Hey guys,

I really need to get my 35 Whelen AI shooting again. My stepfather gave it to me, 1917 Remington in a blond stock with 26" Douglas barrel. He had a load that was doing a chronographed 2800fps with a 225g Sierra GameKing. Now, I think I know which load that was, but want to double check it. Here is my question/problem:

I have heard that in fireforming I should have the bullet touching the lands to prevent headspacing problems. Now, what is the best way to make sure of this, seat it out long, put it in and then close the rifle letting it put it tight itself? Then on subsequent loads do them to that OAL? Or put dykem on the bullet and then put in? I heard that smoking a bullet first (getting it sooty) is a good way to see if you are hitting the lands or not, but don't know a way to do that.

Some guidance here please.

Also, He originally used 06 winchester brass that he ran through the sizer and then fireformed, I have some Remington properly headspaced, what is the difference in capacity between the two? How about case life?

Thanks all,

Red
(this is muy importante, I have like 12 rifles and not a single one "ready" to hunt and I have a pig hunt scheduled for July 10th).

Take one case and split the neck to the shoulder with a hacksaw so that bullet pull is light. Start a bullet in that case (empty and unprimed) and chamber it carefully. Extract it, measure the COL and use that as a base line. Save the case as this can be used again whenever you change bullets to get a new measurement.

You should just have chamber and fire standard .35 Whelen loads in your Ackley improved chamber. The head space is the same for both. What your stepfather did was the right thing. Also, when I make up cases for my .257 Ackley Improved Roberts I load 11.0 grains of Unique in the primed case then place enough Cream on Wheat on top of the powder to fill the case to the neck, plug it with toilet paper and fire the load. The cases are about 90-95% fireformed and can be loaded like any .257 AI Roberts case. You might be able to do the same thing with the .35 AI Whelen using .30/06 or standard .35 Whelen cases. Its the best use for Cream or Wheat and maybe grits as well.

Take a once fired case and resize only a very short part of the neck, like 1/8". Then take a bullet and a black majic marker and mark the bullet. Partially seat the bullet and then chamber the round, even if the bullet stays in the tube, you will still get a mark on the bullet and have your dimensions.

I dont do this for my AI though, I just load up a peppy load and let 'er rip. If the chambering was done right, seating to the lands isnt nessesary.

Wstrn is right, if the chamber was done correctly, the case shoulder should crush fit when the bolt closes. But, to be safe and save a possible headache, seat the bullet long enough that it does engage the lands very well, then shoot a stiff load.

Running an 06 brass thru the Whelen die will open the neck properly. Just put some lube inside the case neck first.

I've had Varmint Al's web page in My Favorites for a couple of years. I try to get information from as many different sources as possible before doing anything new or different. That said, I have gleaned a lot of useful information from his site, and his section on fire forming cases is dead on. Look him up at http://www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm



Good luck. TJ

when fireforming my AI's,..I use the fastest powder listed for the parent caliber,..and a heavy bullet. Seat the bullets so that the bolt closing is slightly stiff,..and light them up. The faster pressure curve and the heavy bullet seated into the lands yields a correct and complete forming every time.

I have had my best success forming .35 Whelens and .35 Remingtons by bumping the neck up to .375, then sizing it back down until it will barely chamber. That way, the shoulder actually does the work it was designed to do.

You get a good, hard fit and consistent headspace, and don't have to worry about all the gyrations of trying to get a bullet to perform the shoulder's job.