just so you know, the 35 whelen would of worked fine. I've done a # of rifles for the family that is a 358 win with the shoulders pushed back and trimmed to length. Basically a standard 358 reamer and a set of dies trimmed down. I get a good solid 2350 with a 200 gr bullet and 2450 with 180's. Now until they increased the length from 1.625 to the 1.8 I had a lot of bullet sticking out of the case but with the 1.8 length they even look right. OH to who ever said no one hunts with anything over a 30 cal sorry to disagree but I like my 338 feds and my 358 winchesters, they thump deer HARD.
ok yes I'm saying that you could redo the chamber on a 35 whelen by cutting the chamber down and rethreading, not the brass, that would be a pain. The idea of this belted mag I think is a good one and I messed with grinding down a set of dies, redoing the belted area of the dies and putting together a few rounds just to see. The big deal to me was getting a reamer made when I wasn't sure how the thing would work. One of the reasons I went the way I did was if it didn't work, I could away ream it on out to a 358 win. Yes I also have a 358 bfg (wssm) and necking it up from a 25 to a 35 is a pain also, but I don't shoot it much so it's not a big deal.
My biggest gripe about the Indiana regs is that they force us to use a caliber that is entirely too large for what you really "need" to kill a li'l ol' deer. Go to any state where normal rifles are allowed and there are very few guys shooting deer with a caliber larger than 30...there's just no cause for it. Anything from 24 to 30 is plenty of bullet for deer, especially if the correct bullet is chosen.
Yep, but short and heavy drops faster, and I'm pretty sure that's why they made the rules that way.
Now that you guys are getting almost .308 performance out of cartridges like this, though, perhaps it was a mistake.
Thank you, Jason but I DONT mind the slightly OT discussion on "my" thread. It's all concerning the options us Hoosiers have and options on builds. I always learn on such additions myself and one cannot have too much info!!Whether or not the DNR made a mistake, now or in the past, with their cartridge regulations, is a thought for another thread. THIS thread is about a very cool wildcat cartridge that is perfectly legal and a lot more effective than your basic 44 and 357 lever-guns. At the same time, it is not a lot more effective than a full-length rifle barrel, chambered in 460S&W, which is THE ROUND the DNR intended to include with the recent changes. So...
Jason
Another one that beats this is the 358 WSM-IN which is based on the WSM case shortened to 1.790" and fired from Remington 700's with barrel lengths of 18"-26". They have been shooting 150gr bullets at over 3200fps and 180's at over 3000. I know they've tried the 225's but most guys don't want to deal with the recoil. They have been shooting the 225's at 2700-2850fps. Accuracy has been outstanding on all the rifles that S&S machine built. He bought the reamer from Mansons and Hornady is making the dies. He built a pretty good number of the WSSM's in the last few years but with the longer case length limits the WSM is now the one. Always good to see some new ones out there though. It gives everyone more choices. Some like the belted cases and some don't and finding brass for any of them isn't always easy.
Frank
Seriously? Belted mag brass is hardly hard to come by and any belted mag brass works if one has a turning tool. It has multiple options in brass to use, part of the whole point of the round. It is NOT dependant on one specific round to use for forming and MUCH easier to get brass for.
I bought 300 belted mag brass, half new, half 1x fired for 75 dollars.....shipped.
The entire point of the 350JR is easy and certainly more than adequate with equal or more energy than some rounds used for elk, bear and moose......and inexpensive.
Without pushing or switching powders 2800 fps with the 180s and 2900 with the 150 Rem is no biggie. Note my velocities is with a 20.5 inch barrel. A 26 inch with some powder tests would increase that if one felt the need for some reason. Ive ran ballistics on 35 bullets and 100 fps dont do much for trajectory, especially in sensible IN hunting ranges.
As for "another one that beats this one"......The mentioned round is the ONLY round Ive found "faster" than the 350JR. I believe Ive mentioned it, under another name maybe? but for MY use the extra velocity wasnt enough to merit the extra cost.
While we discussed the 460, and agree its a great one. It does not overpower the 350JR in any sense nor shoot flatter if one wishes to push the envelope and go MAX.....that Ive never reached yet.
As said, the "fastest" was never, ever the goal. Sensible cost and sensible round was.
Its not for everyone and never intended it to be.
GodBless
I didn't mean to say that the belted brass is unusable or that its a bad cartridge. I simply stated that the WSM-IN is hotter. The problem with belted brass isn't that its unusable as obviously it works well. The problems with belted brass are with the headspace and case cracking issues that are well known and documented since the dark ages of reloading. It normally doesn't last as long and is the primary reason that winchester and remington went to the wider based non belted mags. Accuracy is normally better with non belted brass cartridges as well. As for the average hunter it probably makes no difference either way and your cartridge is as good as any other for deer here in indiana. Since they have hunted deer with everything from .22's on up it is a huge improvement on most.
Frank