Inspired by Mr. Keith
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In 1983 I lived out in California for a few years and had a good neighbor and friend who liked guns and hunting like I did. This particular year we decided we wanted to go on a big game hunt somewhere in the wilderness. I immediately thought of all the Elmer Keith articles I had read and said we were heading to the Bitterroot-Selway region to go elk hunting! With that part settled we went about booking a hunt in that area for the next season. Our next goal was rifles. My friend decided to go the custom route and had a Sako 338 built. I had a hankering for something more exotic, a 35 caliber wildcat. Mr. Keith was very fond of the 333 caliber and I liked medium bores too but there wasn't much in 35 caliber. I happened on P.O. Ackley's books and saw the 35 Whelen and the 35 Brown-Whelen. I liked the improved or Brown version so I settled on that. I found a gunsmith who would rebore my old 1903 Springfield and chamber it for the Brown version and sent my rifle off. After months of waiting my rifle came back and I ordered dies to fit the new chamber. I started by using .270 cases as the basis for my Whelen cartridge since they were a tad longer and the fireforming would shorten the neck a bit. I won't go into all the tedious steps to make a wildcat from scratch but I used all the tricks I could find to ease the process. I used temp sensitve paint for the annealing so the temperature was correct and I patiently loaded up test rounds to fireform and then countless loads afterwards to find the best load for my rifle. I ended up using a 250 grain bullet and a safe load of 4064 and as a second load 4350.
Later on when the commercial 35 Whelen was out I started using the loaded round and firing it in my rifle to get cases, a lot simpler than before! Back to my story. Once our rifles were up and running we spent a lot of time at the Angeles shooting range to get them sighted in etc. My friend was often miffed when my Brown-Whelen would knock over the steel pigs at 200 yds and his 338 would only rock them! It still does have a lot of punch. We went on our hunt that fall and sadly, for me, I didn't shoot an elk. My buddy, however connected with a fine bull on the last day so we were not skunked. I saw so much wildlife and almost got run over by a bull moose that came charging out of the timber after me, I later found out they were in the rut and very protected by the state. I had some of the best times of my hunting life on that trip so I never count it as a bust but a life experience worth savoring.
A note about the rifle. It is a 1903 Springfield with a 3 position safety off of a Winchester 670 bolt and has a hand laid up fiber stock with coarse texture finish. The scope is an old style Baush & Lomb 2 1/2 to 8 variable with adjustment in the base. I also have a fixed four power that is a back up scope and fits this base. Outdated perhaps but still quite functional. I used to have some of the targets shot when the rifle was sighted in, but they are lost to time .. it frequently shoots to less than 2 inch groups at 200 yards and I had several 1 inch groups at 100 yds with the handloads, plenty accurate for a hunting rifle. The only downside is it weighs in at 9 pounds with a full five rounds in the rifle, a bit heavy after a full day climbing up and down steep slopes! Hope you enjoyed the story, Chris
Looks like a gun for the big bulls, for sure.
Looks like you found the personal information fields as well.
(And found the special one)
Yeah, I had a malfunction though on the IPAD, am using my laptop again for awhile. I had more stuff but didn't want to bore everyone with my bragging. It's 84degrees out right now and humid! Too hot to stay on this device for long, time for an Early Times I guess.CHRIS
Chris very nice rifle and a very practical caliber albeit a custom proposition. I have real soft spot for Springfield's my second rifle was one I remodeled in 06 always like the lines of the action and cocking peace.
Thanks Len. I also love 1903 Springfields and this is actually my second. My first (no pic, sorry) was a sporterized version I did myself. It was a nickel steel receiver version made in the 20's. I put a bullet trap in the stock and my special checkering pattern along with a three position safety and receiver rear sight. I just gave it to my daughter last year as an heirloom I hope she treasures for a long time. She shot her first deer with it years ago so I felt it was time to let her have it. Chris
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