i'm kinda in the process of accumulating one of these, but the only data i can find is in ackleys old book which refers to it at using 5% more than a 35 wheelen. anybody got any data to start with??

I hope this is not discouraging, but I have been messing with my 35 Whelen Ackley Improved off-and-on since 1994. I have not found a load that suits me yet, so I have never hunted with it.

This gun had a tight chamber to begin with and I was always well below the reloading manual loads. After the rechamber, I can only get up to the max load for a standard 35 Whelen - or with some powder, a grain higher. The chronographed velocities are good - I just get there with a little less powder.

I get the highest velocities (with various 225 and 250 grain bullets) using BL-C(2), but the groups are in the 2"-3" range @ 100 yds. I have also tried H-335, H-322 and IMR-4320.

I took the gun to the range again today and started to work up loads with H-4895 and Varget. They show promising accuracy, but my starting loads were pretty mild.

I haven't tried RL-15 yet, but I have read that it gives good results in the standard 35 Whelen. I may try it in the future.

I have one...it's a Dakota Model 10 single shot.

I am shooting 55 grains IMR-4064, with either 250 grain Swift A-frames, or (for the deer in my back yard) Speer 250 grain HotCore bullets.

Rifle shoots under 1 inch at 200 yards.

56 grains might be a better load, but it flattens the primers in my rifle.
No other signs of excess pressure, and accuracy is good, but for hunting loads, I always back off one grain once primers start flattening, since I don't want to run afoul of difficult extraction of cases while in the field.

Garrett

thanks guys

Primers flattening may be a sign you are resizing your cases a bit much. I usually go up one grain at a time till I see the slightest bright spot on the face of the brass and back off 1 grain. Primers cratering can be a sign of an oversize firing pin hole and if this is what you have you definitly have to load under the point where it begins. I have thought about having my Whelen "improved" but looking around for real velocity gains I don't find enough to warrant buying the dies.

I fireform my cases with 357 pistol bullets.

Once the case is formed, I neck size only (Hornady neck sizing die).

Garrett

IMR 4320 is Tops in My IMP..
AK

Haul the darn thing to Bloomington and have the guy there that installs barrels put on one with a standard .35 Whelen chamber.....Douglas or Shilen....you pick but lose the AI part!

Have a .35 Improved in a 1917 action. 22" douglas barrel, 1 in 14 twist. It likes IMR 4064 with 250 grain Hornadys or a 200 grain cast. Get the best accuracy at less than max loads so I stay there. With both, it holds at 1" at 100 yrds. No ranges in this area with more yardage. Don't worry about the supposed improved performance. The AI has a better shoulder on it. Just enjoy the rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Haul the darn thing to Bloomington and have the guy there that installs barrels put on one with a standard .35 Whelen chamber.....Douglas or Shilen....you pick but lose the AI part!

I'll second that motion. The .35 Whelen needs no improvement. I've read articles by several of the "egg-spurts" in various gun rags who have said that after rechambering their .35 Whelens to the Ackley Improved, wished that they had not done it. They didn't think it was worth the effort or the cost when the final results came in.
My three Whelens are unimproved and methinks they'll just have to stay that way.
Paul B.

I agree, the whelen needs no improvment, just get a 35 brown whelen, or 35 gibbs, then you gots a real good 35 whacker....

My 35 Whelen AI likes 250 grain bullets and RL-15. 57.0 and the Hornady 250 SP Interlock chronograph at 2675 fps through a Shilen 22" barrel and kills elk nicely.