Good Whelen loads

[rickt300]

My Whelen has a 19 inch barrel and was put together with short ranges in mind. I finally ordered some good bullets, Speer 220 FN, Sierra 225 spitzer and the 250 gr. Hornady Spire point. The Speer manual is way too mild barely matching the 358 Winchester loadings. I want to get 2500 fps with all of the above bullets and the powders I want to use are H380, 3031 and 4320. Surely one of these will get this done, any suggestions?

[max1138]

I dont believe 2500 is doable out of a 19" barrel with a 250 grainer the lee 2nd edition lists a very few loads  that break 2500 with a 250 grain bullet  then only by less than 100fps. and none use the powders you listed.
if they were tested out of a 22"-24" or longer barrel youre going to lose that 100fps out of a 19" even with the correct powder




and it will hammer you with recoil, those are some bad boys on both ends of the weapon.


 the lyman 49th edition has nothing that breaks  2500 in a 250 grainer


its doable with the 225 sierras  but those are at max loads.  out of a 19" I can imagine the muzzle flash and recoil would be awesome. 

[Graybeard]

Hate to say it but I think you are dreaming. Ain't happening at safe pressures with the 250s and I'd not bet on it with the 220-225s in that short barrel. If you do then you're definitely looking at book max loads. I dunno what powder might do it. AA2520 is one I'd look at as it delivered 2300 fps for me in the slightly smaller cased .358 JDJ in a 14" barrel. I really don't think you're gonna get a lot more from yours. You might pull 2400 fps with book max loads.

[rickt300]

Then nix the 2500 fps with the 250 grainers but the 220-225 grain bullets should do it.  I have loaded H380 to max loadings before and muzzle blast is nothing like my 25-06 however recoil is definitly there. I know primers are not a reliable indicator and also that book max loadings are kept very low for the Whelen due to the many 1895 lever actions and early Springfields that were converted to the round. I have some AA2520 but don't like this dirty burning powder much. Hmmm starting today I will try the 4320 in a workup and see how far it goes. Actually I could live with 2400 fps with any of the bullets but feel I should get at least 100 fps more than the 358 with any bullet weight tried.

[calvon]

Coming from over fifty years in handloading — get over the notion that top velocity is always the best. It isn't. A load that doesn't dislocate your shoulder and which prints good groups is to be desired. I shoot a cast 260 grain gas check bullet in my 35 Whelen at 1800 fps and it has plenty of power to kill most game found in the 48 contiguous states. It doesn't punish my shoulder and it is plenty accurate. I shot thirty rounds off the bench just yesterday with no flinching.

[jhalcott]

 I have a 14" 358JDJ and a 24" .35 Whelen. I use 200 and 250 grain CAST bullets in both .2300 to 2400 fps is a MUCH better velocity range to shoot for with these cartridges.. The 250 358318 Lyman will go thru a deer from any direction if cast of Lyman #2 alloy. The fast jacketed loads are hard on my dentures,too hard!

[336SC]

I have an 18.5" barreled Whelen built on a Savage 110 action and an E.R. Shaw barrel on it.  I contacted Johan Loubser at Western Powder Co in Miles City, MT for help with upgrading the velocity out of my shorty Whelen using TAC powder.  His recomended loads
got me 2588fps with the Speer 220gr Hot Core flat nose bullet and 2671fps with the 200gr RP pointed Core-Lokt bullet.  Accuracy was
top drawer also.  The heavy 250gr bullets were not tried as I only hunt Whitetail Deer here in NE PA.  The original 250gr RN factory loads by Remington containing the Hornaday RN bullet chronographed @ 2321fps.  I bought those oringinal factory loads when I got my Remington 700 Classic in .35 Whelen back in 1988.
The extra velocity from my shorty Whelen is not really needed as I've killed lots of deer with my .358 Win 760 pump with 200gr RN
bullets at 2400fps.  It only comes into play when using premium bullets that don't oper up as easily as conventional cup and core bullets.  We do have some fairly large Black Bears in my local (600 + pounds) so the extra umph will be a confidence builder when I
am carrying Mr Shorty Whelen in pusuit of them.
336SC

[rickt300]

Well my load developement made it to the first phase, which is emptying some brass. I had some 250 gr. RN Hornady bullets loaded on top of a manual listed top load of 61.0 grs. of H380 and also some Remington RNCL bullets on top of the same powder charge. Now my rifle has a 1 in 14 twist and is an Adams & Bennet barrel and is a bit chunky, but weighs less than 9 pounds with a Leupold 4 power on it. The 250 gr. Hornady's will cause a bit of tooth rattle if you don't have your mouth shut snug but I put the ten I needed to empty into 3/4ths of an inch at 50 yards. I wasn't really trying to shoot tight groups but empty brass. I also fixed the feeding problem with a dremel tool by just smoothing up the left rail of my action, more of a deburr than any real change. Another lovely aspect of shooting today is that it is over 100 degrees in the shade and my backyards range has no shade.  I only found one of these in the backstop but I didn't get a shovel out, just dug around with my fingers. it had retained it's core but was expanded past the cannelure. Next up were the 200 gr. round nose CoreLokts. I can't really say how fast these bullets are going but they pretty much flattened completely out, seperated and went to pieces.  The backstop is pretty hard clay and small rocks. By the time I got to the 200 grain bullets though the 250 grain bullets had softened up the dirt some behind the target. The brass shows no pressure signs, the primers are still pretty much like they look new but with a nice indent in the middle so heat didn't raise pressure any.  H380 fills the case up at 61.0 grains and I have a good amount of it. I don't see any reason not to try H380 first though there is not much room in the case for adding powder I might just be very happy with what I get from the load that shoots very well also with the 250grain Speers and Hornady's. I am going to load my empty cases but shooting will wait a couple of days.

[oneoldsap]

          IMR-4895 and IMR- 4064 work real well in the short barreled Whelens that I have loaded for . One of them has a 16" barrel and 4895 is the ticket for it ! But I still like my .358 better !

[cwlongshot]

RL15 and the Whelen area match made in haven...BUT in your short barrel this will likely be the exception to the rule...
MAN that thing must have a report!!
 
CW

[rickt300]

I"m not saying it isn't loud but the blast from either my 270 or a 25-06 bothers my ears far more! Probably because the smaller bores, burning similar amounts of powder burn more of it past the muzzle. I didn't fire a single round without ear protection this time though. And my strap on shoulder pad was also nice to me.

[rickt300]

Well I finally got around to chrono a few rounds. I backed off to 59.5 grains of H380 fired by Wolf Magnum primers under the 220 gr. Speer HotCors and five rounds averaged 2420 fps. The next five made one ragged hole in the 50 yard target 1 inch above point of aim. Anyone think this won't take care of any deer or hog inside of 200 yards assuming good hits?  Going to move the bench back to 150 yards as soon as it cools off a bit, Still preety hot in Texas right now.

[max1138]

I think that load would do for deer and hogs at 400 yards with poor hits even, itll drill thru a deer or any hog under 400 lbs or so.  glad you got a good load worked up for your rifle.


this weekend Im going to start experimenting with the 200g FTX hornady and see what they will do loaded to mid range loads with re15

[drdougrx]

I'm also having fun with my Whelen though it's a CDL with a 24" barrell.  I'm doing a Nilgai/Oryx/Javelina hunt in October in TX and plan on using 225gr TSX bullets over a good dose of RL-15.  Haven't sent them over the Chrono yet, but will next month.

[rickt300]

I picked the 35 Whelen over the 338-06 because there were so many round nosed bullets available for it and felt it would be easier to load down than it's skinnier sister round. What I have found out though is that it is far easier to find .338 bullets and then at usually cheaper prices than the .358's.  Then to find that the 200 gr. RNCL doesn't shoot so well in the rifle when the same bullet in my old 358 Winchester was all I felt I needed for any deer hunting on the lease I have was a letdown. That's okay though, my stock of this bullet will be happy in my two 35 Remingtons, a 14 inch barreled Contender and a 1957 model Marlin. I went from having no 358 caliber guns to going thru 4 of them in 5 years!

[WyoStillhunter]

I get 2400 fps ave mv with 250 gr Speer and Hdy bullets from my M700 Classic (1984?), 22 in bbl, 1:16 twist using 53.0 gr of IMR 4064.  Accuracy is not exceptional but plenty good for elk hunting:  3-shots less than 2", most usually right around 1>50 - 1.75" ctc.
 
I DO NOT recommend the load data found at the following web site but it gives food for thought for those interested in high end Whelen loads.  I have not and will not be trying these loads. 
 
http://35cal.com/index.html  Caveat emptor applies.