Has anyone had any experience making 35 Whelen brass out of 30-06 brass?...the new Whelen brass is hard to come by ,So thought I'd make my own??

It use to be common practice. Nothing wrong with it other than you end up with bastard cases. Marked 30-06 and set up for a 35 caliber bullets.

It's real easy. Lube the case and the inside of the neck and run it though the .35 Whelen full length die. Clean off lube, prome, powder and bullet and you're good to go. make sure your FL die has a tapered expander otherwise you an/will lose some brass.
I load for three .35 Whelens and use Remington factory brass for the custom Mauser, LC 51 milsurp for the Remington 700 Classic and PS8 Korean milsurp for the Ruger M77. My factory 06 brass is saved for my 06. The powder I prefer is RL15 BTW with the 225 gr. Barnes TSX. It really does a smackdown on elk.
Paul B.

The only down side is the 30-06 headstamp...

But its purty hard not to notice the case once

its loaded with a 250 gr slug...I use 308 brass

for my 358 Win ammo...

You might consider expanding in 2 or 3 stages. The stamping thing can be taken care of with a permanent marker color code on the ass end roger

Half of my 35 Whelen AI brass is 30-06 brass, have no problems with it at all, and been reloading it for years. No problem for me as I don't have a 30-06, but as bartsche said, color code the case head with sharpy or fingernail polish or your favorite color.

Have done it for mine, one nice thing is that it is as close to impossible as things can get to chamber a loaded Whelen road in a 30-06 and the difference between 30 and 35 caliber is pretty easy to eyeball with empty cases.

You can use Mil brass the you have just a date and manufacture code no caliber.

Thats what I do with my 338-06

I'll be doing this soon. Don't want to use Rem 35 brass. Want to try some Lapua 06 brass necked up for my Whelen. I ordered a tapered expander from Sinclair a few days ago.

The Redding 35 whelen FLS die has a really nice tapered expander.

As others have said, it is very easy with regular brass. Just lube and run through the 35W sizer.
Nickle brass is a pain, however, and may result in some splits. I was able to reduce splits by heating the necks and expanding while hot. Probably not a good idea, but it worked for me.

MFH

quote:

Originally posted by BISCUT:
I'll be doing this soon. Don't want to use Rem 35 brass. Want to try some Lapua 06 brass necked up for my Whelen. I ordered a tapered expander from Sinclair a few days ago.

At the risk of being beaten about the head and shoulders; does anyone really think that the Lapua brass is going to make any difference in a 35 Whelen hunting rifle ? Me, thinks NOT. roger

I will second what everyone else has said. Easy to neck up from 30 cal. One pass, just use some good lube (imperial works well) and go slow. I have shot my brass more than 4 or 5 times....and that's after necking up once fired 30-06 brass.

I've never owned a piece of .35 Whelen head stamped brass. The .35 Whelen and .338-06 have always been so easy to own.

Terry

Lube inside the case at the neck/ shoulder with
imperial die wax using a q-tIP. if you get neck
splits anneal with a candle until your fingers
get warm and quench in water.

Thanks for all the great suggestions...good stuff.!!