Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 35 Brown Whelen

The first round feeds great. But put in more rounds and they don't want to come out of the magazine. even an empty will feed great if it's the first round.

If the chamber is cut to Brown Whelen spec's, you might have too long of case for the chamber. The Brown Whelen's case spec is shorter than the 35 Whelen.

I ran one of the fired Brown Whelen cases through a 35 Whelen sizing die. The Brown Whelen case was the correct length before running it through the die. After it was sized, the length of the case was correct for the 35 Whelen - it was longer than the case before it was sized.

If someone would want to alter the pre-64 magazine so that it feeds correctly, they could get this rifle from me. I won't do that to a pre-64 action. Cash or a standard Whelen in trade would work (I like pre-64's, Mausers and I like 700's). This rifle is in good shape other than the magazine feeding issues. One other thing: the floorplate - the bottom metal on this rifle comes from a feather weight rifle - i.e. aluminum. Otherwise, I will be taking it to a smith next Wednesday to have the barrel set back and re-chambered.

Have you established how long the brass can be in your chamber ?
When I neck up a .30-06 case to accept .358-caliber bullet it shortens from 2.490" to 2.460".
My chamber of known JGS reamer has a length of 2.500", can handle up to 2.490" brass length, trim to 2.480" advisable for me,
if my brass ever grew to that length.
Maybe mine will be longer if blown out with the bullet-headspacing. Might even make the supposed spec of 2.450" !

I realized my previous 2.430" length production of .35 BW with R-P .35 Whelen brass was done by necking up and necking down, then Cream O' Wheat, soap plug and pistol powder.
Over 20 years later, having found that unsatisfactory in the .400 Whelen, I shall headspace on the bullet and get nice sharp shoulders with first go.

I dug out my old barrel and throat gauge dummies, will get them up in the image gallery.

When you neck up a new, unfired .30-06 case to accept a .358-caliber bullet,
you have produced a new, unfired .35 Whelen case that is about 0.030" shorter than the factory brass.
That is a good thing for fire-forming .35 Brown Whelen brass, which will shorten it even more.

20 years ago I gave up too soon on the .35 Brown Whelen because the brass was a pain in the brass to make.
I was green as a wildcat feeder.
No more.
This kitty will be easy to feed now that I know how to do it.

I might have some chamber rings near the shoulder of my .35 Brown Whelen.
Or are they an artifact of neck up and necking down and blowing the shoulder forward without annealing ?
A polishing of the chamber will be requested when the prodigal .35 Brown Whelen barrel returns to an M70 Classic.

Hey, the 9.3x62mm Mauser also has a 35-degree shoulder angle, same as the .35 Brown Whelen.

I very much appreciate the information so far. I would like to digress for a moment, when I bought the rifle it was pictured with a set of RCBS dies Marked 350 Brown. The dies never made it for whatever reason. The rifle is Marked 35 Brown-Whelen on the barrel so that's the dies I ordered from CH4D. So far I have done the following, sorry if this is long. 1. Did the expanding to 375 then the 35 BW die it does chamber on the doughnut verified by using black sharpie to color the doughnut and it has a ring all the way around. 2. Just sized 2 brass in the 35 BW die only and tried the backwards 38 cal bullet will only close the bolt with bullet seated barely below the case mouth. Tried one with a 200 gr Remington Soft point Corelockt bullet and the bolt will close with the bullet seated 1/32 below the cannulure. Considering doing a chamber cast to check for sure. I have another Wildcat I have to cast anyway. Thoughts ?

Maybe you need to do a chamber cast, looking for short chamber length,
but first you might try this:
Simply neck up some .30-06 brass to only .35-caliber.
2.490"-length brass will shorten to 2.460".
Do 10 cases like that.
Trim each case sequentially shorter by 0.010": 2.460", 2.450", 2.440", etc.
Seat a flat-based cast or jacketed bullet in reverse so full-diameter base of bullet is flush with the case mouth, for sequentially shorter COLs same as brass length.
If there is any radius or bevel on the base of the bullet, that short length of subcaliber portion of bullet base may be allowed to project forward of the case mouth.
See if such a "throat-gauge dummy" chambers easily at shorter length brass.
Without a bullet in the neck, the brass may flex inward and be misleading.
It will be more sensitive as a gauge with bullet seated flush and brass trimmed, squared and uniformed, do not chamfer, just de-burr.
Or do the chamber cast.

Now I am thinking of throating my .35 Brown Whelen with a scaled-down .458 Winchester Magnum throat, more like the throat on the 9.3x62mm Mauser.

Loading the 310 Woodleigh at max magazine length would be a great thing would it not? Lowering the start pressure with a magic .458WM throat would not hurt anything either.

Fury01,
I have not given up on the .35 Brown Whelen, again.
It is number three for a stay at the spa for wayward rifles, two are already vacationing there.
This could be a chance for a one-piece reamer with a leade-only throat having an angle of 0*29'30",
like a scaled-down SAAMI .458 WinMag throat, but otherwise same as the original JGS reamer.
Just being able to use long bullets at even 3.4" COL would be nice.
A new barrel for a Hawkeye Ruger or FN-M70 Winchester would make it go whole hog,
No. 4 sporter instead of No. 3, same 1:12" twist.

I had the barrel re-chambered to 35 Whelen on my rifle. I had no ill feelings with the Brown Whelen, but I didn't want to alter the rails/feeding.
I probably won't be building a Brown Whelen. If someone wants a set of dies, let me know. Shipping should be less than $10. If interested how's $40 personal check, shipped sound?

PM to Bugger

Bugger,
My advice to you is to treat you new 35 Whelen just like it was a wildcat chamber, which it is sort of, and fireform your brass using the same sort of process you were advised on the 35 BW. New 35 Whelen Brass is notorious for being small and you want good tight fitting brass to get the most out of the rifle. If your starting with 30-06 brass which I do most of the time or starting over with the 35 BW brass, getting it to a good tight fit is where you want to be for your 60K PSI loadings. You know all this I am sure so Happy Loading and shooting!

The chamber is minimum/tight. If I full length re-size with the RCBS FL sizing die, the case is a snug fit in the chamber. I may, gasp, buy some factory loads to see how factory loads work. It is a difficult process, that is pulling the billfold out for the purpose of buying factory ammo! But if my kids get this rifle some day, I'd like to be assured that factory ammo works too.

The Brown Whelen dies are sold BTW

Well then sir you are in good shape. Tight chamber and a die that fits it! Carry on.

OK. Cheerio.
Bugger is sending his dies to me, so I will get to see if they work with the JGS 35 Bown Whelen reamered chamber,
and then a copy of that reamer with the long-leade, Winchester Magnum throat, scaled from .458 to .358.
The latter will be called the .358 Winchester Brown Whelen.
.358 WBW

Something in the back of my mind makes me seem to remember that the 35 Brown Whelen uses the 280 Rem case as the base case. The 280 Rem's shoulder is further up the neck ( shorter neck). It has a different headspace than the 30-06 /270 Win ( which I believe have the same headspacing).

You may want to try some 280 Rem brass in forming your next batch of 35 Brown Whelen cases. Maybe that will help.

here's a photo of a 280 AI and a 35 Brown Whelen side by side

I just found a couple boxes of 35 Brown Whelen ammo and empties I got with the rifle. I'm running the cases through 35 Whelen dies and I see an advantage of a Brown Whelen over the 35 Whelen. It's in the case neck.
I had noticed earlier when shooting the Whelen made from 30-06 cases that there was a donut at the base of the neck on some of the cases, but not all. There wasn't a donut with the Brown Whelen cases made from 30-06 - due to the shoulder being further forward..
What I'm doing with all the 35 Whelen brass that I'm forming and now the 35 B W I'm resizing. Is loading them with some 38 Special bullets that I'd never use -- they are 125 grain hollow points. These bullets won't be set in so deep as to touch the donut. After firing these loads, I'll be running the cases into my inside trimmer, which will eliminate the donut.
It's sort of a paint. If I had to do it all over, I'd just buy 35 Whelen brass. I have now actually bought 50 ea. Nosler 35 Whelen brass, which I'll be using on jacketed bullet loads. These cases formed from 30-06 and 35 BW will be reserved for cast bullet loads.

That donut if ignored will cause the load to go "high pressure" if fired in a tight chamber - maybe most chambers - I don't know. This Whelen has a tight chamber.