35 Whelen Project rifle
I just completed assembly of my winter project for a one-off elk hunt this fall. The barrel is a Midway special A&B blued 24” 1-12 magnum contour chambered in 35 Whelen, Savage e-series action , Sharp Shooters Supply comp trigger, bolt handle and recoil lug. I set it up in a Savage laminate varmint stock until I find the stock I want. I’m leaning toward a traditional walnut sporter style, either an aftermarket or a Savage take-off if I can find one with good wood. I’ll refinish the stock, bed and pillar the action when I find the right one. I will rework and re-install the stock trigger after load development. The final scope will be a Burris 4x14.5 bplex, Burris dovetail base and Signature rings.
I mounted my 24x target scope and spent the afternoons for the 2 past weekends breaking in the barrel and starting load development. I used 40 Rem, 200 gr. factory loads, then 2 sets of 5 each min and midpoint charge handloads of R-19 over 250 gr. GameKings and Partitions. Now that I have a supply of formed cases, the fun begins and I can start working on load development using the Sierras and Noslers over R-19, IMR-7828 and H-4831.
I was pleasantly surprised with the A&B barrel. After I settled down and got the scope zero set, I was able to print groups at less than 1.75” and a bit tighter with the midpoint handloads. I’ve found the “sweet spot” for 30-06 and variants to be near 90% of case capacity so I expect this rifle to be 1.5” or better shooter in final form and adequate for my intended use. Copper fouling is as expected but should lesson as the bore smoothes out, at least from prior experience with A&B barrels. Recoil was significant, tolerable for a hunting rifle but I reached my pain threshold at the end of the afternoon.
I will have a bit over $650 in this rifle including the action, barrel, estimating for the stock, trigger, misc. parts and caliber specific dies, jags, cleaning rod etc. This has been an enjoyable and pleasant project and will be a nice addition to my battery of Savage project rifles -.243 Win, 25-06 Rem, .308 Win. My next project will be a short action varmint rig, either a 204 or 22-250 or similar.