Interesting rifle on the way... .35 Whelen

sestoppelman

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I have become a bit of a nut in the past few years of the Model 1895 Winchester and Browning versions thereof. I have a great shooting Browning in .30-40 Krag, a Winchester in .405 Win, my 3rd!
Been thinking of getting one of the newer made Miroku rifles in .30-06 which are making the rounds again finally. Had also been sort of keen on getting one in .35 Winchester but ammo is old, scarce and very costly, :eek:brass the same. About the only way to get brass is roll your own either from also scarce .405 Win brass, or form it from .30-40 Krag, which works but the cases will be short.
But then I saw this pop up the other day on Gunbroker. Its a Browning version that had been rebarreled by Harry McGowen to .35 Whelen. Pad added with LOP of 14", about right. Also has a Williams Peep sight added, another plus as Browning versions, at least grade 1 were not drilled for sights.
I plan to load this to more or less .35 Win ballistics which are about on par with the .358 Winchester. Believe the rifle would handle Whelen factory loads allright and will probably shoot some that I have with 200 gr bullets (Remington) for the brass, but no plan to try to shoot full house Whelen loads in it, certainly nothing like some of our Whelen brothers from Down Under:eek:;);):whistle::D.
Nice thing about the Browning versions is no tang safety or rebounding hammer as the Miroku Win versions all have. I sent a picture of the barrel markings to McGowen and they verified by those markings that it was done by Harry McGowen himself and not a later job by the current company. Harry died in 2014.
Here is a pic of it and will repost when I have the rifle in hand. Should be a funner!:D
My max bid held by $5!:eek:
pix945408932 whelen.jpg
 
Ses,
Congrats on a good buy. It should be a great hunting rifle , IF you ever stop buying rifles and go hunt them!!!

Please let us know how it shoots.

PS IMHO McGowan barrels are accurate shooters. Regulation group from my Simson .405 DR:
 

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I have owned several Whelens over the years, this will be the first in a lever gun though.

Probably never take it hunting. Only hunting I do is Africa every few years, haven't hunted at home for over 15 years or so.

Toby458 aint got nuttin on me when it comes to rotating our stock!:eek:;):D
 
You are about to discover that a 35 Whelen is one fine caliber. One word of caution, do not run any Hornady 200 Gr. Superformance through it. That load is tough on bolt action rifles and shoulders as well.
 
Well as I said above, have had several of these and well familiar with the round had my first one built in the '80's. I have no intention of using any full house loads, let alone Super loads in a lever action. The Hornady load is fine for bolt rifles, used it myself, but not for a '95 Winchester.:eek:
 
Probably do-able, but just like with the .35 W, it would have to be loaded down to keep pressures between 43 and 47 K/lbs. It would still be a potent combo, but limits the potential of the round. I probably would not purpose build this rifle I bought, but since someone went to the trouble and did the work with the new barrel, pad and peep sight etc., just seemed like too neat a package to not bid on.
I will be keen to see how it does.(y)
 
I got this home yesterday. Pretty neat rifle. Barrel is like new. Measures .680 at the muzzle so a good medium weight barrel. Nice chamber that just nudges the shoulder of factory loads, so headspace will be good, chamber is snug, had to size some already sized brass just a bit more to chamber easily.

I did the tight patch/cleaning rod thing to check twist. Looks like a 14 which is fine. 16 is standard, that's what Rem always used. Some say 16 is a bit slow for 250 and up in weight. For this rifle 14 will be just about right I think, no plans to shoot anything over 250 grs.

I noticed the peep sight looked a little cockeyedo_O, on the top. Thought perhaps the d&t was off, but it wasn't. The peep that rides on the windage screw must be wonky or something as it pointed a little uphill. Probably not an issue, but I did just happen to have;)(y) a new Williams sight to swap out and it shows no such issue when installed, so its on to stay.

Working up some loads to try out today, with 225 Sierra Game King's and also some 250gr Hornady round nose slugs.
Problem is , due to WA being now a stay home state, the rifle range I go to is closed until further notice!!:mad: I was just there yesterday trying to shoot with the new social distancing rules in place, a bit of a PITA, but got it done. When I left I figured it might be the last day, and lo and behold, later in the day the Gov gave the order to stay home for all but essential services etc. I always figured going to the range once a week was absolutely essential!! Well, it is for me anyway.:whistle::D

Will report results when I can shoot again!:(:(:( Whenever that is!:mad:
 
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I can’t wait to hear how it shoots! Hopefully the Sierra Game King’s work.
 
Yeah, me too. Hopefully this stay at home order expires in a week or two.:( I am used to shooting weekly, this will hurt.:eek::mad:
 
where is bob nelson?
bruce.
e
Dunno, I thought of home when I saw the title.
I can’t believe this thread is 10 days old and he hasn’t found it.
Not sure if I should ring to see if he’s ok wait to see how one it takes him to find this thread.
 
He is OK, he is here. He posted on this rifle after it was moved to a pictures thread.
 
Crying shame Browning / Miroku does not appear likely to do even a short run of their 1895’s in .303 British.
 
You are about to discover that a 35 Whelen is one fine caliber. One word of caution, do not run any Hornady 200 Gr. Superformance through it. That load is tough on bolt action rifles and shoulders as well.
Shootist43
Art, the 250 grain hotcore isn't to pleasant on the shoulder at 2,700 fps either. Thank God for radial port muzzle brakes that tames it down.
Cheers mate Bob
 

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