Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .400 Whelen

IIRC PO Ackley was not to high on it in his book. I think I remember him saying there were headspce issues and the cartridge was "disappointing"
That's about as much as I've ever read on it until recently. Guys nowadays seem to like it. If I were younger and needed a project I'd rebarrel one of my gross of 30.06's and give it a try. I rather like the idea of 400 gr at 2150fps. That is some serious fire power.

In my conversations with Michael Petrov about the 400 Whelen, it never came up whether Ackley ever actually did any work with the 400 or whether he was just regurgitating the same myths of other writers. I don't have his book with me up here on the slope and don't recall if he referred to the original 400 or the unimproved 06 version.

Seems like much of the old "lore" was cah cah

Mike

A lot of Ackley's book is theory and supposition, some written by other people, and even some of Ackley's experiments are flawed, for various reasons. But it's been around for over 50 years now and a lot of rifle loonies still think it's all cutting-edge stuff.

Kinda like Jack O'Connor and the M70....

And Elmer Kieth and ....

Thanks for the compliment CT, and yes, was pretty late WN.

Always next year, mine fires the 400 gr Woodleighs to 2255 fps with CFE-223 powder, very accurate and consistent.

Gunner, apologize if you said it before, but what is your build.. Always sort of on the look out for a 30-06 M70 Classic that could be transformed into a 400 Whelen..

What is the generally accepted twist used for the 400's?

Hello Beretz, I bought one of those Dumoulin Mauser actions from SARCO and a set of QD rings from Sunny Hill, found a barrel from Kriegers in-stock pile and strong armed a descent stick of walnut from a friend.

IIRC my barrel is a 14 twist.

Got it, thank you Gunner. Sounds like a great build.

A 400 Whelen sounds like a great project!

It is a great project, also have some woodleigh solids running the same speed [2250fps] as the softs, quite a handy little package, and AFAIK legal for all game up to and including ele.

That level of power from the '06 hull is the coolest part to me. , oh, and as expected, that thing feeds slicker than any I've ran the bolt on.

Here is another great 40 cal for a lever action.
http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/3...tandard-calibers/75209-336a-405-jes.html

There is a NIB Classic Stainless in .270 in the classifieds right now...how I wish it was a '06

IIRC the 270 and '06 M-70's share the same barrel contour, snatch that thing up and send it to JES for a rebore, hell, he'll have it back to ya before you get the reloading components rounded up, ordered and delivered.

The 2006 Gun Digest has a fairly extensive article on the .400 Whelen by William V. Woodward. Load data is included.

Furthermore, a nice set of Leupold low dual dovetail bases and rings wrapped around a matte 2.5-8 Leupold would be a hell of a compliment to your newly rebored 9.3x62mm.

Also, my 'smith conducted a test for me with a factory M-70 tupperware stock of mine, he installed pillars and bedded it, that light weight flimsy stock holds a 300 RUM of mine below an inch when I do my part, it will easily handle the repeated recoil of the 9.3x62mm.

You can also paint or have the stock painted up very nice, they have a nice appearance and shoulder well for me.

The last rebore I had done came back with a .338 barrel and .35 Whelen chamber. lmao The guy who did it died, his son took over the business from what I understand. Thankfully, he made good on it.

I just want a Classic Stainless in '06, plain vanilla, to go with my plain vanilla Classic Stainless in .375 Apparently the guys that have them, and it has to easily be the most popular, don't want to sell them.