Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 35 Whelen and 158 grain handgun bullets

Anybody got a good load for some 158 grain pistol bullets to be used in the Whelen?? I found some listings on previous posts regarding Unique powder between 13-15 grains. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Andy

I fireformed some brass using 44 grains of IMR 4198.

YUP WORKS GREAT WITH UNIQUE!

Do you know the approximate velocity 15 grains of unique would push the 158 grain bullet??

I'v shot several 158gr XTP's with 50grs of H-322...accurate too! have not chronoed them yet.

A 358156 and 15 grains of 2400. Fun to shoot and pretty accurate, I was surprised. I wouldn't be afraid to shoot a deer at 100 yards or so.

RJ

Long time ago, I loaded some 158 grainers in my 358 Win. using Reloder 7 but I don't remember how much. I'm pretty sure the load was from a Speer manual.

Dale

The Speer Manual #13 has loading data for pistol bullets in the 35 Whelen.

10-15grs of blue dot works well with any of the pistol bullets. IIFC 125HP can only go about 2200fps before it becomes a .358 shotgun but is incredible to hit small furry things with and offers minimal recoil. The lightest I have gone is about 5grs with a 158 cast and that only offered about 850fps. I believe others have gone lighter with bulleye but you run the risk of sticking a jacketed bullet at those speeds.

Cartridge : .35 Whelen
Bullet : .357, 158, Speer JHP 4211
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 3.340 inch or 84.84 mm
Barrel Length : 24.0 inch or 609.6 mm
Powder : Alliant UNIQUE

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 2.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-20.0 27 12.00 1564 859 12871 1855 100.0 2.032
-18.0 27 12.30 1587 883 13379 1896 100.0 1.994
-16.0 28 12.60 1609 908 13893 1937 100.0 1.958
-14.0 29 12.90 1631 933 14414 1977 100.0 1.923
-12.0 29 13.20 1652 957 14940 2018 100.0 1.891
-10.0 30 13.50 1673 982 15474 2058 100.0 1.860
-08.0 31 13.80 1694 1006 16013 2099 100.0 1.831
-06.0 31 14.10 1714 1031 16559 2139 100.0 1.803
-04.0 32 14.40 1734 1055 17111 2179 100.0 1.776
-02.0 33 14.70 1754 1080 17669 2219 100.0 1.751
+00.0 33 15.00 1774 1104 18233 2259 100.0 1.726
+02.0 34 15.30 1794 1129 18803 2300 100.0 1.702
+04.0 35 15.60 1813 1153 19380 2340 100.0 1.679
+06.0 35 15.90 1832 1177 19962 2379 100.0 1.657
+08.0 36 16.20 1851 1202 20551 2419 100.0 1.636
+10.0 37 16.50 1869 1226 21146 2459 100.0 1.616

Results caused by � 10% powder lot-to-lot burning rate variation using nominal charge
Data for burning rate increased by 10% relative to nominal value:
+Ba 33 15.00 1788 1122 19746 2239 100.0 1.673
Data for burning rate decreased by 10% relative to nominal value:
-Ba 33 15.00 1754 1079 16534 2287 100.0 1.783

I have a .358 Norma Mag and shoot a lot of pistol bullets through it.

I don't have access to my loading notes, but I have got the Hornady 125gr HP bullets up to about 3000fps with them still hanging together. However, I have an extremely smooth barrel (made by Border, if anyone cares) which I think helps a lot.

Better accuracy is found at about 2800fps, but accuracy is still one of the worst from my rifle (about 1.5 MOA with about 1 shot of 10 being a flyer still further out). The fact that the bullet has the ballistic co-efficient of an aspirin tablet means that this is no long range load, so I use it sometimes anyway just for fun at the range.

Varmintsinc is correct about the damage that these pistol do to furry mammals! I shot a fox with sarcoptic mange and just about cut it in half.

John

Pop,

Thanks for the info! That helps me.

Andy

John, I might try the Hornady, I think mine were some bulk remington 125s and I could get a chrono reading at higher speeds but could not find hits on paper. Had to move the paper to 25 yards and the sharpnel was leaving a 4-10" pattern. They do fly like marshmellows though, I keep them inside 100 and things are fine.

I have an article in an old American Rifleman. There were several hunters that used 35 Whelens for squirrel/rabbit rifles using lightly loaded pistol bullets. After several reloads their cases developed excessive headspace no matter what they did. They finally cured the problem be rechambering to 35 Whelen Improved. The claim was that the small, sloping standard shoulder would not withstand repeated blows of the firing pin without setting back.

Bruce

I used 158 gr pistol bullets to break-in my 673 in 350 Rem Mag's barrel. They worked very well, the groups were surprisingly good (some under an inch) at 100 yards. I fired about 100 of them before I was happy with the barrel. The loads I used came for the Speer book, I don't remember which number. I will say one thing if you have a chance to try one of these out on an armadillo, it has an explosive effect that I highly recommend!
Good shooting!
Happy New Year!
Marcus.