Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Special Edition 35 Whelen--Misfires

I purchased a Special Edition 35 Whelen on 7-6-01. After thoroughly cleaning and degreasing the subject rifle, I had a range session that included 6 attempted shots that failed to discharge in two boxes of ammunition. I subsequently degreased and cleaned the rifle again and went back to the range and had one more round that failed to discharge in a box of ammunition. Remington Arms Company, Inc. Lonoke, Arkansas, manufactured all of the rounds that failed to discharge (4 rounds from a box of 250 Gr. Pointed Soft PT, 2 rounds from a box of 200 Gr. Core-Lokt PTD Soft PT and 1 round from a box of 200 Gr. Pointed Soft PT). I also shot 50 rounds of Federal Premium 225 Gr. Trophy Bonded Bear Claws through this rifle and all of these rounds ignited and performed perfectly. I sent this rifle to Ruger to have it repaired on 7-21-01<p>Ruger returned the rifle with a letter that advised that they could not detect a problem with it. Subsequently, I had three more misfires out of 40 rounds and one of these was a Federal Premium round. Moreover, I was now experiencing the delamination of the nickel coating in the neck area of the Federal Premium cartridge cases. I was convinced that something was definitely wrong with the chamber of this rifle and at best this rifle was unreliable and at worst unsafe. On 10-29-01 I returned this rifle again to Ruger and urged them to simply replace it with another Special Edition Whelen. <p>I received a call from Ruger regarding the subject Special Edition and I returned it on 12-3-01. A very pleasant speaking woman advised me that they no longer had any Special Edition Whelens available, but they would like to replace my rifle with any other standard caliber of my choice. After extolling the virtues of the 35 Whelen and advising her that only a Whelen would do for me, I asked her to call Davidson to determine if they had any remaining Whelens in their inventory. She asked me if I would mind speaking with her supervisor and explaining my position to him. <p>The supervisor was polite, but clearly the conversation had taken on a very business-like tenor. He allowed me to make a few comments about the Whelen before he said, � Yes, I have had one since the 60s and it is fine OLD cartridge. I would like to ask you some questions and your answers will not change what we are going to do for you. Were any of the misfires in reloaded ammunition?� I told him that I did not reload and that I have only used new factory Remington or Federal ammunition in this rifle. He asked � Did you observe any punctures or deformed primers in the spent cases?� I told him that I did not observe any irregularities with the primers. I then said, � Alright, what did you find? � He said very seriously �The firing pin spring had been collapsed from gas being discharged through the bolt assembly.� I reconfirmed that none of the spent cases showed and any signs of this kind of an occurrence. (I have no sense from the recoil, noise, rifle behavior or my observations during cleaning sessions that this event occurred while I was shooting this rifle.) He then said � We are going to put a new barrel and bolt in this rifle and ship it back to you.� I responding by saying � Thank you and take your time. The snow is on the ground here in Idaho and my seasons are over for this year.� <p>On 12/14/01, I called Ruger�s Product Service department and inquired about the status of the subject Whelen. I was told that it had been rebarreled and the technician had also installed a new bolt in the rifle. It was scheduled for a range session early the following week and shipment back to me by the end of next week. <p>
I will continue to keep everyone advised as to the outcome of this saga. CP.

You are not alone with this problem I overheard a gunshop in Anchorage that the chamber was out of specs. you may want ot call them up and verify this to reinforce your stance wtih Ruger.
Great Northern Guns 907-563-6913
Compare fired case to factory round and see if
chamber is oversize?

I had this problem with my T/C Encore 15" handgun in the 7mm-08 and 35 Whelen using Rem. factory ammo. I sent the gun back to the manufactor for the problem and it did the same. All of my reload work fine. Course I only neck size the cases. So I think Rem. had a problem. I think their head spacing on some of their factory round are off. I would call Rem. about the problem. Mark

I have found that Remington 35 Whelen ammo is pretty much junk. I have had no misfires, but very erratic accuracy and point of impact. Read an article once where the writer tested RP 35 Whelen ammo and found it to be erratic as far as velocity goes.<p> The Fed Premium is the only way to go for a factory round in this caliber. If you really want top shelf performance, at least velocity wise, you must handload for the Whelen. The Fed Premium is more accurate though than most of my handloads have been.....But it is rather spendy. And its only available in one bullet style and weight. I would prefer the Nosler Partition for elk and the Nosler Ballistic Tip for deer, both in the 225 grain weight. Makes the cartridge a bona fide 400 yard round. <p>I hope Ruger gets your gun working properly. You might have better luck getting it rebarreled by a competent gunsmith using a Shilen or Douglas barrel instead.

Larry, I have had a chance to run a series of 35 Whelen 225-gr. Federal Premiums over a chronograph. My Special Edition only has a 22" barrel, but the slowest shot was 2566 ft/sec and the fastest was 2591 ft/sec. The mean was 2578 ft/sec. With my stainless Classic model 70 Whelen that has a 24" Shilen barrel, I have averaged a tad over 2600 ft/sec with the same round. <p>If UPS does it job, I should receive my Classic over the holidays chambered out to a 358 Norma mag. I can buy Norma ammo with 250 gr. Woodleighs for under $27.00/ box, which is about what I have been paying for the Federal Premiums in 35 Whelen. After I retire and start reloading again, I plan on seeing what 225-gr. Partitions will do in both of these rifles. CP.

CP, where did you find 358 norma ammo for that price? I am strickly reloading for my norma using the 250 Hornady interlocks. tom

Larry, I purchased the Norma ammunition on-line from Graf & Sons. <p>http://www.grafs.com/<p>Go to " Products" then to "Norma Ammunition" then to "Rifle Ammunition" then enter "358" in the search window. It will display Norma Ammo 358 Norma 250 gr. Woodleigh SP @ $ 26.95. I have purchased 13 boxes since I found this site. I had one box sent to John Ricks, so he could use it for test firing my Norma after he re-chambered it. If the UPS Santa delivers, I expect to have my Norma this week. CP.

I am sorry. I meant to address the post above to Tom. CP.

CP, it would seem that we have simular tastes. I had my Parker Hale model 1200 rebarreled from 30-06 to 358 norma mag last year. and I have a remington 7600 in 35 Whelen. I had no luck finding factory ammo for the norma so I have only been reloading. I was able to get a 100 brass and the RCBS dies from Midway. thanks for the link. tom

I have another milestone to report in this story. I had anticipated receiving my repaired Whelen over the holidays, but the UPS guy did not deliver it. So, I called Ruger to get a status report. I was advised that my repaired Special Edition had �failed the range test� and was being sent back to the product support department to be rebarreled again. I offered to pay an �up charge� if they would rebarrel it in stainless this time around, but this suggestion was a non-starter with them. In any event, my Special Edition is now scheduled to ship to me around the 18th of this month. By trial, misfortune and default, I am of the mind that when this rifle is finally returned to me that I will have as close to a custom shop rifle that Ruger produces. CP.

CP I think that I can be of some assistance to you. Since you'll be busy with the whelen I feel it my obligation to offer you my rifle exercise program. I think that I might be able to find the time to escort your 358 around town(rifle range,any open seasons, a ride in the truck, etc.....) I realize that is alot for you to ask of me but i'm sure that you'd be right there to do it for me.(send dies, bullets, brass,powder, thats ok, i'll supply the primers, what kind?

Dave, thank you for your generous offer. However, I am going to attempt to shoulder this burden by myself to avoid unnecessarily exposing anyone else to a potential case of 35 itis. CP.

CP, thanks for your thoughtfullnes. Ever since I gave my very own Whelen up for adoption i've been walking through gunshops in a daze. The only reasons that i've not had a complete breakdown is the fact that the new parent is feeding her her favorite meal of RL15 and 225 Sierra. Pumpgun has mentioned to me of the fact that the 338( that i'm trying to mate to the 30-06 in hopes of a 243 coming from the union) could be rechambered to 35. Wait, i've got an idea, 338 to 375=30-06 to 35 whelen. I scare myself sometimes.

CP: I have to wonder if the gas escapement problem didn't occur when the the rifle was proofed with "blue pills". The tester may not have noticed the gas leak and did not detect any weakness in the rifle. stocker

I took my Special Edition Ruger to a prominent local riflemaker, whose judgement I trust. He has addressed misfires with non-Mk. II M-77's, which he says he cured simply by installing a heavy-duty mainspring. He's going to check the headspace and firing pin protrusion before he does this, so I may end up sending it back to Ruger anyway. Does anyone have experience with this modification? Thanks, Okie John.

Okie John, I believe that some of these rifles have chamber irregularities. Overcoming this problem by smacking the cartridge primer harder is not a remedy that would give me a great deal of comfort I want the chamber to be properly sized, and I have every reason to believe that is how Ruger intends to deal with this problem at their Product Support Center. Well, I sure hope so in any event. CP.

CP, I agree that an extra-strength firing pin spring will not make up for a badly cut chamber. My riflemaker said headspace was correct, and after measuring some fired cases, I found nothing to indicate a bad chamber. I got this rifle back and tried it at the range yesterday. It shot about 50 rounds without misfires. So far, I have only tried IMR 4064 and Hornady 250 grain bullets, but accuracy hovers near 1 MOA with handloads or Federal ammo. It's about twice that with Remington ammo. Thanks for your help and advice, and I'll let you know more as I figure it out. Okie John.

I received my �repaired� Special Edition 35 Whelen from Ruger this week. The packing slip indicated that they replaced the barrel, bolt and firing pin spring and repaired the stock. I don�t have a clue about the need or what was done to repair the stock. Nevertheless, I do have a few observations about this rifle. The original barrel had a deep blue satin finish, but the replacement barrel has a light thin dull blue finish. The new finish is certainly acceptable, but just different enough to make it noteworthy. However, the firing pin action has been noticeably changed. The firing pin spring launches the pin with authority and probably is capable of punching a hole in a titanium primer. By looking through the gas relief ports on several of my 77 bolts, I compared the springs in the cocked position. Unlike my other 77s, the spring in the Special Edition is so tight that you cannot see the firing pin between the spring coils.
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<br>Unfortunately, we are having an early break-up and I can�t get out in the brush, or even to the local range, to test fire this Special Edition. However, I should be able to do some shooting in the next month and be able to report back about the performance of this rifle. CP.
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