doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com WTB 400 Whelen brass

Bryndon,

I have always had good luck blowing out brass to the chamber size on 400 Whelen plus many other calibers. I use about 10 gr of bullesye and then fill the case with corn meal. Just shoot it and the brass then fits. I then load a cast bullet long enough that it engraves and make the final case forming. I have found trying to expand the necks with expander plugs, the necks don't end up very even, the blowing out is much easier and faster and more consistent.
Dan

My experience is pretty much the same as Dan's, but I have better results if I manually put the extractor over the rim and hold the rifle straight up when fire firming. The shoulder seems to be located better when the cartridge is held back against the bolt face by the extractor.
Mike

My experience was with cream of wheat making bumblebee loads for a .38. I didn't get any, but shooting at pop cans showed they would work. They are also pretty good at removing lead from barrels. You fellows have better advice than me.

Tim

Thanks to all who have helped!

I’ll get pictures of this project as it comes along.

Fully engraved Kornbrath / Swensen 1903 receiver, original new old stock Krupp octagon to round full rib 400 barrel, Kornbrath engraved Elk pattern bottom metal, Kornbrath stock bolt, vintage correct express sights and Rigby bolt peep, engraved grip cap, original G&H trap butt, etc.

My plan is for it to be remake of Col Whelens original 400 which is featured in Mr Rifleman in its current rebarrelled state as a 35 Whelen. Steven Dodd Hughes photographed the rifle a few years back and pictures can be found on the web. That rifle has an engraved receiver in the same pattern as mine.

Should be an adventure!

Well I left another message at Quality Cartridge a couple weeks after this original post and they called me back. I ordered a few boxes and they arrived last week.

Thought I’d post an update

Midway shows in stock as well

I don't know if you're aware of it, but Starline sells unformed straight 06 basic brass, they are showing $180 for a box of 250. I'd have posted this sooner but I was logged out and couldn't find my password.

Tim

Thanks for the update and got me thinking as I am looking for cartridge solutions for the 375 Whelen Ack Imp I am working on. I will contact Quality and see what they can do to help.

Tim,

I looked all over the web for 30-06 basic and didn’t find anything until I just searched upon your recommendation. I wonder if this is something they have recently started offering?

I had hoped to find basic and engrave the cartridge designation on them.

Thanks for the tip!

Bryndon

As part of this conversation. The starline brass is not marked on the head. Seems I remember a discussion some time ago about head stamp tools or marking correct cartridge headstamps on unmarked brass. Does anyone recall and/or maybe able link the discussion to this thread, I suck at finding old discussions on this site. Any help would be appreciated. Got to be an easier way than hand engraving.