I am thinking about building a 35 W.AI. does anyone have any info on this cartrige, and is there any advantige in building it over the 35 W..

I had one, and had it re-chambered to a 350 Rigby. I think the main problem I had was a poor chamber. Asside from that, I'd build a std whelen if I had it to do over again.

Here are my reasons: 225 gr @ 2700, 250 gr @ 2500 is plenty, and easily attained with the std chamber. The std rd has more taper to the body, and hence feeds more smoothly. You don't have to put your time and $ into fire forming brass. You will have a factory round, which means better re-sale should you sell the rifle, and factory ammo should you come up short.

If you really want more juice then the std whelen offers, then go with a 358 Norma, or larger. I believe most velocity increases folks claim for improved chambers is based on running higher pressures.

Paul H.
My .35 Ackley Whelen is a custom Springfield Dad acquired probably 40 years ago. It feeds way smoother than any other rifle I have, including the 1950's vintage M-70. It is slick as glass. On the other hand, I don't think it performs any better than a std Whelen. Cobalt

I have a 35 Whelan Imp. built on a 1917 Enfield with a McGowan 26" Barrel. I can get 2850fps from a 225 gr. ballitic tip. That is over 4000ft/lbs at the muzzle. I have been very happy with the caliber. It has performed spectacularly on everything I have shot.

SBB:

I think the 35 Whelan is an ideal caliber for the far north. Plenty of juice for anything that runs walks or crawls up there. Moose, Big Bears, whatever. It shoots good heavy bullets fast enough to have a dead on to 250 and -5" @ 300.

I think the 35 Whelan Imp. is an ideal caliber for the far north. Plenty of juice for anything that runs walks or crawls up there. Moose, Big Bears, whatever. It shoots good heavy bullets fast enough to have a dead on to 260 and -3.5" @ 300.

Get it??

Seriously, the problem that I have with most of these improved cartidges is that they do not change the capabilities of the original at all. The Whelen shines at it's assigned task because it shoots a fairly fat bullet, at a velocity that is right in the heart of the range where most bullets perform best i.e. 2400-2800 fps. And, it shoots flat enough to easily hit the big targets intended farther out than you should probably be shooting at 'em.

Adding a a small velocity increase does absolutely nothing for the cartridge. It does not make it shoot as flat as a 300 mag or have the hitting power of a 375. All it really does is provide potential headaches.

JimF

[ 09-30-2002, 22:46: Message edited by: JimF ]

Thanks for the info, so you guys think there is not enough gain for the pain in the @#$%^&*you get from the imp case. I thought it would a easy upgrade for a little more poop :rolleyes, but maybe not. I may have to go for the plain old 35 W. Thanks again for your help. Does any body have any pet loads they want share.

Big Bore,
The improved case does not give any problems and my Redding dies were not expensive. Shoot a standard case in the improved chamber and you have the improved case. All my cases are St. Louis '57 mil '06. I don't recall splitting a single one of these cases in necking up to .35. Cobalt

SBB:

You did not mention what you planned to shoot with the rifle so here is a nice general pupose load.

54.0 IMR 4064/std. primer, with 225 gr. bullets = 2450 in my 24" barrel. You could use the 225 Btip for deer, black bear, caribou, elk. Use the 225 partition for elk (wearing flak jackets) or bigger bears. Recoil is stout but less than a 300 mag in the same weight gun.

This load should be considered maximum and approached from below (use 50 gr. as a start, and work up)

JimF

Tannks for the loading data, that is about what I plan to use. Dose any one have any loading for a IMP 35 W. I would like to know how much difference if any there is, and what kind of accuracy could I be looking for with the IMP version. I have been told that the IMP is less accurate.

In my 35 whelen ackley 24" barrel, I was pushing 250 gr to 2600 fps +. The problem I had was I had to load to excessive pressures for any degree of accuracy. If I backed off so much as a 1/2 gr, the groups would go from 1 1/2" to 3-5" at 100 yds! I can't say this is a fault of the chambering, so much as shoddy work on my rifle.

I will agree with Jim that an extra 50-100 fps is meaningless in the field.

My Rem 700 Classic likes 56.5gr Varget & 225gr Sierra Gamekings- 2460fps- . Two weeks and counting for a shot at my first moose.

I have a 35 W AI it is an excellent cartridge, the biggest difference between the improved and the standard will be with the 250gr or bigger bullets- oh and it looks better! If you want more performance over the standard look at the Brown- Whelen, or as suggested a 358 Norma, 358STA etc.

Starting BB,

I think you're getting some good advise here. The 35W is an extremely capable, venerable round. As for the Ackley improvement, it may be worth while, it may not. But that depends on you. The velocity increase is purely conversational, but understand there are other things besides velocity that are imporved by the Ackley improvement. Namely extended case life, slightly less recoil, extended throat/barrel life, and a few more that don't come to mind right now. Accuracy and feeding are entirely dependent upon the competence of the gunsmith who does the work.

Essentially, there are plenty of reasons independent of velocity to improve a cartridge. Not the least of which is just the novelty of owning an Ackley improved creation. Depending upon YOU I don't think you'll regret it either way.