Author Topic: 35 Remington  (Read 1608 times)

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Offline johnwayne

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35 Remington
« on: July 06, 2012, 05:08:07 PM »
Hi Veral,

What is your opinion of the 35 Remington as a deer hunting carttridge? What bullet shape and weight would you recommend. What would be the distance limit for this round?

Also, of one wanted low recoil plinking loads for practice in the off season what you recommend?

Thank you.

Offline Veral

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Re: 35 Remington
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2012, 05:50:18 PM »
  My opinion will not come from experiance with a 35 Remington, but from testimony of a very trusted friend and my exaperiance with the 357 magnum, loaded with hard bullets, the best being the 180 gr FN, driven at 1800 fps.  (No expansion.)  It is good for game out to a solid 200 yards, and the farthest any animal has traveled after taking a chest hit is about 20 yards.  Wound diameter is always around one inch straight through, and large bones are broken without stopping the bullet.

  The fastest one can drive a 20 bhn bullet and not get expansion is about 1900 fps, which the 35 Remington will do with a 200 gr bullet, with no stress on the gun.  This would increase the effective range considerably, with effective killing punch out to at least 300 yards, but trajectory would probably become an issue at ranges past 250 yards and for some well under 200 yards.  I'm a firm believer in learning to feel where a bullet is going to land, by shooting at targets which allow one to see where the bullet impacts, and with a bit of playing, most people will have no problem on coyotes and larger animals out to 200 yards.

  Because of the above 'belief' of mine,  and the fact that every leveraction I've ever played with,  with the exception of the Savage 99 in 300 savage, is very sensitive to change in load, be it velocity or bullet weight, I prefer to develop a hunting load that works and shoot nothing else in that gun.   Yet, plinking loads make a lot of sense during the 50 weeks of the year when most people will not be pointing their rifle at big game.  For this, just use the same bullet as your heavy load, loaded down to something around 1200 fps with a fairly fast powder like H110 or 296, or even something as fast as Unique.  Hodgen Universal is my favorite powder for this type load.  You can simply leave the gas checks off for your plinky loads, and get excellent results at lower velocity, or have me cut the mold with part gas check and part plain base bullets.  I charge $10 extra for this service.  If you want to plink a lot, get a 4 cavity with three pb and one GC cavity, and you wont' have to spend much time at the casting pot.

  With expanding bullets, bullet weight should be at least 200 grains and 220 wouild be preferred.  you can get expansion with cast by using air cooled ww and driving them as fast as you can without getting leading.  You'll get by far higher speed with freedom from leading if you use LBT bullet lube, compared to anything else available   My problem with expanding bullets in this and larger calibers is that they wound excessively large and penetrate poorly, while yielding slower kill speed than a proper solid, or non expanding bullet.

  About the trusted friends experiance with the 35 Rem.  Ken spent 35 years in the Alaska bush, with one, and took a Moose every year, with one shot per moose.  Never more than one shot.    This with factory 200 gr ammo.    I didn't ask, but presume that he did all this with only two boxes of ammo and has a handful of cartridges left, as he lived on a very tight budgit  and the gun was a tool to him, not a toy.   Any argument??
Veral Smith

Offline alan in ga

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Re: 35 Remington
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2012, 12:43:44 AM »
I think that there is a gray cloud over the .35 Remington, but it's because of the rifles it comes in. Marlin made a lot of lever rifles fast for the discount stores. They also made excellent rifles when they made them slower in years past. I had a 336RC in .30/30 that would shoot 5 shots into an inch at 100 yards, something I was amazed to see. I used to bring it to the range and leave it out in the open hoping someone would say something about how they 'don't shoot like a bolt rifle' and then have a quick bench session to prove it could.
Anyway I believe the .35 Rem is a great round and can even shine brighter in a bolt rifle or good quality barrel such as a T/C Contender or any quality barrel gun. I truly like the .35 bore and have had about all the .35 bore cartridges there are. Really like the .358 Winchester and toted a Ruger 77R in that, and for a short while owned a pre 64 Winchester model 70 Featherweight in same. Deer killers, and surely elk killers too after they got sold to elk hunters that live in elk territory.
I've always wanted a .35 in the Remington Model 600 rifle but the few times I found those rifles the owners were of the opinion they would never sell them.
I did find a Contender Super 14 in .35 Rem and it would group better than I could hold with the Leupold 2X scope I mounted on it. Made me think I would buy a rifle in .35 if I could find one,....never have!
Nothing wrong with the .35 Remington. Good luck finding a nice one!

Offline shinjin

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Re: 35 Remington
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2012, 01:12:29 AM »
Its been 25 years since I reloaded for a 35 Remy but to my memory it was a great round. I wish I still had it.
I started out using factory ammo for texas whitetail and it hit too hard (Texas whitetails are not heavy deer) and lacked range (150 yards). I reloaded it with 357 mag silhouette laods and it punched clean thru like a hot poker but I had closer to 200 yards. I tried JHP pistol ammo for 357 mag and they blew up on contact being too light at too fast a clip. Hmmmm? Then I tried a local guy's hard 180 grain cast bullets and BINGO the perfect Texas short range (150 yards) deer load. Acceptable accuracy, reasonable meat damage and good trajectory, with low recoil and in a easy to carry compact carbine. I was in love but tripped over a 357 mag Marlin lever gun and like a fickle teen girl I was off on a new adventure and sold the 35 remy.
In those days we didn't have a lot of pistol bullets to choose from. With hornady and others making fantastic bullets for reloaders you should have little trouble finding the perfect load for your 35 remy. Have fun.

Offline jhalcott

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Re: 35 Remington
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2012, 07:27:53 AM »
 I have a 14" TC Contender in .35 Remington. I have taken deer to 200 yards on occassion, but try to keep shots around 150. MY bullet is the 358315 (204 grain) with a slightly flattened nose. It hits like a sledge hammer on Marylands smallish deer. My alloy is straight wheel weight for a BHN of ~ 10/11. I use gas checks and try for an accurate load above 1900 fps. I have a .358 JDJ for the longer shots!

Offline johnwayne

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Re: 35 Remington
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2012, 09:43:49 AM »
Hi Veral,

Thanks for the information. Since low velocity is required to prevent expansion which would decrease penetration would such a bullet do almost as well from a 357 magnum carbine?

Also, if one limited their shot to under 100 yards how would the bullet perform if loaded backwards?

Cast lead has led to a whole different way of thinking.

Thank you