Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Swift Reloading Manual - 35 Whelen w/280s

I have an inkling to try heavier bullets in my Whelen (a fool's errand, I know). There's not much data out there. I assume Swift includes data for their 280 grain AF bullet in their manual for the Whelen, but thought I should check before ordering it. If so, is the data substantial? Thanks in advance.

I love old reloading books. Dunno if this will be of any help but this is from the first edition Hornady load manual. The bullet is the 275 gr. round nose and all IMR powder types are the original DuPont IMR. I'd take the max loads mention with a grain or two of salt. Loads may have been done by the by guess and by gosh method. Copyright date is 1967 FWIW. You should be able to start on the low side and work up.

4064 Start: 44.0 gr./1900 FPS Max: 51.6 gr./2300 FPS

4320 Start: 44.4 gr./1900 FPS Max: 52.6 gr./2300 FPS

4350 Start: 51.4 gr./2000 FPS Max: 56.6 gr./2200 FPS

Found this on Paco Kelly's web site and it fits in with this. I think JRN is Jacketed round nose.

52/H335

275 JRN

2455 fps/3681

thick skin game

Paul B.

My books are packed away but I wanna say a strong yes to the 35 Whelen and 280 data in my two Swift manuals.

Lessee...in my #2 manual the index says... Yup!

Flip to the page... aw crap, only goes up to 250 gr.

Their website offers 280 grain, but no loads. Looking like extra Google Fu may be required.

If you're feeling adventurous, you might look at the 9.3x62mm 286 gr. bullet load data and 60% of the H4895 max load. See if that charge looks reasonable.

Swift number 2 only lists 225 and 250 A-Frame for 35 Whelen

Thanks; you saved me $36!

You might contact Mart (username here). He has swaged down the 0.366" (9,3 mm) 286 gr Nosler Partition to 0.358 and shot it in his .35 Whelen.

I'm sure he has some loads

Good idea, will do.

I sent an email to Swift bullets earlier today and received a call back from none other than Bill Hober, himself! He was very nice, and he told me they do not have any data for the 280 in the Whelen because most Whelens have the 1 in 16" twist, and it won't stabilize. Mine is a 14. He said I could extrapolate data from their 250, keeping an eye on velocity. He also warned me that their bullets reach maximum pressure a few grains of powder before regular gilding metal bullets. I believe I've read that elsewhere.

That’s damned good service. Wished we could get more Swifts. Some killers for hunting. Love the Scirocco. Near my favorite next to a Bitterroot.

I’ve resized a number of bullets to different diameters but never done 9.3 to 35. It wouldn’t be difficult. Could easily be done with Lee push through dies. And would give a guy a chance to try some heavier bullets.

Data from Western Powders:
35 Whelen Ramshot Test 22 275 2350 TAC 50 Fed 210 Max factory load
35 Whelen Ramshot Test 22 275 2350 Big Game 56 Fed 210 Max factory load

We all know each rifle's chamber is a measured unit of itself and we have to load to that chamber not some chamber in a manual somewhere. But; I have found the 35 Whelen data to be even more so of that "My rifle" trend. In my Whelen, old 1950's hand cut chamber, it will take most factory load data and go up from there. However, i don't have a way to measure pressure, just velocity. TAC and H335 are pretty much alike in the pressure curves and that is one group. Ramshot Big Game and H414 are pretty well grouped too. You can see in the Western Powder data that they stop at 2350 for a 275 grain bullet. Not a coincidence I would say and a reasonable target. I did not like TAC in my rifle, found better with AA 2015 with a 225 grain Barnes X bullet and liked 56 grains of Varget with a 250 Hornady.
If you look at modern Speer data you see them using CFE223 and Alliant Varmint to steam up the 35 whelen. My AA 2015 loads were at 2821 fps with the old sticky 225 X bullet. Certainly a 60K PSI load. I no longer use them in my old Springfield. Don't need it any longer. Probably never did but they did kill like the hammer of Thor and were accurate.
Barnes Manual 1 has 300 grain originals in it and top powder was BCL2 at 57 grains for 2494 fps. This manual is where I got my X bullet load from and is known to be full of 60K psi loads.
So: CFE223, AA2300, aa2460, A Varmint, BCL2, H335, H322 is likely where your heavy bullets will find speed at.
Good luck,
F01

Wouldn’t think a feller that can afford to shoot A-Frames would worry about $36😜

Wanted to try their revolver slugs but $1.60 a pop just breaks my heart……

Plus, they’re hard to find.

Ha! Fair point.