.35/.338WM Wildcat

[hodge]

Would like to rechamber my 35 Whelen to .35/.338WM.  Reason?  I want a true wildcat.  Also, the belted magnum would provide additional powder capacity and superior head spacing.

Would this be a good combo?  Has anyone tried it?

[Rick Teal]

My preference would be for the .358 Norma, but you've probably already considered that.

It would be an interesting idea, and should give you velocities just below those of the big Norma.  You could probably even start with Norma loading data and reduce it 10-15% as a starter.

[Yukon Jack]

Do you mean necking the 35 Whelen down to 338?  or Necking a 338 Win Mag up to 35?  How much different would the 338 be than the 338/06 or wouldn't the 35 be the 358 Norma?

Guess I'm a bit confused.

[onesonek]

Rick is right, the norma is bigger by about 2grs. But most of the "smith's" run the 35-338. You can fire form 35-338 in a 358 norma , and not worry about norma brass. But with 50 fps or so, they're the samething. If you find someone that has the norma reamers great, but I wouldn't spend the extra reamer charge.  Shop around though, if somebody has the Norma, it would worth an extra 50+ fps. O.

[Advocate]

onesonek:  I'm a little confused by your statemetns. As I understand it, the .358 Norma is basically a .338 Win Mag necked up to .358 (or, alternatively, the .338 Win Mag is a .358 Norma necked down to .338) but that there are deminsional diffferences between the .358 Norma and the 358-.338 wildcat.

My question is as follows:  Which chambering will permit the use of the other cartridge?   Can .338 Win's necked up to .358 be used in the .358 Norma chamber?  Vice versa?  Thanks.

[onesonek]

The 358 Norma is slightly longer than the 338 case. You could fire a 35-338 in a 358 Norma, but you would have to FL size the norma to chamber in the 35-338. Also, if you were to fire the 35-338 in the 358N, one might check headspacing. Theoretically they are essentually the same, with slight advantage to the Norma. But  338 brass is likely cheaper. And while on the subject, my pevious statement of an additional 50fps for the Norma may be a bit of a stretch. Depends on the manuals you look at. Don't know if this clears up your ?'s Ad.  Personally though, I still like the Norma.(likely family history thing) O.

[hodge]

Thanks for the replies.  Gives me something to dwell over.  I'll deffinately take a closer look at the Norma.