Why you want an accurate gun

[Matthew323]

There are a bunch of Ruger No.1's in .35 Whelen available for sale online.

Apparently from a run that Ruger made a few years ago.

If I win the Lottery (Gotta Play To Win!),
then I could knock two things off my bucket list.

1. Ruger No.1
2. .35 Whelen

Of course, then I would have to start handloading.

SHEEEESH!!

See all the trouble youse guys get me into!@

 

[Mnt monkey]

I married a Ruger number one once myself,, she was so pretty I miss her,that's one of the few rifles that I'm tempted to keep even if it didn't shoot a hole, of course mine did

 

[snapbang]

There is store bought ammo for the Whelen but hand rolled is always better.

 

[Sideshow]

Townsend Whelen. He had the dream job. Playing with guns and ammo using government money.

I too had an Interarms Mark X action in 270 Winchester re-bored to a 35 Whelen some 35 years ago. It was done by a man named Cliff La Bounty or something real close to that. He was out of Washington State I think. I knew very little at the time about rates of twist and some of that jazz. He asked a lot of questions and one was what are you using the gun for. Answer: Elk. He gave it a twist faster than the one Remington put in their 35 Whelen. Consequently I can shoot 250-300 grain bullets very nicely. Very nice to use 250 grain bullets for elk. Ive done it and it works great.

My Whelen will shoot 250 grain Speer hot-core bullets at 2700 fps with 62 grains of IMR414. Yeah thats a lot hot but the cases ( conversed from 30-06 ) show no sign of stress, the primers still have dimples, and the primer pockets are still tight. I only neck size and seat the bullet touching the lands. I always thought if I had made it to Alaska or somewhere for moose I have some 300 grain Barnes original.

If your going hunting for really large game I would recommend this cartridge with he appropriate twist for the bullets you want to shoot.

These 40 sml's are basically 400 whelens

 

[snapbang]

and fine harvesters of game they are.

 

[Half-Cocked]

As a young man growing up in Michigan I started hunting pheasants and small game then evolved to deer hunting and eventually out of state for elk and antelope. I remember the phrase if you can hit a paper plate thats good enough. Nowadays I actually scold people for such a statement.

As a young ignorant kid that made sense sitting on a bench shooting at the vitals of a deer larger than the size of a paper plate. Luckily I enjoyed shooting and reloading. I demanded better.

It paid off in a place called Lake City, Michigan. I had purchased a Mark X barreled action and made a homemade fiberglass stock ( before they made them). It was in a 270 Winchester. The stock wasn't pretty but with 135 grain hollow point boat tails it shot like a dream. Nobody even taught me to hunt so I made lots of mistakes. Not very patient.

I saw a nice racked buck my first day out but I was to wiggly. He saw me and bolted. The second morning I was sitting at a stump and heard turkeys scratching and carrying on behind me. I had grown accustomed to the noise as they hung out there the day before. After an extended period of time I decided to watch turkeys for a while and slowly shifted my position only to find no turkey but the buck from the day before making a scrape about 130 yards away.

There was way too much brush to make a shot so spent the next 15 minutes trying to find a hole in the brush. None found. I had the stump to benchrest on. The deer started walking off. I put the cross-hair on him and followed. Eventually I found a hole ( and it wasn't much of a hole) and took the shot. It was the biggest Michigan deer I ever took. 12 points to me and 14 to some others. Never would have brought that deer home with an average shooting gun.

Same for my first elk in Colorado. Had to shoot between 2 trees at 375 yards. All the trigger pulling and fine tuning got me both of those animals.

If you know someone who believes hitting a paper plate is good enough then someday you will hear a story of the one that got away. Hope its not you.

Mr. Snapbang, I am internally in your debt you have taught me everything I know about hunting. Judging by the deer in my freezer, I’d say you did a pretty good job.

 

[Hausser1]

Townsend Whelen. He had the dream job. Playing with guns and ammo using government money.

I too had an Interarms Mark X action in 270 Winchester re-bored to a 35 Whelen some 35 years ago. It was done by a man named Cliff La Bounty or something real close to that. He was out of Washington State I think. I knew very little at the time about rates of twist and some of that jazz. He asked a lot of questions and one was what are you using the gun for. Answer: Elk. He gave it a twist faster than the one Remington put in their 35 Whelen. Consequently I can shoot 250-300 grain bullets very nicely. Very nice to use 250 grain bullets for elk. Ive done it and it works great.

My Whelen will shoot 250 grain Speer hot-core bullets at 2700 fps with 62 grains of IMR414. Yeah thats a lot hot but the cases ( conversed from 30-06 ) show no sign of stress, the primers still have dimples, and the primer pockets are still tight. I only neck size and seat the bullet touching the lands. I always thought if I had made it to Alaska or somewhere for moose I have some 300 grain Barnes original.

If your going hunting for really large game I would recommend this cartridge with he appropriate twist for the bullets you want to shoot.

Great info.

 

[user 31408]

We owe it to what ever animal we are hunting to do our best to make a clean, humane shot. Deer hunting in Pa. for the last 56 years has taught me a lot about deer hunting. One thing I have learned though is just when you think you have them figured out-you don't! Practice makes perfect and people who shoot their weapon once a year the day before the season starts are making a big mistake.

 

[Mnt monkey]

I could not agree with you more I don't know how often I hear this term and I hear it from muzzleloaders more than any other shooters in relation to the accuracy and the sighting in of their gun I hear it expressed like this ,,it will do, or it's okay for! 99% of the time that's referring to the two to three inch groups they're getting at 100 yards which again when you're adrenaline is pumping equals a 5 to 8 in it is about respecting the animals you're going to harvest to me making it as humane as possible and the other half of that is getting all out of your rifle that it has to offer a lot of people never pursue both it's a shame

 

[Mnt monkey]

I have a brown whelen reamer somewhere hidden in my stuff always wanted to shoot an improved chamber in the 35 I remember studying powder burn in the past the 35 Whelen Ackley improved and the Seven millimeter actually improved we're two of the most efficient cartridges for grain of powder burnt that they tested that is interesting to me

 

[Decay]

Many years ago my deer hunting partner, who was the first real rifleman I knew, shot a buck at 350 yds. That in itself was amazing to me, but the real story is that he shot through a 5 inch diameter hole in the brush to do it. Pinpoint accuracy was absolutely mandatory. And so was LOTS of practice. I learned a lot from that lesson. Accurize that rifle, develop superb loads for it and it's purpose, practice at varying ranges. (Only once have I shot a deer right at 100 yds.) Practice with hunting clothes on, Wisconsin winter clothes. Practice and repeat, don't just develop a load and quit once you found it. Practice from varying positions. I've never shot a deer from a benchrest. Just a couple cats and lots of prairie dogs. And then go practice some more.

 

[bronko220002]

Shooting off a bench is fine for load development and sighting in but you have to practice shooting under field conditions. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit rusty in that dept. But I'm still no slouch. When I was younger and shooting competitively with rimfire and centerfire rifles I could put most of my rounds intoba,tiny group offhand as well as sitting and kneeling.
Practice...even dryfiring helps.

 

[Mnt monkey]

My best friend years ago went down to spend the weekend with the family member that owned a ranch in South Texas the man's wife was a relative of my friend and he was there because of his relationship with her the gentleman that owned that ranch wasn't a great host he put my friend who happens to have only one leg and one arm in a deer stand that he could only see so far it was very limited however looking behind across the fence which was still on the same property it was a little 3 inch hole in the Mesquite that you could see a long way through my friend shot a giant Buck through that little hole at 375 yards with a 22 250 in the throat and yes he meant to ,the ranch owner heard the shot came to pick my friend up he looked around where my friend could see at least where he thought my friend could see and couldn't find a deer anywhere he asked my friend where's the deer my friend said oh he's way over there in that other field needless to say you shouldn't have left a man with the laser rifle that small hole if you didn't want him to use it.

 

[snapbang]

For practice I think any trigger time is helpful. I have a cheap pellet gun and shoot it almost daily. Im not a bench shooter but Ive killed more than my share of all things that walk, fly, crawl, or wiggle. You need to be ready to shoot. Anticipate the game you hunt. Where are your best shots going to be??

 

[Tony gilbert]

As a young man growing up in Michigan I started hunting pheasants and small game then evolved to deer hunting and eventually out of state for elk and antelope. I remember the phrase if you can hit a paper plate thats good enough. Nowadays I actually scold people for such a statement.

As a young ignorant kid that made sense sitting on a bench shooting at the vitals of a deer larger than the size of a paper plate. Luckily I enjoyed shooting and reloading. I demanded better.

It paid off in a place called Lake City, Michigan. I had purchased a Mark X barreled action and made a homemade fiberglass stock ( before they made them). It was in a 270 Winchester. The stock wasn't pretty but with 135 grain hollow point boat tails it shot like a dream. Nobody even taught me to hunt so I made lots of mistakes. Not very patient.

I saw a nice racked buck my first day out but I was to wiggly. He saw me and bolted. The second morning I was sitting at a stump and heard turkeys scratching and carrying on behind me. I had grown accustomed to the noise as they hung out there the day before. After an extended period of time I decided to watch turkeys for a while and slowly shifted my position only to find no turkey but the buck from the day before making a scrape about 130 yards away.

There was way too much brush to make a shot so spent the next 15 minutes trying to find a hole in the brush. None found. I had the stump to benchrest on. The deer started walking off. I put the cross-hair on him and followed. Eventually I found a hole ( and it wasn't much of a hole) and took the shot. It was the biggest Michigan deer I ever took. 12 points to me and 14 to some others. Never would have brought that deer home with an average shooting gun.

Same for my first elk in Colorado. Had to shoot between 2 trees at 375 yards. All the trigger pulling and fine tuning got me both of those animals.

If you know someone who believes hitting a paper plate is good enough then someday you will hear a story of the one that got away. Hope its not you.

Wow how did you make a fiberglass stock it sounds bad ass

 

[snapbang]

Wow how did you make a fiberglass stock it sounds bad ass

In college I worked at the airport making fiberglass parts for airplanes. I used an old stock, covered it with a release agent, and started layering the cloth and resin. Cut the halves off the stock and joint them with more cloth and resin. Filled the inside with wood pillars and spray foam. Sanded it smooth then added a coat of resin and sprinkle sugar on it to give it texture. Wasn't pretty but worked just fine. A few years latter you could buy one from Ramline for $70.00.

 

[Tony gilbert]

In college I worked at the airport making fiberglass parts for airplanes. I used an old stock, covered it with a release agent, and started layering the cloth and resin. Cut the halves off the stock and joint them with more cloth and resin. Filled the inside with wood pillars and spray foam. Sanded it smooth then added a coat of resin and sprinkle sugar on it to give it texture. Wasn't pretty but worked just fine. A few years latter you could buy one from Ramline for $70.00.

Id rather make it but I'm sure it was bad ass