35 Winchester (35 WCF)

[muskeg13]

Is anyone out there shooting a Winchester Model 1895 in 35 WCF? I recently rebarreled to this caliber, formed cases from Hornady .405 brass, and I'm ready to start working up loads. I want to develop a good load for the Hornady .358 250 gr round nose, and cast loads for the Ideal 358318 251gr round nose gas check and Lyman 3589692 296 gr round nose gas check. I'd really like to hear what any actual shooters are using these days to make these old dogs bark.

[Hobie]

We do have a couple of shooters of these on the forum. If they don't respond immediately have patience and bring it BTT (back to top) periodically. They will respond.

[2ndovc]

I have my Grandfather's 95 in 35WCF.
I've had great luck with Varget and Sierra bullets. My feeble mind won't let me think of what the load is. I'll look it up
when I get home.


I popped a 185# boar with it a little over a year ago. Blew through one shoulder and out the other.

It's the most accurate of my 95's

jb

[Hecter]

I have been shooting a 1905- 1895 Win. for 10 years or so. My main load is a cast 280gr. bullet with Reloader 7. I have tried jacketed bullets but have more fun with cast loads. I'm at work right now and can't remember the powder load. If you load 250gr. jacketed bullets don't try to make your 35win. into a 358win. or more powerful cartridge....the gun was not made for big pressures. My 280 cast load is around 1300fps. and hits HARD at 100-150 yards. Have lots of fun with your 35!!

[1886]

Slightly OT but I have a partial OLD box, 10 rounds, of Winchester .35 Winchester ammo. Box is pretty beat but the rounds look OK. Again OT but I did want to mention it. Thanks, 1886.

[2ndovc]

Gary,

Let me know what you want for the .35win's!

For "my" 95, 47 Grains of Varget in Bertram brass and a Sierra 225 gr BT Spitzer has been the
most accurate. Though I haven't tried the Hornady 250. Think I will.

Haven't tried a cast load yet. Think I'll do that too.

jb

[1886]

Hi J, Never really thought about selling them but if you want them we can work out something. Drop me a line. Sorry for taking this thread off track!! I love the 95. I just grabbed a B-95 in .30-40, the .35's little bro. 1886

[1886]

Is anyone out there shooting a Winchester Model 1895 in 35 WCF? I recently rebarreled to this caliber, formed cases from Hornady .405 brass, and I'm ready to start working up loads. I want to develop a good load for the Hornady .358 250 gr round nose, and cast loads for the Ideal 358318 251gr round nose gas check and Lyman 3589692 296 gr round nose gas check. I'd really like to hear what any actual shooters are using these days to make these old dogs bark.

.30-40 brass might be cheaper. Just neck em up. I bet 2495 or Varget would be great choices. Frank at Mt.Baldy brews a 275gr FNGC that would be a great penetrator. 1886.

[2ndovc]

Problem with the 30-40 brass is it's a little short. Slight diff. in POI in my rifle.


Gary,

I think its your turn to call me!

jb

[RIHMFIRE]

I have my Grandfather's 95 in 35WCF.
I've had great luck with Varget and Sierra bullets. My feeble mind won't let me think of what the load is. I'll look it up
when I get home.


I popped a 185# boar with it a little over a year ago. Blew through one shoulder and out the other.

It's the most accurate of my 95's

jb

very nice.....

[Sixgun]

The 35 WCF is a powerhouse. For many years that caliber was unwanted and was last in the "desireability" (spelled right? don't know and I don't care ) of all of the calibers that were chambered in the '95. It is a 405 necked down or a 30-40 Krag necked up and lenghtened a bit.

I've used it for elk but never did get a chance to plug one, but I did manage to plug quite a few rocks, steel plates and other things that need "plugging" I've got several thousand rounds out of the below one that is pictured.

My elk load is 50 grains of IMR 4064 with a 250 Hornady that chrono's at 2227 @ 70 degrees

46 grains of 3031 with the same bullet does 2028 and will kill anything.

My play load of 28 grains of 5744 OR 29 grains of RL-7 with a 250 cast gas check Lyman bullet does 1700. This mould is way out-of-print but I imagine any 250 gr. cast will be safe with the above load.

As you may or may not know, any 357 caliber bullet (even cast pistol bullets---10 grains of Unique ) can be used for play. Shoot! Your not gonna hurt the gun and "practice makes perfect"

Here's my baby--a takedown, shotgun butt with a hard rubber buttplate. Its no tackdriver but will put a mess of jacketed or cast into 3 or 4 inches at 100 meters. -------------Sixgun

Here she is! Oh! Wait a minute, thats Jason (2ndovc


In Colorado

[kimwcook]

Sixgun, you crack me up!!!

[Sixgun]

Sixgun, you crack me up!!!

Law Dawg,
Thanx! Life ain't worth livin' without a mess of laughs---usually at someone else's expense!

I'm 56 and still routinely get called to the shipping office for horseplay. One thing I can't stand is a miserable individual. Some people need to get in a fight with a 10 guage and let the 10 guage win.

Oh! The 35 WCF! On a serious note, you can use 30-40 Krag brass. Just neck it up a bit in order for the bullet to fit and shoot it. The neck comes up a bit short but that ain't gonna hurt nothin'. Its lots safer to do it this way than to use the "heated up and drawn" 30-40 brass. While it may look cute, that extra brass has to come from somewhere and guess where that is?---the base--where the strength is needed most ------------------------------Me

[Mike D.]

Personally, I would neither use "drawn out" .30-40 brass or ultra soft and short lived Bertram stuff. Quality Cartridge makes correctly headstamped and sized .35 W.C.F. brass and in my very short book the only way to go.

[2ndovc]

Personally, I would neither use "drawn out" .30-40 brass or ultra soft and short lived Bertram stuff. Quality Cartridge makes correctly headstamped and sized .35 W.C.F. brass and in my very short book the only way to go.

Thanks for the info. I need some more brass. Though I have yet to have a Bertram case fail. Do you anneal the necks before you load them? Maks a difference.

jb

[muskeg13]

Thanks for all the tips. I wanted to hear load data from those who actually are shooting a 35 WCF now, not just third hand quotes from ancient loading manuals. I'll post later on the results, using reformed Hornady .405 cases.

Ditto on the comments about Bertram Brass. Expensive and inconsistent quality. I'll never buy Bertram brass again.

[Hecter]

I've had time to look at my loading notes. For my plinking load I use 20grs. of R-7 under a 280gr. cast bullet. For a hunting load I drop 30grs. of R-7. I do use 30-40 brass necked up and blown out. This will give you a very short neck but this has never gave me any trouble.

[Mike D.]

Personally, I would neither use "drawn out" .30-40 brass or ultra soft and short lived Bertram stuff. Quality Cartridge makes correctly headstamped and sized .35 W.C.F. brass and in my very short book the only way to go.

Thanks for the info. I need some more brass. Though I have yet to have a Bertram case fail. Do you anneal the necks before you load them? Maks a difference.

jb

Yes, I anneal all of my cases, but had bad luck with Bertram .38-56 brass. It not only has incorrect neck position, but tended to split badly with HV loads. I have probably 60 unused Bertram cases still in the boxes. Aside from being insufficient, they are wildly expensive. I have MUCH better results with reformed Starline .45-70s and .45-90s.

[muskeg13]

Shot the '95 with the newly installed 35WCF barrel today. I made up 4 rounds each using 5744, 2400 and Rx7 and the 250gr Ideal 358318 with Alox and a second application of Lee Liquid Alox. The first 3 shots were into the ground on the other side of a stout birch just to see if I'd gotten the headspace right. Everything was OK. Case expansion was normal, with good centered primer strikes. I then fired 3 shots with each powder at 25 yards. Sixgun's load of 28 gr of 5744 was first with the 3 holes touching. Accuracy went downhill on the other two 3 shot groups, with severe leading. After an hour of cleaning , including numerous applications of JB Bore Paste the bore looks clean, but it may be too rough for cast bullets. Anyone have luck lapping a rough bore to the point it gave acceptable cast bullet accuracy? If not, there's always the store bought bullet option.

[Sixgun]

Muskeg (of beer) ,

'Ya gotta size it .359 to .360. I'm a bit lazy to read through all of the posts but I don't recall what you sized the bullets at. Leading comes from undersizing about 98% of the time. I size .360 for the 35 WCF and can run 100 straight with no leading. Its OK for the bore to be a bit rough. A gas check, a semi-hard to hard bullet and the proper sizing will work like a dozen Irishman who ain't had a drink for a month. PM if you have trouble---------------Sixgun

[muskeg13]

The bore slugged at .358, and I sized to .358 because that is the sizer I have. I'll get a larger sizer or polish this one out. I know better than to load boolits under bore size, took a chance that ones at bore size might be OK or bump up. I guess that didn't work out. My alloy was also on the soft side, softer than Lyman #2. However, the bore is still rough. The rifling is strong, but there are very fine pits/imperfections uniformly throughout the bore. I don't want go to a linotype hard alloy, because that's harder to find, is more expensive and I can't hunt with them. I've always had good results with air cooled ww boolits, so I need to work through the sizing and bore roughness issues, recast the boolits a bit harder and try again.