35whelen no fire isssue

[quickdtoo]

I use a .025" feeler gauge blade as a straight edge across the chamber mouth and headstamp, it gives you a good idea of the headspace to the chamber mouth. It will also tell you if the barrel face is flat.....or not!!

Tim

[Fred M]

Scibear
It looks like you don'thave any headspace problem, The firing pin protrusion is not
all that imprtant as long it is between 40and 60 thou. It is better to be a little
longer than too short.

The hammer and the spring is not strong enough to punch through the primer.
A longer protrusion will not let the firing pin bottom out. When you let go of the trigger the transfer bar will slide out of the way and the firing pin return spring will retract the pin.

For an extra bit of inertia I polished the firing pin and the pin seat housing
and toke a coil off the return spring and lowered the hammer extension.
At that time I ground off the tip of the hammer.

The hammer springs don't seem to last all that long so every little bit helps.

[Scibaer]

Bro. Fred,
 so what did NEF do to my rifle ? allow the hammer to hit the transfer bar with more force ( less resistance) and remove some material on the hammer to allow the firing pin to extend further out ?
 would a replacement hammer extention ( better specs or workmanship ) solve some of my problem ? ( or did  NEF try to get around that by the above mentioned fixes ?
Glenn

[Fred M]

Bro. Fred,
so what did NEF do to my rifle ? allow the hammer to hit the transfer bar with
more force ( less resistance) and remove some material on the hammer to allow
the firing pin to extend further out ?
would a replacement hammer extention ( better specs or workmanship ) solve
some of my problem ?   or did  NEF try to get around that by the above mentioned fixes ?
Glenn

Bro Glenn
I don't know what they did to fix your rifle. It is fixed yes? The hammer spring has only so much power and they do with use relax. It is prudent to remove as much friction from the hammer by polidhing the pin on which the hammer rotates and apply a little lube.

Take the hammer extension and turn it to the underside of the hammer and open up
the sides of the extension with a needle file and move the the extension forward by 1/4". This places the weight of the extension closer to the center of the hammer rotation and cut off a 1/4" off the hammer tip. This gives the hammer a bit more speed. No need to replace the extension.

Removing metal from the hammer where it hits the frame to get more firing pin protrusion is not a good idea since if overdone would jam the transfer bar. Metal should be taken out of the frame, but only a few thou.  The transfer bar has some forward inertia provided by the hammer notch and should not be reduced by much.

The more friction you remove the better the hammer action hence better ignition.
That includes the polishing of the firing pin and its seat. Taking a coil off the pin return spring removes hammer resistance. I think I removed about 8oz of resistance
in this one area. Please go to my web site and read all about my Handi
modification some are very easy to do.

[Scibaer]

Bro Fred,
 i went you your site read the your information and read what you post here. honestly, i dont understand all of it, but looking at how the handi's internals work while i read it becomes more clear. i'm going out to the range with it tonite and my new .243 and try to get them setup and zeroed.  then i'll know for sure.
glenn

edited after reading the FAQ stickys..

[Scibaer]

Ok, I took fixed 35whelen and the new .243 that my wife bought me out to the range today. The .243 shoots exellent with the 100gr. winchesters. It made 2- 1/2 groups at 100 yards about 2 inches high at 100yds, slight cross wind, elbows on the table.  i shot the whole box, with the same results..

The 35whelen is fixed, thats right ! fixed, i shot a full box with no misfires. I do believe that NEF did what they said they did, in an 8 day turn around no less. The Whelen shot within a 3 in group at 100yrds, and grouped the same but about 3-1/2 inches high at 50yds., same light cross wind in the evening light.. elbows on the table

I'm sure that both rifles will shoot a bit better then they get a few more rounds thru them, and i get a bit more practice, but i'm happy. They both should do the deed come deer season.
I'm willing to say that NEF fixed the Whelen with the hammer and spring work. Even the rounds that had misfired the first time, fired this time out.

Both rifles are capable of shooting better then i can. The .243 is a blast to shoot, fast and light. The Whelen shoots smooth and with authority. Recoil ( for me at 6ft5, 220 lbs ) is not an issue, but you know it when you squeeze off a round of the 200gr Remingtons.

I boresighted both rifles myself, set them up at 50yds and zeroed them at 100yds. It was a warm 73 degree evening, slight cross wind, 6pm in the evening, geese landing in the cut corn, the next field over. What a great way to spend some time at the range.

Happy NEF owner, Glenn

[quickdtoo]

That's great news Glenn!! I was a bit apprehensive due to past reports of 35 whelens that have been returned for repair that were never resolved, so it's good to see that not all of the problems are chamber related!

Thanks for the follow up range report, I've merged your report with your original thread so other members like fanner50 can see what was done to resolve the issue, he's on the same path you've just finished.

Tim

[Scibaer]

Tim, merging them is good.  Yeah im reallly stoked myself, the whelen shot flawlessly. a few of the rounds were not quite flush with the chamber face, ever so slightly lower, but the firing pin hit'em and they fired off great.  so i guess because mine did fire part time, it was firing pin travel/hammer strike issue not a chamber to big issue. but you can bet i'm keeping all my once fired brass, lol.. just to have a fall back  i wish i could help fanner50, but maybe NEF can get him fixed up in short order too.
thanks for all you help, and advice and putting up with my dumb questions. i would have loved to have a 45-70, and  maybe i will yet, but i love the whelen and im happy to have her back. she and the .243 make for an exellent set of deer rifles.
glenn

[bajabill]

Well this certainly puts a bend the common thoughts on the HR 35 whelens.  I suspect there is still the same chamber/brass issue that everyone has had.  They probably solved it by pushing the firing pin out further.  I cant believe that only frames that were originally fitted to the whelen barrel were bad.  I would think that the firing pin they just adjusted would have worked fine unaltered if you had a different chambered barrel fitted to it.  I wonder if they still have any of the returned barrels in a corner somewhere and if someone wanted one, they could do the pin adjustment along with barrel fitting.  Im thinking that the whelen just needs a little more pin protrusion than other cartridges, and hopefully this will not adversely effect performance with other barrel.

Am I thinking skewed here??

[Scibaer]

Bill, i agree with your line of thinking there. if the firing pin travel has to be extended and the hammer strike increased to make it fire, so be it. the down side, will be that we potentially can not have another barrel of a different caliber  fitted for the extra pin protrusion, well, i can live with that.  if that reciever and barrel are dedicated to each other, then ok, so be it . i have a few other handi's that can  be fitted for multi barrels
these things are supposed to be kept simple, handy and low cost anyhow.. guys that have gunsmithing and reloading skills have some advantage on this issue, thats about it
glenn