A while back, I bought a 100 pieces of new Remington nickel cases for my .35 Whelen, ran them partially through my die (as recommended), deburred, primed, and loaded up 50 rounds. I had a miss fire on about every 4th round in my bolt action (none in my 7600). I could put the misfired ones back in and most would fire on the second try. When I reloaded the cases they all fired in either rifle (apparently after being fire formed). The fired cases had a better "defined" shoulder than the new cases. I had another batch (50) of new "brass" cases and didn't have one misfire with any of them on the first reload. I do not use new nickel cases in my bolt anymore. I was wondering if any other "whelen shooter" has experienced this problem or did I just get a "bad" lot of cases? And, is this a possible problem with nickel cases in other calibers or just a "fluk?" Mags

I really doubt that the fact that these cases were nickel-plated had anything to do with the misfires. Either they were toos hort in the head-toshoulder dimension to begin with, or you set the shoulders back slightly when you sized them. Since you only partially sized them, this must not have been the problem. But the fact that they seem to work OK after being fired once, it sounds like they were undersize to begin with. (Probably just a bad lot of cases!)

Mags....
I experience exactly the same with every new batch of Remingtin brass.
Seems like they have to be fire formed to get the right shoulder angle.
Never tried nickel brass though.
After the first loading ( with some misfires) everything is as smooth as silk.
My gun is a Ruger M70, MKII with Shilen barrel

I didn't know that Remington sold nickel plated cases in .35 Whelen. I have been using new Remington non-plated brass cases in that caliber for my 700 Classic. All I have been doing with the new cases is running them through the expander without resizing them, and loading them up. I haven't had any misfires in about 150 rounds. Edited to add: I also have shot 10 factory Federal nickel plated rounds with the TBBC with no malfunctions.

I have used about 150 of the Federal nickel cases in the .35 Whelen, this in the form of the factory load with 225 grain TBBC and had excellent accuracy and zero malfunctions

I have a lot of 100 Nickel plated cases in .35 W. Other than taking the time to round out the neck before loading them the first time. I never had any problems with them. My guess is that the problem lies somewhere in your loading technique.

Confucious say "Whether cases too short or chamber too long in mind of shooter, grasshopper."

Mags, it sounds like your bolt gun definately has a longer chamber than your 7600. The nickeled cases could be "out of spec", or they might just be at minimum and your bolt's chamber has headspace longer than spec.

The cure for such a mismatch is to expand the necks with, say, a .375 plug, then size them back in the .35 sizer, but only far enough that a "false" shoulder is left near the base of the neck to engage the shoulder of the chamber and thus hold the case head snugly against the bolt face. This will allow shooting the brass dependably first shot in your bolt gun.

stonecreek - I've heard of the technique you suggest for sizing the case, ie. using a "false shoulder" for the .35 Brown-Whelen cartridge. However, it brings up a good point that I might have a longer chamber in my "bolt" than my pump. My bolt is a Mark X action with a Shaw barrel. I tend to agree with one El Deguello that the nickel brass might have been defective, for I've not had any problem with new brass or brass formed from 30/06 cases. (37 years of reloading does not make me any less suseptible to error, but using new, unfired brass, and going "by-the-book" in preparing the loads does not leave many explainations.) If "fire forming" new cases are the answer for reliable performance, I would be surprised. I just know that I will not buy new .35 Whelen nickel cases for my Whelen's unless they are the only ones I can get and I WILL fire form them first. Thanks to all for the inputs. Mags

I have three rifles in .35 Whelen. One, a Ruger 77RS had a much longer chamber that the others and while factory ammo fires just fine, handloads with new factory brass gives occasional misfires. usually, the second try get it to shoot. In one case, I had a total case head separation with a brand new unfired factory case. (No pun intended.) I still haven't figured that one out. methinks it's poor brass.
Paul B.