35 whelen question

[teddybaham]

   i bought a cva apex 35 whelen last year and had kinds of trouble with the the thing shooting good groups. finally discoverd that the base was flexing the last 5 shot group i shot stayed tight  3 in the same hole. i was shooting 200gr remington core loks and the half empty box had a few misfires due to short shoulders. shot some hornady 200gr superformance out of it with mediocre results. but the hornadys are loaded too hot for my liking about 2850 fps compared to the remington 2675 fps.  so i have 3-4 boxes of empty whelen brass and bought rcbs dies and a box of 200gr hornady sp bullets (would have rather loadeded core loks but bass pro didnt carry them in a .358) i got home and resized a box of 20 and decided to check to see if theyed fire since i had the misfires id rather be sure before loading a bunch. to the naked eye they looked very close to an unfired hornady round but i wanted to be certian. i primed 3 cases chambered them and they all fired. GREAT!! but i noticed the primers puhsed out about 16-20 thousandths. i assume this is normal since a loaded cartrige will expand pushing it back in the case. just wanting some deeper insight on this. also any loads for the whelen close to what im looking for? 200gr 1675 ish? i say this cause the hornadys beat me to submission after only 6 rounds and i dont mind recoil much. also the primers looked flattened in the cartrige filling in the chamfer around the primer pocket.. just a little much for southern whitetails i belive? all insight welcome thanks!!

[hoghunting]

i primed 3 cases chambered them and they all fired. GREAT!! but i noticed the primers puhsed out about 16-20 thousandths. i assume this is normal since a loaded cartrige will expand pushing it back in the case. just wanting some deeper insight on this

 You're correct as that is normal as there wasn't a powder charge to push the case head back to the breech face.

 Can't help you with loads for the Whelen, but you might try replacing the recoil pad with a Kick-Eez or Limbsaver as they may have a prefitted pad for your rifle.

[calvon]

I'm using 28 grains of AA 5744 behind a 260 grain cast bullet in my Whelen for a velocity of 1800 fps. The recoil is easy on the shoulder and the accuracy is good. I'm sure a well placed round would upend the biggest whitetail that ever lived.


I've never tried that load behind a jacketed bullet though and don't know what it would do.

[oneoldsap]

                 I would recommend Neck sizing for your single shot CVA !  Flattened Primers in Factory Ammo isn't really a good thing . It would be interesting to see if neck sizing insures good head space !  I've heard differing opinions on Bargara Barrels , some like some not so much !