Author Topic: Decision time (Read 950 times)

BruceP · « **on:** June 13, 2003, 04:28:44 PM »

Well today I ran into a gunsmith friend of mine that I had not seen in a while. He moved his shop last year and I have not been to the new one yet. Anyway we only talked for about 10 minutes but somehow the conversation turned to guns. :? During that time I told him that I had been looking at a Ruger #1 45/70, but I had also thought of having him rebarrel my Ruger 77 MKII. He does a lot of work on various calibers on the basic 280 Ackley case. I have been thinking about a 35 Whelen so I asked if he had done a 35 on the Ackley case. He has not but now the thought intrigues me. When he said he had not taken in any work in about 6 months due to his backlog but that if I would order the barrel he would do the work in a short time and for not much more than half the cost of the Ruger #1 (thats including the cost of the barrel) I'm really thinking the #1 may get put off for a while (again).
I said all that to ask this. Has anyone worked with this cartridge. How would it differ from the Brown-Whelen. (Not much I dont think except the case and the neck might be a little longer) What kind of velocities could I expect. The M77 is blue and wood stocked so the new barrel would be Chrome Moly steel, either a Douglas XX or a Shilen. Both are supposed to be great barrels so the real difference I see is that the Shilen has a 1 in 14" twist and the Douglas a 1 in 12" twist. Which would you prefer and why.
BruceP

PaulS · « **Reply #1 on:** June 14, 2003, 05:32:59 PM »

BruceP,
The twist will be determined by the weight of bullet that you will be shooting but I have to tell you that my .358 Winchester does just fine with a 1:10 twist shooting bullet weights from 158 (pistol) to 200 grain spitzers. Mine is a custom rifle on a Rem 700 action.

PaulS

BruceP · « **Reply #2 on:** June 15, 2003, 04:00:17 PM »

Thanks Paul. To be honest I am leaning toward the 1:12 twist on the Douglas because I'm thinking it will be better with the 250gr. bullets even though I will probably stay with the 225's but you never know. I have seen some pretty big rabbits here in North Georgia. :wink: The eldest son of a friend has moved to Idaho and we may go see if we could find one of those little ol' elk out there.
If anyone has done testing with the different twist rates in the 35's I would love to here about it.
BruceP

kciH · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2003, 12:44:37 PM »

I've not done testing with the different twist rates, but I do have a .35 Whelen AI with a 40 degrees shoulder. You can expect about 100-150 fps over the data for the standard Whelen you see in the various manuals. The one I have is on a Parker-Hale (commercial M98) action with a 25" Douglas barrel. It shoots everything from 180's to 250's very well. You can expect about 28-2900fps with the 200's, the 180's will go 3000fps if you develop loads carefully. You can expect 2600-2650+ with the 250's. These velocities are from the above mentioned 25" barrel, so take that into account if you're planning on something signifigantly shorter. I haven't had the chance to work with this rifle all that much, but I've taken a whitetail doe and a midsized black bear with it. I will say that it performed admirably. More so than the standard Whelen? I can't say. The 180gr X-bullet shoots fairly flat and makes short work of deer.

BruceP · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2003, 12:58:33 PM »

kciH, Thanks for the info. I will probably have this gun built but now I'm thinking of buying a used Remington 700 to build it on and keep the Ruger in its 257 Roberts form.
BruceP

PaulS · « **Reply #5 on:** July 09, 2003, 02:56:40 PM »

BruceP,
My custom 358 Win. was built on the Remington 700 action and I have never had anything bad to say about it or the smith that did the work. It looks pretty plain (I used the original stock) but it shoots as well as I can.
PaulS

BruceP · « **Reply #6 on:** July 09, 2003, 03:49:20 PM »

I tried to call the "smith" today to see if he knew of any Remington 700's any cheeper than the ones I have found. He was not in his shop today though.
BruceP