Hello,

I'm working on a 35 Whelen for my daugther. I had a 1917 rebarreled a few year ago. I was checking seating depth tonight on a 225 gr TSX and noticed the throat is really short. I touch the lands at 3.23", so if i want to be .050" off, I have to seat at 3.18" - above the top pressure grove and on the ogive. Ideally, I want to a length of 3.32" length. My math says I need to lengthen the throat by .14".

Does this throat seem short to you? I can't go to long, my mag is 3.4" inside length. 3.32" puts me at the top of the 2nd pressure grove.

Thoughts? Sounds like I need to cut in another .14".

BTW - with other rifles I have that shoot Barnes bullets (300 WBY and 375 H&H) they actually like to be way off the lands, more than .050'.

I have a 35 Whelen AI custom on a Mark X Mauser action that shoots lights out. It has a 24" barrel with a 14" twist, and will stabilize beautifully all bullets out to the Hawk .035" jacket 275 grainer. This big bullet has a very slow taper to a fairly blunt semi-spitzer, and has to be seated more deeply (COAL) than any other bullet I use. 3.30" gives excellent velocity and accuracy, but when I seated out to 3.33 it gave very high pressure with a very stiff bolt lift. I happened to be chronographing at the time, and the velocity was 85 fps higher than any other reading with the 3.30" ammo. I've never measured the throat length, but even though it's considerably longer than yours, if I had to change anything I would still lengthen it a little more.

The Barnes bullets need to be "at least" .050" off the lands, so I would even deepen your throat more than the .14 inch, to maybe .17 or .18". This will give you more options with different bullets and seating depths to produce the best accuracy, which could come at .060 or even .070" off the lands.

Thanks!!!!

Years ago I bought an old pre-64 M-70 Winchester in 30-06 with a rusty bore, the rest of the metal was without rust or pitting.

I promptly sent the rifle to JES for a rebore to 35 Whelen, I sent a dummy round with a 250 gr Partition at the max mag box and ejectable length for my rifle which is 3.375"

At that length I requested the chamber be cut with enough free bore so that bullet at that length would be 10 thou off the lands.

The rifle is beautifully accurate at 2625 fps with Varget or RL-15 powder, and it is a hammer too.

Had all the steel black matte cerakoted and set it into a McMillan McWoody stock, a matte 1.75-6 Leupold has held steady zero in a set of steel Talley screw lock rings and bases.

That rifle stands ready for all U.S. game and weather conditions inside 400 yards.

quote:

Originally posted by jerry mcdonald:
Years ago I bought an old pre-64 M-70 Winchester in 30-06 with a rusty bore, the rest of the metal was without rust or pitting.

I promptly sent the rifle to JES for a rebore to 35 Whelen, I sent a dummy round with a 250 gr Partition at the max mag box and ejectable length for my rifle which is 3.375"

At that length I requested the chamber be cut with enough free bore so that bullet at that length would be 10 thou off the lands.

The rifle is beautifully accurate at 2625 fps with Varget or RL-15 powder, and it is a hammer too.

Had all the steel black matte cerakoted and set it into a McMillan McWoody stock, a matte 1.75-6 Leupold has held steady zero in a set of steel Talley screw lock rings and bases.

That rifle stands ready for all U.S. game and weather conditions inside 400 yards.

I was originally going to Cerakote. I used their graphite color, which is their most popular black, on a 7mm mag (it's posted in custom rifles forum). It was too flat for me. Is there is another color you'd recommend, let me know. Love to see a pic of your rifle.

Set your throat as long as the magazine will allow so as to seat your heavier bullets out and give you needed velocity in the 35 Whelen..A throat and a magazine should pretty much match each other.