Rechambering from 35 Whelen to 35 Whelen Ackley

Before I attacked the poor thing with a reamer, I would do a Guff and make some brass that FIT. "Backing off the sizing die" on a case fired without adequate headspace control is not enough, you have to start out right.

You could neck down some cylindrical basic brass or set back the shoulder on .280 cases. Failing that you could fireform in the Gibbs manner with a bullet jammed into the rifling to hold the case all the way back against the breechface.

Then load that brass with care not to set the shoulder back and see if it would hold headspace against the hammer fall and give reliable ignition.
 
A simpler solution, at least until you can get cases fireformed to the chamber, may be having a new extractor made. An extractor that keeps the cartridge from being jammed forward by the firing pin strike could serve as a temporary band-aid, and shouldn't require replacement once headspace is worked out.
 
I am the fan of killer firing pins, I want my firing pins to crush the primer before the case, powder and bullet know their little buddy, the primer, has been struck. I do not choose to apply the .7854 rule, it is a rule I am stuck with.

Again, I was asked: "What is wrong with R-P ammo?". I had to reply with "CALL R-P! There phone number is on the box". Long story, everything but the box and shooter contact information shows up here. 5 failed to fire and 15 cases that did fire. The 5 fail to fire and the 15 that fired. The 5 that failed to fire were hit with firing pins at least 5 times from 4 different rifles.

I removed the bullets, I removed the powder, I removed the primers, magnificent ammo. I then seated the primers without bullets and with out powder, I will tell you that lightened-up the ammo, but still, when I chambered the primed only cases in one of my rifles with a killer firing pin they all fired. AND!:eek: none of the primers protruded from the case head. I could say "that is the other White meat".

The disciplined reloader that brought the ammo from the range went home and started doing a search for tools like the ones we used.

F. Guffey
 
That'll be a tough one.
You'll either have to go with trial and error, and a gunsmith's spring box; or get some measurements, spring strength, do a few calculations, do a little research, and order something that's the right diameter, strength, and length (or suitable for being cut down).


I am not a gunsmith, but even I have a fair assortment of springs that I've collected. Take some measurements of the spring, including wire diameter, and post a picture here. Perhaps I (or another member) will have something that may work.
 
I have three rifles chambered to the .35 Whelen. Two are no problem at all but one, a Ruger tang safety version has a serious headspace problem. Now each one of my .35's has it's ow resizing die set up to properly size the brass for that one rifle. The Ruger required a bit of special effort to get squared away. I took some 30-06 brass and sized it through the die for the Ruger. I then loaded up the brass using an old Lyman mold for a 280 gr. bullet and using a moderate load with the bullet seated to engage the rifling, firearm that brass to fit the chamber. I then set that die to size the brass so that the shoulder is in the proper place to not give case head separations which it what happens when shooting factory ammo. One of these days I have to take it to my gunsmith and have the headspace properly checked, then off to Ruger to get it fixed. One problem is I have heard that Ruger doesn't fix most problems with tang safety rifles. Guess I'll have to give them a call. They say they don't have the parts.:confused: I have seen complaints to that effect on other sites.
Paul B.
 
Paul, if it's just a barrel replacement, Ruger should fix it.

It's when you get into other parts, like the trigger group and safety, that Ruger pulls the "We don't have parts"-card.
 
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