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mart Offline OP
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So it begins. I sent off my old Sedgley Springfield to JES Reboring earlier this fall and got back a 375 Whelen. I opted for the standard 375 Whelen. It seemed appropriate in the Sedgley. Before anyone swoons over the Sedgley, it had been bubba'd pretty badly with poorly done side and top mount holes for scope bases and the bolt would close on a no go gauge. Plus I wanted a 375 Whelen. The rifle cost me $180 and the rebore $225 so I ended up with a pretty reasonably priced 375 Whelen.

I spent quite a bit of time on line finding bullets to test. I may have gone a little over the top. Missing from the picture are some 250 grain Sierras and 4 more boxes of Hornady 270 grain round nose.

[Linked Image]

I located 200 rounds of some LC 76 match brass. I already have a 35 Whelen so wanted to avoid any confusion by not using any of that brass. This was all unfired match brass. I used my 30-35 and 35-416 expander die to open it up and then ran it through a CH-4D 375 Whelen die to neck size just enough to make a snug fit in the chamber. I had one split neck out of 200.

I had to trim to 2.220 to square up the mouths. That's a bit shorter than the 35 and 400 Whelen's trim length of 2.495.

My choice of powders was limited to what I had on hand. Powder availability has been sketchy at best here in Alaska. I had plenty of BL-C2, 3031, 4320, AA2495 and some RL15. The RL15 is running low so unless I come across some more it's use in development will come to a halt.

There is precious little data for the standard 375 Whelen. A fair amount exists for the 375 Ackley Whelen and the 375 Hawk/Scoville but not much for the standard version. Data exists however, for most of the same bullet weights in the 35 Whelen. Knowing that the same bullets weights of a larger diameter are going to produce lower pressure given the same loads, I extrapolated data from 35 Whelen data.

My first trip to the range was yesterday and it went well. I was testing Speer 235 grain bullets with the five aforementioned powders. All were primed with Federal 210 primers. I expected this bullet to easily crowd 2600 fps. My BL-C2 loads produced the highest velocity and came the closest to meeting that velocity. It was clear to me that I estimated on the low side of all my test loads. None of the 100 rounds I fired showed any evidence of excessive pressure, no cratered primers, no primer leaks or blown primers and no shiny spots on the base of the case. Bolt opening and extraction were effortless in all loads tested.

The top loads were as follows (I worked up from well below these charges);

BL-C2 62 grains 2574 compressed
2495 54 grains 2324
3031 54 grains 2510
4320 57 grains 2482
RL15 59 grains 2464 lightly compressed

I still have much work to do. I had hoped to sort out one or two powders that showed great promise but they all shot with relatively good accuracy. AA2495 and 4320 showed the best accuracy but not a great deal better than the others. 3031 was a bit inconsistent with accuracy, one good group and the next erratic.

All my initial groups were 4 shot groups at 100 yards. The rifle wears a 24 inch barrel and is scoped with a Leupold 3-9x compact. All loads were shot over my PACT chronograph. I used a PAST recoil shield and a slip on recoil pad to reduce shooter fatigue. It worked very well. I was tired from the recoil but not sore after 100 rounds.

I will continues to post more as I have more data.

Mart




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nice job, mart.

and FYI, QuickLoad has the .375 Whelen in it's cartridge library. I did a quick check of some of your loads and the predicted speed is very close to your actual speeds. pressures look mild.


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Nice rifle Mart. Which of the Whelen sisters do you take on a huntin' date? Decisions, decisions.

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mart Offline OP
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toad,

Thanks for the QuickLoad reference. I really need to buy that and learn to use it.

Dave,

My first love was the 35 Whelen but it is a tough decision any more with the 35, 375 and 400. My heart really goes to the 400 but I'm having fun with this 375. Sometimes I wish I lived in pig country so I could use them all frequently.

Mart


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My 375 whelen(375-06) has to have the brass trimmed to 2.400 so I understand about that trimming stuff. I have recently started experimenting with reloder 15. 59,grains gives me just at 2600 even with the nosler 260,accubond. I have an extremely short throat though so that might point towards my higher velocities at the same powder charges and a heavier bullet. I look forward to more of your results.

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mart Offline OP
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Spent last Tuesday at the range and have a little more data. I started out with bumping up a little on a couple of loads that showed promise previously. I tried 60 grains of RL 15 behind the Speer 235 and came up with 2422 for an average. It was 15 degrees colder last Tuesday than the week before when I made my initial trip to the range with the 375 Whelen. On that trip I got 2464 out of 59 grains of RL 15. Groups from both loads were decent.

Next I took the BL-C2 load up another grain to 63 grains. The 62 grain load grouped well at 2574. With 63 grains it was 2613 and lousy grouping. I tried some heavier loads of 4320 and got an awesome group at 58 grains with the Speer 235 at 2522, 59 was slower than the 58 grains and poor grouping and 60 grains was good again but only 2548. I'll do more work with the 58 grain load. AA2495 turned in velocities from 2288-2438 with charges from 55-58 grains. Grouping was mediocre. Benchmark turned in good velocities but horrible groups.

Moving up to the Hornady 270 grain with BL-C2 I got very good groups at 56 grains with 2325 fps. I tried up to 58 grains but that load was too hot. I had good luck with 4320. It turned in good groups from 52-56 grains with velocities from 2135 to 2344. Same was true for AA2495 with loads from 53-57 and velocities from 2176 to 2329. I tested one load of 54 grains of RL15 but only recorded one shot as light was becoming and issue. Accuracy was good and the only velocity I recorded was 2316. I'll need to work more with that load.

It looks like the 375 Whelen is going to want to run about 2500-2550 with 235 grain bullets and around 2300-2350 with 270 grainers. I would expect 250's to run in the 2450 range and 300's to be around 2150-2200. I still have a lot of testing to do. It's going to be a few weeks before I can get back out but will update when I have more to report.

It was interesting that with it slightly colder the AA2495 turned in lower velocities with the Speer 235 than the lighter loads from a week before. Same was true for RL15. Curious.

Mart


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Mart, did you do anymore with the 375-06?


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mart Offline OP
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I did. I would have to dig out my loading records on it. I foolishly sold it when I got to thinking it was duplicating what I already had in the 35 and 400 Whelen. It was duplicating but I regret selling it. I've offered to buy it back but the buyer is very happy with it. It was fun to have one of each of the Whelens for a while. I see the 375-06 or 38 Whelen as it was originally known, as a great cartridge for all of North America. I think the 235 grain Speer and the 375-06 would be a great pairing for most NA game. The 235 Speer is a tough bullet. The 375-06 wouldn't need premium bullets to provide premium performance. Just like its little and big brothers, a standard cup and core at moderate velocities makes all of them into meat hammers. I never did hunt the 375 but have taken moose and caribou with both the 35 and 400 and have been well pleased with both in all the applications.


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Thanks Mart. Appreciate the word on it!


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