Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Processing 30-06 into 35 Whelen

I've set myself the task of building up a new 35 Whelen load based on the 180 Speer. It'll be a minimal load with H4895, so it'll end up being more like a hot 358 WIN; I figure it'll be a handy load for whitetail.

My reason for writing is the brass. This is my first time fire forming brass. I just wanted to run stuff past y'all to double-check and make sure I'm not going to blow my face off.

I'm going to use some once-fired brass. I plan on annealing it first. I've got some Unique and some Universal. I'm thinking 11 grains of either should do the trick. I've got 130 grain mold for cast lead bullets that I will use to cast up some wheel weight alloy. I've heard Cream of Wheat as filler.

What am I missing?

No need to go to all that bother, just run your .30-06 brass into your .35 Whelen die and voila you've got Whelen brass. Lube well inside the neck and lightly outside, I use Imperial wax for this task and trim to length after. Load them up with H4895 and go forth and slay whitetails. If you want to shoot cast bullets my powder of choice is Unique, I use 15gr. with bullets 200gr. - 210gr. - 215gr. - 225gr.either my own cast or ones obtained from Western Bullets. My Whelen shoots any of those cast bullets very accurately, the 180gr. Speer is accurate in my rifle too.

I make my 338-06 brass from once fired 30-06 brass.I have found the brass doesn't seem to get too hard until about four or five firings.I don't think you will gain much by annealing the brass first as long as you use once fired.I could really tell the difference when I tried necking up brass that was shot multiple times and was getting hardened.The other thing that does help a lot is,make sure you lube the inside of the necks well before resizing the brass.I like to apply a little lube like RCBS,Hornady or Lee Unique to a plastic bore brush and run it inside the necks first before running it through the sizing die.I wouldn't think you would have to fire form going to a regular Whelen.If you were going to a A.I. you would for sure.I did a search and found this thread https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3159010/35_Whelen_brass_from_30_06

Using a die with an elliptical expander would be a good plan too. Unlike some here, I've had good success with the newer Hornady dies.

I use Lee dies for my 338-06.I think the expander is kinda like the Hornady too.The longer the taper the better I think.

I agree with those who've said there's nothing to do but run the brass over the die. No need for a fireforming step. Gunswizard mentioned trimming them to length afterward. I'm guessing he means trimming them to a consistent length (which is what I do), because unless you start out with 30-06 brass that is pretty long, necking it up to 35 is probably going to shorten the cases to less than the Whelen "trim to" length of 2.484". Just let 'em "grow into" the standard length as you fire them. Annealing with the candle method certainly won't hurt, BTW.
Are you necking up '06 brass for economy (and fun, of course)? I'm sure you know several outfits make actual headstamped 35 Whelen brass. Midway was selling Remington at a great sale price last year, and I just got some Hornady too. I just checked and the Remington is gone but they have Hornady at a fair price and Nosler and Norma at the typical high price they fetch.
35 Whelen brass at Midway
Have fun and good shooting. If you decide to load up some full power Whelen loads try Power Pro 2000-MR. It's an amazing powder for best ever velocities in the Whelen.
Rex

[EDIT: there's a free shipping deal at Midway for >$49 purchase now so if you buy two boxes of the 35 Whelen brass (or one box and some bullets) it'll ship free.]

Use Imperial Sizing Wax on the inside of the '06 case necks.

Polish the tapered expander with 0000 steel wool so it's nice 'n smooth.

I made some for my 35 and just ran them into the 35 die.

Just like regular resizing.

Things get a little bit harder like when just for fun making 250 savage brass out of 30-06.

No need for fireforming, which is a real plus. You may find that fired cases want split on you, either during resizing or after just a firing or two. I would suggest you buy a bag of 50 new 30-06 cases with a different headstamp than your other stuff, and make them your dedicated Whelen cases.

Imperial die wax is your friend.

I just turned 308s into 358s. I ordered a Redding tapered expander for my 358 die. When I went to swap out the expander in the Redding die I found out that it was already in there.

If you're going to buy a bunch of new cases why not just buy a bunch of new 35 Whelen cases?

I've necked up fired 30-06 cases to 35W with the Hornady FL Whelen die too. I just loaded and fired them in a Mod 750 semi, no problem! I've even used new and fairly new 30-06 brass, leaving a shoulder to fire form 35 WAI with the corn meal method and with any bullet I had. To fireform new 35 W to the Improved I did the Speer 220 jammed into the lands and shot a warm load. I am the "nostalgic" kind of handloader, and the Whelen, as 99% know was designed to use existing 30-06 "fired brass". I too have made 358 & 338F from 308 brass with a simple neck up. Now, I've had 2 9.3x62 rifles that had misfires with new ammo. IF I decided to keep those rifles, I would fireform all brass before hunting with them. At the time, I was already FF for my 35WAI, and thought "forget this noise". I have never annealed anything, but some like to mess with that, it sure can't hurt. I have not owned a 35W, WAI, or 358/338F for awhile now, and I still have brass, especially in WAI. I had a Mauser 98 made into a 35 Whelen AI for my Marine SIL coming home from his "first" sandbox tour. He was already a handloader, and his rifle was reamed with my reamer for my 35WAI. His rifle did not have the long Remington throat, so he was able to use 200gr Hornady to FF with. I gave him all my stuff when I got out of the Whelen business. Its a wonderful round, as are the short rounds 338F-358W. I just like the 35W Ackley case "looks" ( or any Improved round, I want that 40 deg shoulder! ha) But with todays powders...fuggitaboutit! You can get that standard W. humming...OR just enjoy it toodling along. If you never tried those big round nose Woodleighs, they are worth it! Have a ball Pard!

Always used once fired '06 brass to make .35 Whelen, never had any splitting problem either when sizing or firing. I have used both LEE and RCBS dies without the need for eliptical sizer ball, polishing or any other voodoo. It aint rocket science folks as much as some like to make it seem that way !

Agreed to this and your first post above. This is about as easy as case forming gets. When I did this (and I did quite a few), I hadn't learned anything about annealing yet. The 35 Whelen was my first centerfire rifle (still have it too!) and I didn't have much money just out of high school so I learned about forming brass from 30/06 pretty quick. Only reason to fireform is if it's a Whelen AI chamber, and even then, a standard hunting load does that job just fine.

No need for multiple steps with this either - 30/06 brass goes in the Whelen sizer die, and comes out as 35 Whelen brass. Square up the case mouths and it's done, unless you feel like annealing afterwards for consistency.

Annealing before necking up helps if your getting split case necks, but it can also make the necks expand unevenly. If I'm going to anneal at all, my general rule I've developed is to anneal after forming when possible - I never anneal before necking down, and usually not before necking up. I only anneal before necking cases up if I start getting split case necks.

I've been reloading for 47 years and have yet to anneal a case, but if it solves a problem then carry on.

anneal the cheap way a lit candle and a wet rag,works just fine.

Last I knew, RCBS 35 Whelen dies used a stepped and tapered expander ball, primarily to use 30-06 cases.

Might not now, but the ones here does.

My 35 Whelen dies just arrived in time for me to be on work from home status.

I have some once fired .30-06 brass on hand, so I set up the resizing die, applied a little Imperial wax and then resized a few pieces.

It’s very easy to to run the .30-06 through the resizer and create .35 Whelen.

I recently did some Lake City once-fired in my RCBS full length die. Most went well. Only problem was with cases that had large neck dents. These started to crack the neck where the dent was. YMMV,,,,,,

You used too much lube.