Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Question for the .400 Whelen Crowd

Below, L to R: ABW Bonded Kodiak, Swift AF



Below, L to R: Nosler Partition, Woodleigh Weldcore



Below, L to R: Woodleigh Solid, CEB #13 brass FN Safari Solid

While we are at it, this rifle is believed to be the first .400 Whelen made by G&H for Townie,
and some more stuff here from Michael Petrov and elsewhere:

Thanks for the pics RC. Great stuff.

Beautiful old rifle

Oh, about that bullet "draw down," it works great for jacketed and monometals, copper and even brass.
Review:
For .416" down to .411", get a 1-ton arbor press for cheap at Harbor Freight.
Lube the bullets by rolling on a Lyman case-lube pad with water-soluble RCBS Case Lube 2.
Go in steps of 0.003" to 0.002", 0.001" steps are very easy:
.413"
.411"
.409"
The last step down to 0.409" allows spring-back to 0.411".
A last step of 0.408" will allow spring-back to 0.410".
May as well throw in for .412" and size those .416" lead bullets to either .413" or .412",
whatever works best for your rifle.
The cast bullets do not spring back,
except the really hard ones to a small degree.
Regular reloading press works for them, with the base-pusher sizers.
And, maybe the Nosler Partition only springs back 0.0015" if the monometals do a full 0.002".

Last of my details from Townie's .400 Whelen rifle:

Here is another idea for hardware to go on my slick-barreled .400 Whelen Ruger Hawkeye procrastination,
more of a simple flavor, more like Townie's rifle sights.
Remove the single standing leaf (dove-tailed with locking screw) for use of peep sight:





BTW, if Sir Jerry chronographs any of his CFE-223 loads with various new bullets and new COLs
it would make for some new entries at AmmoGuide dotcom.
Such is the trust we all have in his reporting, but of course the loads will be attributed to "gunner500,"
even if they are entered by "ripr."

Man, that is one beautiful rifle!

Those Hawks will be great fun and economical practice MR, the 360 NF's should do the rest with plenty to spare.

LOL, damn, like minds Sir Ron, just got in from the chrono before dark, results:

400gr ABW Kodiak, 2259 fps
400gr Swift A Frame, 2276 fps
400gr Nosler Partition, 2260 fps
400gr BBW#13 Solid, 2232 fps

Both 400gr Woodleighs average 2255 fps, the pointed ABW's, NPT's and SAF's will give this rifle another 50-75 yards effective range, iirc the SAF's will expand down to 1650 on heavy game animals, a 250-275 yard middleweight that punches like a heavyweight with recoil next to nil packing 6 rounds on board is ready for anything, it's one of the most accurate rifles i own.

Yessir Big B, beautiful old classic rifle.

Numbers like that with 400 Grainers kinda gives me the feels goods all over. Thanks for sharing that info Jerry.

When I decide on “the” bullet. I think I will ship this rifle off for some additional work on the feeding. Would really like to load a little longer and see what she will do.

From gunner500:

"400gr ABW Kodiak, 2259 fps
400gr Swift A Frame, 2276 fps
400gr Nosler Partition, 2260 fps
400gr BBW#13 Solid, 2232 fps

Both 400gr Woodleighs average 2255 fps, the pointed ABW's, NPT's and SAF's will give this rifle another 50-75 yards effective range, iirc the SAF's will expand down to 1650 on heavy game animals, a 250-275 yard middleweight that punches like a heavyweight with recoil next to nil packing 6 rounds on board is ready for anything, it's one of the most accurate rifles i own."

I will get those put up at AmmoGuidedotcom.
I won't be correcting to MV, just reporting chrono velocities at what, 5 to 6 yards ?
Previous gunner500 loads were reported as with 23" barrel, same now ?

The handle "whelenhunter" has posted loads for 24" barrel.
I posted some "mart" loads with 24" barrel too.
My rifle has 23.6" barrel, to distinguish loads by me and Rusty McGee, Gunsmith: Not Kris Kristofferson's lyrics for the Janis Joplin song.

Rifle mileage varies of course, a shorter barrel may be faster than a longer one, etc.
Bullet "lubricity," seating depth and bearing surface all figure in on the same-powder-charge-and-same-bullet-weight loads.
Those AmmoGuide loads will be a good guide.

Will order some new barrel hardware for the Hawkeye .400 Whelen,
next in line after the Mauser .458 WinMag gets done up at the "Hilltop Gun Shop and Spa for Wayward Rifles."
Rusty does not think my name for his smithy is funny.
CFE-223 does a great job of keeping the copper fouling out of a barrel,
and I reckon I will be using CFE-223 for 400-grainers in the .400 Whelen.

I had to go back and get these, was thinking about this last night drifting off to sleep, that chrono shot was a 400gr Woodleigh solid, 18 feet from the muzzle.

These too, case head miked at .466" on virgin unfired QC cases, then .466" again on the 400gr solid load at 2267 fps says CFE-223 is the powder for 400gr bullets in my rifle, no over pressure problems here men.

Sir Ron, yes, 18 feet from muzzle and 23" barrel.

Just off the top of my head using the 400gr Swift A Frame at 2280 fps, i bet:

+3 at 100 would zero at 200 and be a foot low at 300 still packing Swift's minimum rec velocity for expansion of 1650 fps.


Would i slam a giant Eland bull in Africa or a once in a lifetime bull Moose in Alaska at 300 yards with this load, you bet!

You bet MR, given your AO i'd look hard at the 300gr TSX too and study powder burn rate charts topping out at CFE-223 burn speeds looking for quicker burners than it, your rifle should easily 3.350" rounds.

She is a virgin no more…

After a fairly slow day the action got good about a half hour before dark. Ended up filling all three of my deer tags within about 20 seconds. All three dropped at the shot. The 360 makes a heckuva “WHOP” but damage is not excessive at all.





Wasn’t able to fireform much brass though or work on my tracking skills

Great buck Med River! That’s the way to break a new rifle in!

Congrats and the rifle looks great laying over the buck!

That is the way to cull the herd to maintain its health and prevent roadkill.
I hope the third one was Bambi, along with Mom and Pop.
Culling of family units is always best, whether elephant or whitetail.
The .400 Whelen could handle either species, with the right bullets.
Great first blood on your .400 Whelen.
Congratulations.

Thanks! The third was actually a “button” buck and the doe was 3.5 and dry.