Friends....
My new Ruger M77 stainless with a 22" Shilen barrel in 35 Whelen arrived a week ago, and last saturday it saw its first showdown on the range.

What a thrill...what a pleasure !!!

My first 50 rounds was loaded with 225 gr Sierra SBT, 59 gr of N150 with an estimated vo of 2650 fps. A moderate load to break in the barrel, but ones I got settled in, it turned out to be a constant 1" load, five shot groups !

I had 4 misfires though, that went off on the second try. Could it be primer failure ?
Primers used are CCI 200.
I�ve been reloading for 30 years and can�t remember ever running into this problem before. Suggestions ???

The barrel is not free floated and I would feel a bit bore comfortable if it was.
But why change a winning team they said.

Recoil from prone with a match sling was actually a tiny bit sharper than my 338 whinnie in another M77. But those 50 rounds fired over a couple of hours with cleaning and brushing in between was a long string of happyness and pleasure.

Arild

You might try measuring you brass. I had a problem with pushing the shoulder back in reloading and caused what I think was enough "play" for the firing pin to move the cartridge instead of igniting the primer. Can't say for sure but those cases measured short to the shoulder.
It sounds like you have a very accurate shooter.

Arild,

Congrats on your new whelen. It is a great round, and yours sounds to be quite accurate.

As far as the misfires, the Ruger M77 seems to occasionally have problems with that due to light striker springs not hitting the primer hard enough.

I have a 35 whelen ackley, and even when fireforming, where there is almost no shoulder at all, I've never had a misfire, and I've used CCI 200 and WLR primers. On the other hand, it is a VZ-24 action, and the mausers really give the primer a stout hit.

I'm working with a few of your countrymen in our oilfield, including some from Trondheim.

Arild

I keep my Whelen dies backed off a good 1/16 inch from touching the shoulder. You know you are getting positive headspace , so it wouldn't hurt to give it a try .

Now get some Norma 203 or some VV550 when you get to the heavy bullets , and hang onto your hat .........

[This message has been edited by sdgunslinger (edited 04-08-2002).]

Arild,

Congratulations on your new .35 Whelen! I think you will like it very much. I also have a Ruger M77 (MkII) in .35 Whelen. It's one of my favorite rifles. I think the "mild" medium bores (.338-06, .35 Whelen, 9.3x62, etc.) have a lot going for them.

At least with my rifle, I have had problems using new Remington .35 Whelen brass. The shoulder is very rounded on the new brass. I had some misfires using it on the first loading. I measured some of the new brass and the shoulder was slightly too far back (comparing to SAAMI specs) as it came out of the package. The case also measured .430" at the shoulder and spec calls for .441", if I remember the numbers correcty. (I'm typing this at work so I don't have a reference handy.) I think some of the new R-P cases had measurements that were off spec just enough to create headspace problems which caused a few misfires on the first loading.

I have since switched to necking up new W-W .30-06 brass and haven't had a problem since.

-Bob F.

PAUL H is right about the Striker spring.I have experienced that problem.I would have the smith change it,so you don't miss a nice buck like I did.I could have shot it,but being a reloader,I took the shell out to see why it didn't go off,as the deer stop to look at me.It was gone before I rechambered another round.To bad because both my hunting buddies shot 8 pointers that same morning.Mine would have been the third.I did shoot a doe.The rifle was up for sale that afternoon.
1geejay
www.shooting-hunting.com

Thank you guys for good advices...
I will turn back the sizing die a bit and see if that helps. If not, a stronger spring is probably the answer.
Funny thing though...I have never had a single misfire on my M77, 338 winnie ??

Regards Arild

Arild,

Your .338 Win Mag headspaces on the belt, so a slightly sloppy specification on the case would not matter. Plus the belt will keep the case from being driven forward by the striker hit.

jim dodd

------------------
"if you are to busy to
hunt, you are too busy."

Could be the primers I have had several miss fire hang fires with CCI 200 in seveal differant rifles. There were some posters a while back saying the same thing. My wife miss a a monster buck a couple of years ago very strong fireing pin strike. She still blames me for a bad hand load.

My Ruger model 77 has never failed to fire, knock on wood. It's the earlier tang safety model. It has the endearing habit of putting the 200 gr. and 250 gr. ammo in a 2" group at 100 yards. The 200 hit 3" high and the 250s hit 2" high. The individual groups are in the 1.25" range with factory.
Paul B.