best .35 caliber long range rifle?

[joseph]

I know a guy that has a stainless steel Encore in .264 WM if I remember correctly and the hinge hole opened up so much it can't be closed and locked to fire. Just saying.

Oh, if it was me I'd put a brake on the .375 H&H mag. I've shot a bolt action a lot and didn't care for the recoil.

joseph

 

[bmcnabb02]

I know a guy that has a stainless steel Encore in .264 WM if I remember correctly and the hinge hole opened up so much it can't be closed and locked to fire. Just saying.

Oh, if it was me I'd put a brake on the .375 H&H mag. I've shot a bolt action a lot and didn't care for the recoil.

joseph

Tell him to go to Mike Bellm Custom TCs and order an oversized hinge pin, that is the fix.

 

[joseph]

Tell him to go to Mike Bellm Custom TCs and order an oversized hinge pin, that is the fix.

The hole the pin goes through is wallowed (oval) out. He did send it to someone that is supposed to fix it though.

joseph

 

[bmcnabb02]

Mike sells 4 sizes of hinge pins with reamers to fix the bad holes in the frame to accommodate the larger hinge pins for extreme cases. I'm sure if he sent it off that's what they'll do.

 

[joseph]

bmcnabb02 you are probable right.

joseph

 

[webs]

So how did you get talked into a .35 brown whelen? What are the advantages of this cartridge?

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Just wanted to drop an update on this old thread since this ball is rolling pretty good now.... and I'm all giddy & can't wait to start shootin!

After much deliberation & conversation with Mike Bellm, who seems to be the TC/CVA authority, I let him talk me into a .35 Brown Whelen. Mike did all my barrel work and also provided some custom dies & some fire formed brass. I just picked up a new frame, disassembled it, and sent it off to Jim "Shots" Hendershot Sr. to have the trigger work done. When it returns next week I'll be putting it all back together with some more goodies from Mike Bellm to tighten things up, and mounting a Vortex Viper HS 4-16x44 LR on it that I just purchased online. Then it's time for load development!! gun)

The brown whelen is simply an improved 35 whelen isn't it?? There really aren't huge capacity gains to be had blowing out the whelen but I suppose it could net you another 100 fps. I'm using rl15 and a 220 speer in my standard 35 whelen going a bit over 2700 fps of that helps.

 

[bmcnabb02]

The brown whelen is simply an improved 35 whelen isn't it?? There really aren't huge capacity gains to be had blowing out the whelen but I suppose it could net you another 100 fps. I'm using rl15 and a 220 speer in my standard 35 whelen going a bit over 2700 fps of that helps.

Correct, but a little bit more gains approaching 3000 fps with the lighter bullets.

 

[HARPERC]

Which lighter bullet? The .35 Whelen is a good cartridge, as is the Brown improved version. I just don't see the 4-5 grain increase in case capacity being that substantial. The loads I could find did not crack the 2800 fps mark with a 225 grain bullet. My recollection is the folks preferring the Brown version did so to square up the shoulder for more positive headspacing as much or more than velocity gains.

 

[bmcnabb02]

Barnes TSX 180 gr, Speer 180 & 220, & Hornady FTX 200 is what we'll be working with at first. I'll be sure and post up some results. One thing that Mike did comment on about the BW was how remarkably accurate it was.