Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Question for the .400 Whelen Crowd

That's a DANDY!

Great video.
I especially liked the "BANG" special effect.
Your use of a deep socket as a cartridge holder on the electric drill spinner was also cool.
That will keep the flame off of the lower case and is a heat sink in itself.
I pitch them from the spinner into a pan of water, quick as I see the color change start to appear at the shoulder-neck juncture.
I will get rid of the short little aluminum Hornady cartridge holder they included with their old "Tempa-Lacq" annealing kit, or whatever it was called.
Deep socket henceforth.

15 grains of Bullseye, duly noted as another fire-forming recipe for my old box of stale COW.
Straight yellow cornmeal also is a great idea. Gluten free for those poor, deprived folks who have to avoid wheat.

It would be interesting to know what the length of your brass is,
.35 Whelen R-P before
and .400 Whelen after fire-forming.

For gunner500, heh-heh-heh:











And add a recoil lug to the bottom of the barrel, and crossbolts and grip rod in stock,
and my .400 Whelen will be half-assed no more, heh-heh-heh.

That will look great when it is all put together. I vote to refinish the whole thing.

Will get some measurements on the before and after. Case mouths seem a little straighter overall with the cornmeal versus running through the die so will likely be able to maintain a longer neck just from saving on trimming to the lowest common denominator.

Virgin Hornady .35 Whelen Brass (Multiple Cases)- 2.480-2.486" OAL
Corn Meal Fired to .400 Whelen (3 Cases)- 2.460", 2.468", 2.498" OAL

Interesting that one case grew longer than it started off.
Sounds like the 15 grains of Bullseye is sufficient for blowing out .35 Whelen into .400 Whelen.
Amen.

About that Ruger Hawkeye .400 Whelen,
yep, if I add a barrel lug and the other hardware, will need to re-finish the barrel metal at least.

Wood needs to be stripped and oil-finished too.
That will bring out the tiger stripes hiding under the varnish.
I took it out of the stock to remind myself of how it was originally set up.
Stock has a perfect bedding job now, with pillars and hidden cross bolts fore and aft of magazine well.
Won't need the exposed cross bolts.

Rusty didn't think it needed a barrel lug when he did the original work.
He has done plenty other ones for me, harder kickers.
A barrel lug will be gilding the lilly on this one,
and along with a rod under the grip cap, that should assure the walnut lasts.
A B&C Medalist stock is another idea ... but first, a little respect for the walnut.
Amen again.

I tried a few yesterday at 16 and 17 grains. No major change to the shoulder. May settle at 16 grains.

Jolly good then, 16 grains of Bullseye it is.
IIRC, we were using 20 grains of Unique previously.
Bullseye is a hotter/faster powder than Unique.
Unique would require more powder.
Your 16-grain charge of Bullseye seems to be about as good as it gets
for the cornmeal-fireforming load.

Ah shucks.
The Ruger factory wood is nowhere near as special as that on gunner500's Magnificent Mauser.
All the other Marvelous .400 Whelen rifles showing off here have synthetic stocks.
I am going to save my walnut for Sunday-go-to-meeting,
and just put mine into a B&C Medalist, easy-peasy, no barrel lug required,
no matter for lack of visible cross bolts to replace the hidden ones for show.
Just need to sand out the B&C barrel channel to fit the No.5 sporter.

I wouldn’t mind a nice walnut stock but their is some beauty in functionality also.

Thanks! Great vids/info

The .400 Whelen stock is on the way, no barrel lug will be required.
B&C:
There is a 'Pre-Christmas" sale on for Dec. 15 & 16, 2022, get 15% off.
$48 comes off at checkout when you buy a $320 stock, it becomes $272 + $15 shipping.

Ruger M77 MKII and Hawkeye Sporter Stock, Long Action, #1055.

https://www.bellandcarlson.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=1157

Says it has a "factory Ruger magnum contour" barrel channel.
Maybe no sanding of barrel channel will be required for my rifle.
13.65" LOP and weighs "Approximately 2.0 lbs."
Full 6061-T6 aluminum endoskeleton from grip to forearm tip.

This is the 5th one of the B&C Medalist stocks I have bought, for Win M70s, CZ 550s, and finally a Ruger M77.
Very satisfying. I prefer them over the HS Precision of which I have 3, two for Win M70 and one Ruger M77.
I like black with red spider web.

Should look nice Riflecrank!

I don’t have regerts but I do wish this sweet FN would have come into my life at the start of this project. It is a .35 Whelen but I ran some .400 rounds through the mag and it feeds them like they were soaked in butter. The fact that the serial starts with 400 is kinda cool too.



Someone had already converted the safety and the custom barrel is nice.





Would have made a great donor but makes a damn-fine .35 Whelen as-is.

Nice one.
Highjack continued, I could not bear to re-barrel this .35 Whelen to .400 Whelen either.
Even to run a .35 Brown Whelen into it would be sacrilige.

Pre-'64 M70 Winchester .35 Whelen like the factory never made, but should have:
1952 M70 action from .30-06
1958 walnut from .300 H&H
1993 Douglas No. 4 sporter with 1:12" twist, 24" length







Old Weaver K-3 scope in Kimber rings and bases above.
Below, the scope bases were made by Talley to fit Ruger No. 1 OEM rings onto the M70, same scope.
First blood, two shots, two bangflops, two DRT, two braces of tasty pork chops from Tennessee,
Remington factory ammo 250-grain RNSP "Core-Lokt" IIRC:





The .400 Whelen would of course be more appropriate for a 1000-pound hogzilla.

Here are those Talley-Ruger bases
and a comparison of the Shilen No. 4 sporter, .411-caliber, 1:14" twist, feather-weight trimmed
(proof-tested with 400-gr bullet at +2400 fps, heh-heh-heh),
compared to the Douglas No. 4 sporter, .358-caliber, 1:12" twist:

Usual fast delivery by B&C, what a snap, ordered 5 days ago, arrived on this day, the winter solstice:







My previous B&C stocks for M98, M70, and CZ550Mag have been in the 2.0- to 2.5-pound range after bedding.
This one will be about 2.0 lbs with some epoxy in the barrel channel and action recoil lug recess of titanium-aluminum alloy.
That is about a half-pound lighter than the HS Precision Ruger M77 Mk II stock.

The black and red looks sharp!

Med-what is the story on the FN 35 W? I must have missed that one. Personally, I am a fan of the FNs but 338 is the biggest bore I've owned on one. This looks like a nice rifle.

I'd leave that Whelen as is, or sell it to someone in Iowa, Louisiana, or Mississippi where this cartridge is legal for regular season deer hunting. There has to be an unloved 30-06 in a FN action around here someplace. A shake on the classified tab might make ten of them fall out