400 Whelen

[bruce moulds]

bob,
that won't last you long.
you should have got more when you could.
I wish I had got more imr 4831 when I could.
it is a bit faster than h4831/ar2213sc, and suits the 280 rem better.
the old 2213 not sc was similar to imr 4831, and that is gone too.
re19 and re22 were available here, work well in 280, and are gone as well.
we sure have a cross to bear down under.
bruce.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

bob,
that won't last you long.
you should have got more when you could.
I wish I had got more imr 4831 when I could.
it is a bit faster than h4831/ar2213sc, and suits the 280 rem better.
the old 2213 not sc was similar to imr 4831, and that is gone too.
re19 and re22 were available here, work well in 280, and are gone as well.
we sure have a cross to bear down under.
bruce.

Bruce
The superformance will give man about 400 rounds. That should last a while on game only use
The cfe223 should do over 2,000 rounds of 35, that will keep me happy for a long time.
Then I'll have to go back to the old stand buys.
Even the old stand buys are bloody hard to get but I've got enough to do a long time. 5 kilos of 2208 should keep my son's 308 going for a while.
Cheers mate Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I have had good results with CFE223 in 30-30 Win. and 400 Whelen, I will be trying it in a number of other cartridges too. If I get good results in them I will have few powders to have to get. The only problem there may be getting enough of it.

35400Whelen
CFE223 works extremely well in my son's 308 giving 2,900 with the 150 grain accubonds and consistent less than half inch groups.
Sgt seems to be getting great results with it in his 08 as well.
It works great in the 223 but benchmark 1 is slightly better in my 222 Remington. Works well in my 303 British as well.
Cheers mate Bob

 

[35400Whelen]

35400Whelen
CFE223 works extremely well in my son's 308 giving 2,900 with the 150 grain accubonds and consistent less than half inch groups.
Sgt seems to be getting great results with it in his 08 as well.
It works great in the 223 but benchmark 1 is slightly better in my 222 Remington. Works well in my 303 British as well.
Cheers mate Bob

I am going to try CFE223 in 222rem., 308win., 32win. spl., and 35whelen, if I can get reasonable velocity and good accuracy I'll be happy.
Is your inability to get some of the newer powders do to the currant covid-19 or just crazy laws?

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I am going to try CFE223 in 222rem., 308win., 32win. spl., and 35whelen, if I can get reasonable velocity and good accuracy I'll be happy.
Is your inability to get some of the newer powders do to the currant covid-19 or just crazy laws?

35400Whelen
Unfortunately the virus has nothing to do with our ability to get newer powders in Australia. It's that people haven't heard of them and at reluctant to use the because there's very little information about them in Australia. We have a good selection of a lot of powders t that cross over to American powders as we export a lot of powder to the USA and rent and it under Hogdon. At the moment we are having trouble getting some of our own powders due to the restrictions due to the virus.
One of our big worries is projectiles as they are all imported and a lot are becoming increasingly hard to get. When we can get them again they will probably be very expensive compared to now.
Fortunately we have Woodleigh bullets in Australia but they are only available from .264 up.
It makes it hard to load the 25, projectiles for that are hard to get and gunships in the US and Canada won't export to private citizens.
Our only hope is having a friend send them with the appropriate Australian paper work ( a B709 form).
Enough complaints we will live.
Cheers mate Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I am going to try CFE223 in 222rem., 308win., 32win. spl., and 35whelen, if I can get reasonable velocity and good accuracy I'll be happy.
Is your inability to get some of the newer powders do to the currant covid-19 or just crazy laws?

35400Whelen
Winchester Australia just stopped importing cfe223 and superformance along with most Winchester powders for some unknown reason.
Cheers mate Bob

 

[bruce moulds]

35400Whelen
Unfortunately the virus has nothing to do with our ability to get newer powders in Australia. It's that people haven't heard of them and at reluctant to use the because there's very little information about them in Australia. We have a good selection of a lot of powders t that cross over to American powders as we export a lot of powder to the USA and rent and it under Hogdon. At the moment we are having trouble getting some of our own powders due to the restrictions due to the virus.
One of our big worries is projectiles as they are all imported and a lot are becoming increasingly hard to get. When we can get them again they will probably be very expensive compared to now.
Fortunately we have Woodleigh bullets in Australia but they are only available from .264 up.
It makes it hard to load the 25, projectiles for that are hard to get and gunships in the US and Canada won't export to private citizens.
Our only hope is having a friend send them with the appropriate Australian paper work ( a B709 form).
Enough complaints we will live.
Cheers mate Bob

and our very best bullets are second prize at best.
this is including match grade, cup and core and bonded.
the Australian companies have got away with this because aust shooters just say "if it's aussie it's got to be good", and actually believe it.
of course business minded people capitalize on this 'till the cows come home.
the nraa fullbore shooters were regulated to use aust made bullets, and they were happy with them until fclass shooters showed them what better bullets could do.
virtually nobody uses them now that it is opened up.
adi powder is good powder, but there are gaps in their lineup.
aussie shooters mostly don't care because most of them will not go to the trouble of optimizing loads like bob does with his whelen.
aust shooters will through ignorance also buy the cheapest bullets possible.
because they have never seen how much better bullets like swift kill, they think their crap bullets are the ants pants.
many think the 243 can kill an elephant reliably, because they have never seen appropriate calibre in action, and would not pay for another gun anyway.
and let's not start on primers.
bruce.

 

[35400Whelen]

35400Whelen
Winchester Australia just stopped importing cfe223 and superformance along with most Winchester powders for some unknown reason.
Cheers mate Bob

Just wondering. I knew many of our powders were imported. CFE223 and superformane are under the Hodgdon brand here in the U.S. Of coarse Hodgdon owns Winchester powders but the Olin Corp. still owns all rights to the Winchester name and licenses it out. It's crazy what companies do, and it dose not all ways have a very good benefit to us the consumer no matter what part of the world we live in. I have not tried any Woodleigh bullets, they are expensive here but I have head only good things about them.

 

[bruce moulds]

if you want good bullets, just buy swift, barnes, norma,sierra, speer , Hornady etc, depending on the job in hand.
bruce.

 

[35400Whelen]

and our very best bullets are second prize at best.
this is including match grade, cup and core and bonded.
the Australian companies have got away with this because aust shooters just say "if it's aussie it's got to be good", and actually believe it.
of course business minded people capitalize on this 'till the cows come home.
the nraa fullbore shooters were regulated to use aust made bullets, and they were happy with them until fclass shooters showed them what better bullets could do.
virtually nobody uses them now that it is opened up.
adi powder is good powder, but there are gaps in their lineup.
aussie shooters mostly don't care because most of them will not go to the trouble of optimizing loads like bob does with his whelen.
aust shooters will through ignorance also buy the cheapest bullets possible.
because they have never seen how much better bullets like swift kill, they think their crap bullets are the ants pants.
many think the 243 can kill an elephant reliably, because they have never seen appropriate calibre in action, and would not pay for another gun anyway.
and let's not start on primers.
bruce.

Some people here are like that too, and then others think that if it don't coast an arm and a leg it's not any good. Many do have to be very tight with there money simply because they don't have much. I am one that don't make a lot of money and it a inexpensive bullet work well I'll use it, but if I can or need a better bullet I don't mind saving to get it.

 

[bruce moulds]

I have found that for some applications swift bullets at $3.00 per unit are the cheapest.
simply more 1 shot kills.
and from more angles and on different sized game.
bruce.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Just wondering. I knew many of our powders were imported. CFE223 and superformane are under the Hodgdon brand here in the U.S. Of coarse Hodgdon owns Winchester powders but the Olin Corp. still owns all rights to the Winchester name and licenses it out. It's crazy what companies do, and it dose not all ways have a very good benefit to us the consumer no matter what part of the world we live in. I have not tried any Woodleigh bullets, they are expensive here but I have head only good things about them.

35400Whelen
Mate Woodleigh are brilliant. This is a photo of a 225grain Woodleigh PPSP after it was recovered from my big zebra. Impact velocity was around the 120 yards was still around 2,700 fps

Cheers mate Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

if you want good bullets, just buy swift, barnes, norma,sierra, speer , Hornady etc, depending on the job in hand.
bruce.

Bruce
And Woodleigh
Bob

 

[bruce moulds]

bob, they cannot go in the same sentence.
swift are so far ahead of Woodleigh they are on a different planet.
bruce.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

bob, they cannot go in the same sentence.
swift are so far ahead of Woodleigh they are on a different planet.
bruce.

Bruce I agree with you but like 35400Whelen they are out of My price range. I looked at swifts for my 444 but at 120 dollars for 50 no. That was 10 years ago. Barnes bullets in 110gr for my mates 270 are at around 100 bucks for 50.
I was very lucky on Monday, I picked up a box of 250 grain Hornaday round nose for my Whelen for $65 A hundred from Tamworth gun shop. I also got 2 boxes of 225 grain accubonds from them before I went to Namibia for $65 A box old stock. They are now over $100 a box of 50 when you can get them.
Even the humble Speer hotcore are dearer than woodleigh for the 35 out here.
Cheers mate Bob.

 

[Forrest Halley]

bob, they cannot go in the same sentence.
swift are so far ahead of Woodleigh they are on a different planet.
bruce.

Bruce I agree with you but like 35400Whelen they are out of My price range. I looked at swifts for my 444 but at 120 dollars for 50 no. That was 10 years ago. Barnes bullets in 110gr for my mates 270 are at around 100 bucks for 50.
I was very lucky on Monday, I picked up a box of 250 grain Hornaday round nose for my Whelen for $65 A hundred from Tamworth gun shop. I also got 2 boxes of 225 grain accubonds from them before I went to Namibia for $65 A box old stock. They are now over $100 a box of 50 when you can get them.
Even the humble Speer hotcore are dearer than woodleigh for the 35 out here.
Cheers mate Bob.

You boys oughta see Nosler solids...those people are bloody proud of themselves and their bullet.

 

[35400Whelen]

I got some swift 350gr. and 400gr. A-frames at a good deal to try in my .400W. They shoot very well and I would not question their performance on game, the only problem is the price. I have some hornady 400gr. that shoot just as good as the swifts and to the same point of impact, normal price is about ten dollars less then the swifts. Of course 40 caliber bullets of any thing is not cheap. Smaller calibers seam like a bigger difference in price. I guess it comes down to what shoots well, performs good in the field, and what our budget can stand. Can be a tough decision. Is there any fat in the budget to trim?

 

[Milehighshooter]

Bob,

Have you looked into bullet swaging dies? Wouldn't be too hard to swage down 277/284 bullets to 257. It would at least keep you shooting.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bob,

Have you looked into bullet swaging dies? Wouldn't be too hard to swage down 277/284 bullets to 257. It would at least keep you shooting.

Milehighshooter
No need to mate I've got 500 rem core loct 100 grainers 200 117 SSTs 50 100 grain TTSX 35 80 grain TTSX and 70 110grain combined technology silver tips should keep me happy for a while.
Cheers mate Bob

 

[35400Whelen]

This may be old news but a friend gave me a Gun Digest 2018 he had finished with. He knows I like to slice, scan and archive articles of interest. There is a great article on the 400 Whelen with some nice color photographs of some beautiful 400 Whelen rifles. The article is pretty in depth on the history, design and loading of the cartridge. It is written by Bob Woodfill. Included are a couple of pics of Elmer Keith's 400 Whelen.

I just seen your post and I too like others would like a copy of this article if possible. Thanks, George