Best way to form .35 Whelen Brass?

[Lawyerman]

What is the best way to form .35 Whelen brass from .30-06 brass? The following methods have been suggested:

1. Cold form it, just run it through a full length die and load it up

2. Anneal the case then do no. 1

3. Load and then fire .30-06 ammo in the Whelen you need the cases for

4. Fire a load using 15 grains of Bullseye, filler and a wax plug to form

5. Cold form, Load full power Whelen ammo with .35 cal bullets and shoot.

Personally I think 5 is way too expensive. Number four is the method suggested by George Nonte in his book of handloading, that's where the 15 grains of Bullseye comes from. Thoughts?

[Thomas Krupinski]

I just use your "Cold form it, just run it through a full length die and load it up" method and works fine with the military cases I use in mine.

[Robert]

Takes a little more fire-forming.  I would NOT fire 30-06.  Yes, it will work, but it is a lot cheaper to buy 50 brass from www.grafs.com that is already formed and properly headstamped rather than ruin your rifle.  You can also form it with a full length die. I didn't anneal and I had some trouble with splits, but I expanded it with my 8mm mauser die first and that solved the problem.
  For fireforming loads....buy some el-cheapo 158 gr.357 pistol bullets and load them with 52 grs of H-322.  That is a lot more fun than just wasting primers and powder.  They shoot excellent.

[Lawyerman]

I am using Lake City 1967 dated 06 brass. So far I have "cold" sized about 20 rounds, no split necks but they don't look all that great either, the necks didn't seem to expand uniformly. I suppose they will iron out on the first firing. I have just been expanding the necks and not full length resizing them, they were full length resized when I punched out the primers using the 06 dies. Do I need to do a full length resize in the Whelen die?

I may load up some .357 bullets to play with. In fact I have a bunch of 9m/m 147 grainers laying around that I have been wondering what to do with, this may be just the ticket.

[Thomas Krupinski]

I have been just shooting cast gas checked 200 and 250's in mine.  I cast the 158 gas checks also, but have pleanty of the others on hand.  Just resized with the Whelen die and loaded full charge.   Haven't had any problem with necks splitting.

Doesn't seem to make too much difference.  The brass is just assorted military that is length checked and trimmed as needed that I have used a number of times in '06 loads.  The powder I am using is Accurate 4350.  I am saving my LC67 match brass for use in the '06 rifles.

[Castaway]

I'd anneal, size, load lighlty with BE or another fast powder, using a filler such as cream of wheat, fire, then load with your full power loads..  Not sure what option this fits in.

[richp41]

Lawyerman.  I've sized cases up from .270 and .280 and .30-06 to make 8mm-06 cases for a converted Turk Mauser. Just make sure your size die has a tapered expander and it goes nuch easier. Use powdered GRAPHITE on the inside of the case neck as it works better than any neck lube. All these conversions are viable but .35 Whalen cases are still available and only a dollar or so more expensive than .270 or 30-06 brass. I just started converting .35 Whalen case to 8mm-06 to make them more INSTANTLY IDENTIFIABLE than a whole array of converted 30-06 cases. Only takes one mistake to give you a whole new perspective on high pressure... Rich P

[kaferhaus]

I make it a rule to never form brass when it's available commercially at a fair price.

Too many things can happen fire forming and often you'll need to either ream or turn the necks afterward anyways..  

Waste of powder and good bullets.  Figure your cost in componets to form the brass that will be "mis-stamped" and probably still need "tuning" against factory brass and usually it's a no-brainer.

[Thomas Krupinski]

Maybe a no brainer for some folks, but before there was factory brass available for the Whelen, it was popular and the accepted practice to form from surplus military brass by just sizing.

If it works, why make it complicated.  Try it both ways, before and after the case is fireformed and see if there is an substantial difference in accuracy.  I bet you won't notice any.

And concerning the waste of powder and bullets, the cost of a primer, 10 grains of Red Dot and a cast lead pistol bullet is far less than the cost of a factory case.

On military cases, there is often no specification for the cartridge, only the arsnel and date.  It is pretty difficult to mistake a '06 for a Whelen even if they are not standing side by side.