Need help with Reloading.

[35whelen]

Need help with 348 Win 358 Win 35 Rem 8mm RM 300 H&H 35 Whelen.

 

[Gunner46]

What kind of help? Advice, or muscle?

 

[idahofishnhunt]

You need to give them to someone for safe keeping?

 

[Washington Hunter]

Need any bullets? I've got a bunch of 35 caliber bullets and just sold the 35 Whelen. I've got 200 Hornady 250 grain bullets, 50 Sierra Gameking 225 grain, and some others. I'd give you a pretty good deal, looks like you're fond of 35 caliber cartridges!

 

[35whelen]

Advice. I have inherited some older 1895s and model 71 and some older bolt actions. I was told about reloading for older firearms and how you have to load lighter. I believe the newest year is around 1938. This is my first time reloading so any advice on these old calibers would help when i go to my local shop they guy behind the counter didn't even really know of any of these. Last year i used my last 30-40 shell. The 8mm Rem Mag even the guy at the remington both could give me little info.

 

[have gun will travel]

Have you tried calling manufacture of the bullit I want to reload? If it's a Nosler call them. They might be able to help.

 

[ccc23454]

8mm rem wasn't developed til 1978, 358 in 1955, 348 in 1936 so obviously these aren't original chambering's in those rifles. what I would do is load towards the lower end of the pressure scale powders in a minimum-mid range load that shots safely with no pressure signs in that rifle. your going to be shooting them for nostalgia not long range accuracy so you will be fine. hodgdon powers can help with these I bet if you use there powders including their reduced recoil loadings, there load data page has pressures and email/call them with more questions.

 

[danr55]

First thing you do with rifles that old is take them to a qualified gunsmith and make sure they are all in operable condiion. After that has been done, and you are ready to build loads for them, you start with a good reloading manual (acutally several would be a better idea.). Then you do some research on the individual rifles and find out what the original chamberings were to give you an idea of what pressures they were designed to hold. The only one that would really bother me would be the 8mm RM. Since the chambering wasn't developed until the late 1970's, although there were similar wildcats long before that, I would be really careful with that one. While some 8mm Mauser rifles have been rechambered to take the larger caliber, the actions are not always up to the task. After I knew what kind of pressures the actions were built for, I would build loads at the bottom end of that selection and work my way up slowly. Very slowly. When I found a load that had the accuracy I wanted, I would stop there. If you press your luck with reloading for old guns, it only has to push back one time to spoil your whole day.

 

[35whelen]

I understand the 8 mm (Remington 700) and 358 (Model 88) are later made. The 348 is the Model 71 1938 model. The model 71 was introduced in 1935 along with the 348 WCF. I have taken them too a gunsmith and the guns are ok to be used. The 35 Whelen is in a custom built enfield the 300 H&H is in a Pre-64 Model 70. The 35 Remington is in Rem Model 8 (1920). I have dies for some but when i look at books and things up I cant find many people who reload those calibers.

 

[Bambistew]

Jealous.... nice collection of rifles. Most all seem to be very capable of "modern" loading pressures.

Generally older lever guns, and rifles manufactured around pre 1920ish are the ones you need to worry about pressures.

Have fun playing with those gems!

 

[35whelen]

Have you tried calling manufacture of the bullit I want to reload? If it's a Nosler call them. They might be able to help.

I have emailed and called both Hornady and Nosler they gave some info on a few but some of the calibers they didn't have in there system.

 

[jryoung]

Any mention of a prewar 71 or pre64 in 300 H & H requires pictures to be posted for fellow gun loonies to enjoy. It's in the bylaws of the internet, section 9-58 I believe.

 

[1_pointer]

This will provide you plenty of load data for any of those chamberings.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

Buy a loading manual or two from the bullet companies you want to shoot. They'll have data as well as full instructions, often with pictures, of how to reload. Pictures would be grand! Especially the 71!

 

[Wally Dog]

My pet load (developed by my father) for my pre64 300 H&H is: 66 gr 4350 pushing a 180 gr Nosler. Chronographed at 3130fps!

 

[danr55]

CHekc out a few gunshows and look for older loading manuals. I've collected them for years. If you have an interest in a specific caliber, send me the caliber and I'll look through to old books and see what I can find for you.

 

[Ben Lamb]

For the levers, use a medium burn rate powder like RL 15, H4895, etc. I've had very good luck with H4895 and my 33 WCF. You could also look at IMR 4320, 3031 for the Model 71/

You don't need to hot rod either the 358 win or the 348. They're short range thumpers that do well in the 2200 - 2400 fps range with 200 grain bullets. The 358 Win can be hot-rodded, but not in the 88 action. I'd stick to factory ranges.

I'm no help on the 300 or the 8MM magnum.

& I agree with JR. We need some pics!

For the Whelen, I've had very good luck with 250 grain bullets and RL-17 & RL-15. Both can deliver accuracy and velocities around 2500 - 2600 FPS which hammers critters. RL-17 has been the most accurate in my rifle but I wouldn't hesitate for a second to go with 15 or H4895.

 

[jryoung]

What is the algorithm that drives faster powders like RL 15/17, H4895 in bigger bore rifles with bullets ranging from 200-250 compared to slower burners like 7828, or RL22 in the 7mm-.30 magnums with bullets ranging from 150-200.

Maybe algorithrm isn't the right word, but I always equated slower burners with bigger bullets, what changes with the bigger bore...methinks it would burn out faster....or is it that because of the bigger bore in needs a bigger ignition.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Actually, RL 17 fits in between IMR 4350 & H4350. It's considered a slower powder, but it does some interesting thing in medium bores. I use 17 in my 8mm mausers w/ .318 bores as well and get 2350 fps w/ an old 1888 commission rifle w/ no pressure signs, that matches factory Norma/Sellier & Bellot loads. It does work similarly to RL 15 in terms of applications but the pressure spike is much different. It was originally designed for the WSMs if I remember correctly.

As for the algorithm, I'm a writer, not a mathematician so I have no scientific explanation other than slower powders seem to do well when you have a large case capacity and a tiny opening to burn it though and a heavy for caliber bullet, along with a longer barrel. Slower powders seem to allow for higher load density as well, which means more powder = more velocity while maintaining the pressures you need (slow rise in pressure versus a sharper rise in pressure).

 

[Bambistew]

Bigger the bore the faster the powder, generally.

Ben touched on it a bit, big case small bore... slow powder. Pressure, volume and velocity are all related. A bigger bore achieves a larger volume faster than a smaller bore, once the bullet is moving down the barrel, hence the need for a faster powder.

As soon as the powder ignites, the bullet is moving out of the case into the barrel, the "ignition chamber" volume (case, throat, barrel) is expanding as the bullet is moving down the barrel, in order to have high pressure (max velocity for the powder) you need to burn just the right amount of powder before the pressure drops due to increased volume. With large bores you achieve the max pressure (max velocity) much faster than with small bores due to the increase in volume due to bore size.

 

[Ben Lamb]

science!