disappoints (not likely IMHO).

Best regards,

That’s because you’re using a light load of a reduced velocity powder. IMR Reloaders Guide shows 2265 fps with 34.5 grains behind a 200 PSP. (Going from memory here, but I think I was around 26 grains for 1900 fps in my 358 Winchester with 200 cast GC bullets.)

https://www.scribd.com/doc/19414482/Imr-reloading-manual

(Look at p. 51) Steve’s pages is another source for the pdf of these great old resources.