Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Pre 64 .35 Whelen build

Beretzs, Nice pictures. 👍

I spoke with JES and I’ve gotta say that right off the bat he’s impressing me. He’s excellent with communication and returning phone calls. I’m going to go the re-bore route and have him cut and crown at 21.5” just to be different I’m also going to go with the hard chrome finish since I’m suspect of Cerakote in the wet-saltwater and rainforest environment along with the use it’s likely to receive 😁. You can’t beat the re-bore/chamber along with the cut and crown for $275 including return shipping. He said his turnaround is about a week from when he gets it which is a very quick turnaround for damn near anything in the gun world. 😁. I’m not in any hurry anyway but it’s the suspense of seeing what your “new” rifle looks like that affects those of us inflicted with gunitis. I’ll ship it out in a couple weeks.

I just cleaned out the barrel channel and will glass bed the barreled action into the original stock so that the barrel is free-floated. I put another coat of oil on the stock and sure do think it’s a nice, old, classic stock. It’ll wear that until I get a McMillan McWoody but in the mean time I’ll work on scopes and load. I think that for my intended purpose a 225TSX is what I’m shooting for as an all around big critter stopper. I’d like to get 2700fps and would be delighted with anything faster. I’m not recoil shy and shoot magnums as well as anything.

Sounds like a logical way to proceed. Going to be a nice package when you are done. Now you have me thinking!

I guess all there for us to do now is stand by for pictures. Sounds like a good set up! As far as the hard chroming goes, my wait time was about 6 weeks for the rifles he's done for me.

6 weeks is doable.....at least I think the suspense won’t kill me. 😁

I will be learning (if I’m still capable of such) to post pictures real soon and this thread will be a good one to do so.

Thanks again to all you for your advice and wisdom. I was going to go the Cerakote route but because of your suggestions I’m going to try the hard chrome. I’ll continue to update as things get done. 👍

I had that concern with my JES Rebore. I told him to not stamp out the original .30-06 markings as I would have it stamped by my local smith. As requested, he didn't mark out the original .30-06 but, unfortunately, he still stamped "35 WLN" above the .30-06 stamp. I wasn't happy when I saw that but figure it was a break down in communication so was at least 50% my fault. I have plans to get both markings milled out but haven't done anything with it.

Overall, I am happy with the rebore as I really liked the factory contour on my Mark II Ruger and it handles great cut at 20". Sight acquistion is quick with my NECG ghost ring and Williams fiberoptic front (remington front ramp). It probably would make sense to have it lapped as mine fouled a bit more than I like but I built it for an open sighted close range deal so not too worried as long as it shoots minute of black bear out to 150 or so, which it does. I may actually scope it and use it for elk this year, will be interesting to see what kind of accuracy I can get out of it with glass on top. My 20" barrel launches the 225 TSX at 2600 +/- and the 225 Sierra at 2630 +/-. I doubt the extra 1.5" on your build will gain you much with a .35 caliber bore but it may get you a little closer to 2700.

Very nice!

Nice rifle Medriver! I’ll be replacing the front site with either a Williams or Truglo 3/8 dovetail fiber optic insert. I’ll remove the front site hood since it’ll wind up being a catch all for mud, snow, vegetation etc. I’ll probably keep the flip up Marbles rear site since open sites will be used for backup only. I’ll be looking for a 1-4...1-6 power scope with illuminated reticle and use the old (but in beautiful shape) Lyman All American 4X as a backup scope. It’ll wear the same rings as the primary scope and it’ll be sighted in appropriately so, in theory, I can take off the primary scope if something happens to it and install the backup scope to the one piece rail and torque it down to the right spec. I should be able to get a repeatable zero even switching scopes. I will check and recheck that my theory proves out before counting on it in real life but I’ve done it several times before on other rifles so I’m hopeful that this one won’t be any different.

As far as the crossing out the old caliber and re-stamping it goes I’ll file and polish out the 30-06 and use that space for the new stamp so it’s not a bunch of gobbledygook on the barrel.

What are you guys using to polish the newly cut barrel? Tubbs or similar style grit impregnated bullets? Is there anywhere that specializes in polishing bores? If a little extra fouling is what I should expect then I’ll be a little more fastidious in my cleaning regimen. If the Tubbs system works well and you guys recommend it then I’ll try that. I helped a buddy polish the bore of his Sendero with the Tubbs system but I thought he was being anal for doing so. 😁......now I’ll be the anal retentive one.

PS....I’m not too caught up on numbers so 2700fps with a 225TSX is merely a general range for me to shoot for. I’m far more concerned about accuracy, velocity comes second.

Thanks beretzs, it hasn't killed much yet, a mulie doe and a couple mountain lions, but it has been a joy to pack and fun to shoot.

GREAT photo Medriver!

The smile on that young man’s face is priceless. 👍

Thanks, he called that in for me and is a better looking subject

The 225 SGK entered the point of the shoulder and I found it under the hide in front of the right hip. Impact velocity was around 2465 +/-. Decent retention (77%) and magazine ad pretty.

I use the same 225 Sierra at 2675 with H4895 for an easy shooting, but darned deadly deer load in my 7600 Whelen. I took a decent sized WT doe last fall around 175 yards and it literally went from front leg to mid ribs and seeing that deer run I’d thought I’d missed till I saw the blood. My God do the .358’s let them bleed.

So, what I did to my 375 was I started out with JB’s and kroil, till it was as clean and I could make it. Shot 5 rounds and cleaned it right back down with JBs and Kroil again. Did that for 20-25 rounds. After the last ones I cleaned it right back to steel, applied Dyna Bore Coat and shot it in. It’ll still foul a tiny bit but not enough to bother me or affect accuracy for at least 20 rounds or so (haven’t shot it more than that yet). Couple of soaked patches and it comes out clean. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

I like the Tubbs Bullets but using the full set in my 338 lengthened the throat a bit. I’d do it again, since the results were worth it, but it’s something to be aware of.

Thanks for your advice Beretzs, I’ll likely do it the way you do. That’s how I used to “break in” rifles until I didn’t think I was making any appreciable difference but in this case I think it’s cheap (and fun) insurance and it’s something I can do off my back deck. Do you think full power loads are necessary or any load that gets a jacketed bullet down range is fine?

I’ve heard about throat erosion using the abrasive bullet technique but your reminder is enough to steer me away unless absolutely needed.

Thanks for your help Sir!

I'd probably use whatever load can get the bullet down the bore. The abrasive coated bullets may be a bit more gentle if you use a smaller routine. I used all 50 of them that came in the pack, but I could have probably done just fine using 1/2 of them..