Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats New 35 Whelen pics

I just picked it up from the smiths today. I love the overall feel of the rifle, it points and shoulders great but im a little bummed about the weight. Its at about 8 1/4lbs as it sits, empty with no sling, scope or rings. Other than the obvious (cutting the barrel down further or fluting) is there anything I can do to lose some weight? Anyone know of any light weight bottom metal out there or lightweight rings?


The specs:

~ Ruger Hawkeye action
~ #4 Douglas premium 22"
~ Fully blueprinted (no trigger job)
~ Glass bedded
~ Free floated to about 2inches from the reciever
~ B & C Carbelite Fiberglass Stock w/ factory 1/2" Pad

Unfortunately I have to take the rifle over to another smith to re bed the action, its pretty sloppy, and do a trigger job. So it will be a little while until i get to shoot it...

Your photo links don't work.

Fixed em....for some reason Flickr wont work here.

Dude,

That's a great weight for a .375 H&H! Unfortunately, it's about a lb too heavy for a std rifle, IMHO. I'm glad you have to carry it and not me.

I've seen many folks spec out a rifle with little or no concern for the weight. I prefer to pick the target weight of the rifle based on calibre and intended use. And then build to the target with less regard for barrel length and weight.

Just offhand observations from a mostly idle mind...

Grasshopper

Grasshopper,

I made the mistake of not giving the smith a target weight. It was an 06 when I handed it to him and it felt pretty good at its original weight. I agree with you that its a bit heavy. I will lighten it up, but probably not by a full pound, well see. Rugers are hard, nobody makes light bottom metal or rings and Mcmillian wont do an edge so I will have to get creative. I think ill call Ruger and see if they have lighter bottom metal, they should, considering the new lightweight models they are making. Maybe cut the barrel down a little more or flute it or both and see if I can take some material out of the butt of the stock. The scope ive got for it weighs about 10oz. In the end I am pretty confident it will be a sweet rig. If not i'll sell it off at about 1/3 of what I put into it, keeping with my lifes motto of "buy high and sell low" and build another one Hope it wont come to that though...If it shoots lights out, I might not whine to hard about a few extra ounces.

I would simply have the barrel turned down to a lighter contour. That is the best, easiest, most affordable option you have!

Very nice rig but, the shifter is on the wrong side...

Have Fun

Rob

Nice rifle.

Bansner (HTS, http://www.hightech-specialties.com/index.html ) makes a pretty light stock that will work with the Rugers. It will finish around 25 oz's (+/-) if you use a flip-flop pad. It could probably take around 8 oz's or so off.

A Douglas #3 will work well for a 35 and would save weight. Having the barrel turned or fluted is an option.

Again, nice rifle.

JCM

You've received a couple of great ideas. If it was me I'd decide how light I wanted it and go from there. I like Bansner stocks (fit me very well, distribute recoil well and are easy to work with)and that would be a good upgrade as well as saving weight. (weigh the current stock first, but I'm guessing 32-34 ounces vs. 25-26 for a Bansner with a 1" decelerator). The barrel contouring idea is another one I've done. You could go down to .600 at the muzzle fairly easily and a bit of a featherweight profile at the other end also helps. I took a Douglas #4 .358 barrel (miked about .670) down to .600 with a featherweight profile in the shoulder area, reduced weight by about 6-7 ounces if I remember right. Those two will take you down close to a pound, which is about right for me with a whelen.(I'd personally have a target weight of 8lbs, scoped)

I think you would come out better to have the barrel fluited, and just leave it as it is.

The rifle really looks great. The stock has some nice character, if that is a plain factory stock you did good.

For the money you will loose from selling your set up, you could probabbly have seed money to start again.

Outside of the weight issue--your rifle look great!

GB

Time to get a scales out, and figure out where the weight is, and where possible savings are. I don't think you are getting a pound off by changing the stock out. You can use the software application on Lilja's website to get an accurate sense as to how much weight could be save through fluting--typically no more than a handful of ounces.

But that #4 Douglas was the kiss of death for a light rifle.

Some good ideas being given, thanks gents. Great news. I took the stock off and weighed it....2 3/4lbs!!?!?!?! That is just unbelivable. I put the ruger factory laminate that came on the rifle....2 1/8. Thats over 1/2 pound difference. I have a McMillian on order I was told will weigh around 2 lbs. There 3/4 of a pound just in swapping out the stock. I like the idea of fluting it as well. Should be an easy 1 lb or more right there. That puts me in the 8 3/4 lbs range all up. I can live with that. The McMillian is a swirly 60% green %40 white. Cheers.

Josh

2 3/4 lb fiberglass stock, that's nasty Some deep flutes and a 2 lb stock should get you about a pound less. I wonder how much weight you would actually save by cutting a couple of inches of the barrel? You would end up with a 375 Ruger Alaskan "Junior". I may still end up turning my LH/SS Ruger 30-06 in to a 18-20" Whelen and rebarreling my present 35 Whelen to something else, have fun with your new gun.

Gerrygoat,

I have a Ruger Alaskan which I like the way it handles so far...havent shot it yet though. I also have a 9.3x62 that is the mirror image of it. I was hoping to keep the barrel at 22inches here although I doubt it really matters. I bet 2 inches would equal 4-5 ounces or so on that barrel, might be worth it. The McMillian will be around 2 lbs or so, so with the Micky and some deep flutes ive already lost a pound or more depending on what the fluting takes off. I am interested to see what the fluting gets me so I will weigh it after to see actual loss and let ya know what it ends up at.

Josh

Dude,

Congrats on the MIchigan State stock. This entire exercise just goes to prove how one can assess a problem logically and come up with a viable solution. 8 3/4 lbs all up seems a good weight for a Whelen. Happy Hunting.... GH

Josh
I have a Ruger 375 SS/Laminate coming and should have it in a couple of weeks can hardly wait. My present Whelen will need some work, new stock to replace the cracked one and have the action worked on to feed better. My MKII '06 feeds flawlessly like most Rugers do, they have to be one of the best guns out there. Even with a 375 Ruger there will always be room for a 35 Whelen (and in your case a 9.3x62 ) Came awfully close to doing the 9.3 myself but then finally managed to get a 375 Ruger just before I was to commit to the 9.3x62 project. Look forward to hearing how your project works out.

GG,

Man I really like the mid bores. I think i'll add a 338-06 to the stable and maybe take it easy for a while building rifles Nice score on the Lefty Alaskan. I picked one up a while ago too, dont think they made more than 100 in LH configuration. I still havent shot mine yet so no feedback from me but ive heard they shoot pretty good, we'll see soon enough.

~Josh

Fluting will remove ounces; I would look at turning the barrel down.

Orrrrrrr....

Octagon would look very cool to my eye�.....


Any way you look at it the 35 rules...

Here's my factory Ruger Mark I 35 Whelen that I bedded into one of Mark Basner's stocks. I shortened the forend as I wanted the barrel band where it is. The barrel is the original 22" that Ruger supplied and it measures .560" at the muzzle and is very trim all the way. The rifle weighs 6# 9 oz without scope and rings. As shown with the Leupy 2-7X scope in low Leupy rings it weighs 7# 7 oz. So I would heed the advise above and get one of Mark's stocks (I believe mine went 23 oz finished) and recontour the barrel. Note that my rifle wears a good 4 oz of sights and swivel barrel band too.

Here's my stainless Ruger MKII .35 Whelen. Should be receiving my McMillan in GAP any day now. 22" Bevan King barrel, Leupold VXII 3-9x40.