sighted in my custom 35 whelen

Its always nice to see rifles done by john, I feel lucky to have the last one before he passed.

Really nice rifle. I've always had a soft spot for a rifle built on a Mauser action. When they built that rifle you can tell they were paying a lot of attention to Winchester because they used the fish pattern in the checkering. One of my first rifles was a Mauser built on a DeLuxe action with a safety like your rifle and I really liked the safety because it was the first rifle that I owned where I could work the bolt with the safety on. I also noticed that it still has the original Mauser trigger and as time goes by you may want to replace it with a Timney because that one change could really reduce the size of your group. Keep us posted as you enjoy getting used to the rifle.

When I started shooting my 338-06 I noticed it was more fun to shoot if I didn't put a finger directly behind the trigger guard because it slapped my finger pretty hard. To overcome this I just placed my fingers further down the grip.

eastbank said:

I put a 2x7 leupold on my custom 35 whelen built by J.W. PATTEN on a steyr 98 mauser action and sighted in at 200 yards from a bench. 225 gr bullets at 2600 fps, I think I may have pulled the one on the right. I think it will do for deer-bear. the stock is stained birch that I,m not fond of and I will have it redone or replaced next year.

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How many rounds did you put through the rifle? How many till you were flinching? I find the kick from a 35 Whelen bad enough I take breaks. A 225 grain bullet going 2600 fps kicks on both ends!. It knocks me so much out of position that I have to readjust the front rest, the bag under the butt, myself and my elbow. I find the thing very hard to shoot well, largely due to the flinch I develop within the first ten rounds.

What was your load?, just curious what others have tried.

When you hammer something, how about showing us some pictures, such as @35 Whelen, did in the thread The Perfect Elk Rifle .

eastbank said:

i use a lead sled with two bags of shot on the cradle for load checking and it does come back a little, varget-H-4895. I the same load in my ruger #1 in 35 whelen and lower the load in my Remington 7600 pump in the 35 whelen.

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Lead sled, lead bags, that's cheating! You are supposed to feel the pain! I just looked at a Cadwell lead sled ad, they claim a 95% recoil reduction. What is this world coming to?

Slamfire said:

Lead sled, lead bags, that's cheating! You are supposed to feel the pain! I just looked at a Cadwell lead sled ad, they claim a 95% recoil reduction. What is this world coming to?

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I have a callus on the knuckle of my trigger finger from slamming it into the front of the trigger guard. I wonder if some hunters take a lead sled hunting with them and use it in a box blind. I give one of my friends a bad time about having to carry a truck door around with him because he has always been more comfortable shooting out of a truck window!

My only custom rifle is also in .35 Whelen... Based on a Winchester pre `64 Model 70 action. Yes, it kicks! Especially with 250gr Noslers.

Trey Veston said:

My only custom rifle is also in .35 Whelen... Based on a Winchester pre `64 Model 70 action. Yes, it kicks! Especially with 250gr Noslers.

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Love that rifle! As I get older I appreciate the functionality (and looks) of open sights on a rifle more and more.

Thanks! It was built for my dad by Mel Smart in Montana as a Canadian moose rifle. He gave it to me years ago and it has ruined me for bolt guns. Every other action and trigger feels like garbage compared to it.

Trey Veston said:

My only custom rifle is also in .35 Whelen... Based on a Winchester pre `64 Model 70 action. Yes, it kicks! Especially with 250gr Noslers.

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What a fine looking rifle.

I have never owned a 35 Whelen but I am enamored with them. There was a Mauser 98 conversion that was on consignment at the local shop. Pretty well done with a wing safety and excellent checkering with a Leupold 1.5-5x20. This might ruffle the feathers of the traditionalists but it was also fully hard chromed. Looked really sharp. Would have been a great moose rifle.

Trey Veston said:

My only custom rifle is also in .35 Whelen... Based on a Winchester pre `64 Model 70 action. Yes, it kicks! Especially with 250gr Noslers.

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Man, that is sweet. I’d love to see more pics of that

John van Patten did just a basics stock on mine, it was a Richards he had laying around. this was a birthday gift from him. The 09 action is nothing special, John would replace all the bolt parts with new ones. He would make the wing safety, mine is just 2 position that locks the bolt. And like most of his guns it got a Douglas air gauge barrel.

one day I may do a nicer stock with checkering and metal furniture.

I really have to take some better photos some day.

troy fairweather said:

John van Patten did just a basics stock on mine, it was a Richards he had laying around. this was a birthday gift from him. The 09 action is nothing special, John would replace all the bolt parts with new ones. He would make the wing safety, mine is just 2 position that locks the bolt. And like most of his guns it got a Douglas air gauge barrel.

one day I may do a nicer stock with checkering and metal furniture.

I really have to take some better photos some day.

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That is apparently an older Nikon scope with a slim and trim ocular bell. The clunky huge bells of the newer ones was a reason I never bought one.

Shooting a thumper on a bench is always reflection time for me; what goes in between the butt stock and my shoulder to avoid my bad influence on the rifle/ load performance? I simply place a old folded bath towel on my shoulder to spread the recoil force - it works great for me. The advantage is my ability to tune the rifle/load instead of anticipating the recoil. My bench shooting improves dramatically although it is not the “macho” path of the quintessential marksman. In turn once the rifle is finely tuned at the bench, that confidence follows it to the field where we all know recoil doesn’t matter anyway.
Very nice rifle!

earlthegoat2 said:

That is apparently an older Nikon scope with a slim and trim ocular bell. The clunky huge bells of the newer ones was a reason I never bought one.

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Ya it's a pre monarch this was a gift from loonwulf. It is now on my Browning A-bolt, my jap gun.I was going to put a Burris on the 09 but that went on my m18 mauser.

If you progress down a path of starting with lighter recoiling guns and progress incrementally to higher recoiling guns, you will find yourself able to tolerate harsher recoil better.

I started by jumping in feet first with 12 ha shotguns shooting slugs and developed a flinch early on. After I no longer needed to use slugs for hunting and stared shooting more air guns and rimfires I learned I was actually a pretty good shot. Now I am up to routinely shooting hotter loaded 45-70 and 444 Marlin from relatively light rifles (45-70 is 6 lbs 12 ozs empty) with no flinch at all. I know these are really only “medium” recoiling rounds though. Admittedly, I will only shoot 5 or so shots before taking a little rest though. Also, soft recoil pads do help tremendously with taming felt recoil.

post: 11296499, member: 40685"]I find the kick from a 35 Whelen bad enough I take breaks.[/QUOTE]

I share Mr. Slamfire's enthusiasm for shooting a .35 Whelen, after testing a load or two I tend to get out of the mood for further shooting. But even so, I confess to having a couple of the things: one even a .35 Whelen Improved with a steel buttplate! .
.

eastbank said:

I put a 2x7 leupold on my custom 35 whelen built by J.W. PATTEN on a steyr 98 mauser action and sighted in at 200 yards from a bench. 225 gr bullets at 2600 fps, I think I may have pulled the one on the right. I think it will do for deer-bear. the stock is stained birch that I,m not fond of and I will have it redone or replaced next year.

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I'll admit, the birch stock seems a little mundane for that rifle. I do sort of appreciate the no frills, go shoot stuff, feel it lends the package.

Offfhand said:

one even a .35 Whelen Improved with a steel buttplate! .

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Masochist!
Again beautiful rifles....thank you for collecting them, and taking such nice pictures!

LoonWulf said:

Again beautiful rifles....thank you for collecting them, and taking such nice picture!

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I second that!

Steve S. said:

Shooting a thumper on a bench is always reflection time for me; what goes in between the butt stock and my shoulder to avoid my bad influence on the rifle/ load performance? I simply place a old folded bath towel on my shoulder to spread the recoil force - it works great for me. The advantage is my ability to tune the rifle/load instead of anticipating the recoil. My bench shooting improves dramatically although it is not the “macho” path of the quintessential marksman. In turn once the rifle is finely tuned at the bench, that confidence follows it to the field where we all know recoil doesn’t matter anyway.
Very nice rifle!

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Notice the thick, very thick recoil pad? It is factory and greatly appreciated.



I had to take this big scope off. I had it pushed as far forward as it would go, and it would still smack me in the eye glasses. I found one that I could push a half inch or one inch further forward. I will tell you what, having a rifle scope in your glasses does not help with the aiming thing,

that birch stock has more movement in the wood than you think. instead of putting another stock on it try this. when you have down time with the gun take the stock off and strip it with a stripper. wash good and let dry. then get some liquid leather dye in medium brown. get some in red also. put a few drops of red in the brown, that makes it winchester or english brownish red. really soak it into the wood, over and over. it will get dark looking. then when dry washoff good this water and let dry. then finish with a oil a finish or a high gloss, what ever you desire. when your finish is finished. take a pure cotton cloth and put some HUTS polish on it and rub the stock out really well. you will get the results you were looking for in the first place.

That’s about the nicest birch stock I’ve ever seen, especially compared to my 336W. Over time the buttstock has gotten darker than the fore end.

Catman42 said:

that birch stock has more movement in the wood than you think. instead of putting another stock on it try this. when you have down time with the gun take the stock off and strip it with a stripper. wash good and let dry. then get some liquid leather dye in medium brown. get some in red also. put a few drops of red in the brown, that makes it winchester or english brownish red. really soak it into the wood, over and over. it will get dark looking. then when dry washoff good this water and let dry. then finish with a oil a finish or a high gloss, what ever you desire. when your finish is finished. take a pure cotton cloth and put some HUTS polish on it and rub the stock out really well. you will get the results you were looking for in the first place.

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A friend brought me his sporterized 1903A3. The finish was pretty much worn off over much of the stock. I said I’d play around with it as long as he was okay with it possibly being just as fugly when I was done. It was my first and only attempt at stock work. Stripped and sanded the stock, warmed some boiled linseed oil and dissolved some shoe polish in it, then applied it to the stock. I like a reddish tint and it gave it that. Pretty much accomplished what you did. It turned out really well, I wish I’d have taken a picture of it.