35 Whelen A.I. a lot of steps to make brass

[fender]

I am not sure if this is the right place for all of this info. I have a 98 mauser sporter in the said caliber. I have trouble finding ammo which is not all bad because I do enjoy reloading. This is one of the guns chambered back in the wildcat days. The head space is a little long so fire forming brass causes a lot of case stretching. So my procedure is once fired 06 brass ran the a regular 35 whelen sizing die than a lyman m die that a local gunsmith/retired tool maker made to open the neck somewhere around .365 than sized back down with a redding 35 whelen A.I. die to put a false shoulder out far enough for it to push the case head back against the bolt face. Load up some medium loads drive 15 miles blast them out run back home. And finally brass to start loading. The chamber being an improved rules out setting back and re chamber to 35 whelen. I do like the rifle and it shoots good but the brass life is short and the concern of case separation is unnerving. I have considered just buying another rifle that is factory chambered for the 35 whelen cant find them though. I have even considered setting back and re chambering to a tighter 35 improved chamber to match my redding dies that were well over 100.00 bucks but more than likely no one local has that reamer. I like the round it just wears me out. probably never go wildcat again.

 

[bstewrat3]

Just neck size the cases after fire forming and you should have better case life.

 

[Broom_jm]

From what you wrote, there are at least three things I would suggest to improve case life, which is usually excellent with an AI'd round.

1) Neck size as much as possible, after the cases are fully formed.

2) Don't use once-fired brass as a starting point! Frankly, with 35 Whelen brass being available, that is where you should start.

3) While creating a false shoulder is one way of getting the job done, I prefer to seat into the lands, with a middling charge of suitable powder. This holds the case head firmly against the bolt face, ensuring the most of the brass flow is where you need it; at the newly formed shoulder.

How many loads do you get out of your formed cases? I routinely get a minimum of 8-10 out of "Improved" case designs...more, if I go with modest charge weights and neck size only.

 

[Yeah]

What signs/instances of case separation have you had?

 

[fender]

I haven't had any separations just primers wanting to back out some and the white ring at the head of the case. I started necking up 06 brass because of the brass shortage at the time. I have went through several cases along the way. I set some 250 grain bullets out to touch the lands but that was not as cost effective as putting a false shoulder and using pistol bullets. The last batch of fire formed cases I was inspecting on the way home and felt a burr on the case head when I got home I looked with a magnifying glass and it appeared to be a cut line after inspecting the bolt face and finding a machining mark left on the face. I took a riffling file and removed it. I think that some of the cases were being pushed into the chamber while some were being carved into the brass leading to the varying headspace. I swapped a guy some new 257 Roberts brass for new 35 whelen brass but I overworked them during all of the trials to get everything just right to be 100% confident in them. At the moment I have about 60 06 federal cases loaded with 158 xtp's and a false shoulder waiting for the chance to fire.

 

[fender]

I got a chance to shoot the 60 federal cases that I had loaded. They were 40 of the same lot and 20 of a different lot of ammo. Using a Hdy head space gauge you could almost separate the 2 lots by the head space length. I believe most of my issues have been from my means and methods. Using once fired brass that were of different ages has been causing varying head space leading to me resetting my dies. I have my forming dies where they need to be for fire forming but my 35 Improved die backed off enough to neck size only trying not to touch the shoulder. I think Broom is correct now time to invest in some new cases.