setting up for reloading 35 Rem for Contender

[R8ed]

I've been reading lots of info here....

First a little info on me so you know my experience level.
I'm fairly new to reloading. I've loaded just over 2000 rounds in 38 spl, 357 and 9mm using a Lee hand press. All bullets have been store bought, both lead and jacketed.
As a kid I cast sinkers with my father, I haven't cast any bullets yet but have smelted some ingots from window camming and pure lead. My first casting will be for 9mm with a known, purchased alloy just to make things easier.
My long term goal is to cast and reload for my .35 Rem Contender barrel that I've had for years. I want to use it for hunting.
I haven't shot this barrel for years after experiencing some misfires. When I did shoot it, I was shooting at a quail silhouette at 100ydsand hit it regularly. I've never fired it for groups. I've got around 100 unfired factory loads, 20+ misfires and thankfully saved 500 empty cases.
Last year I replaced all the springs and center fire firing pin in my frame. .223 shoots fine. I cast the 35 chamber and the rifling is concentric to the chamber. I have not yet slugged the barrel, but that is next on my list.
Following the advise on Mike Bellm's website and using a dial indicator I've found the following;

• the barrel to frame gap is 0.002"
• most of the once fired cases are recessed -0.004 - 0.006" below barrel face
• all factory miss fires recessed some with primers as low as -0.011" below barrel face

So, based on Mr. Bellm's information I'm going to need to bump the shoulders back up on the cases before reloading.

I have three questions for now.

1. What options are there for bumping the shoulder besides fire forming or water forming?
2. What bullets/loads have others used for hunting deer with Contenders in this caliber?
3. Which molds have you used to cast for this?

Thanks,
ed

[Nobade]

TC sure was good about cutting those chambers too deep, weren't they?

In my own experience, I had to pull the bullets on factory ammo and seat them out enough so the barrel had to be forced closed. Remove the extractor to do this. That would hold the cases back enough to let them fire and form to the chamber. Then they can be reloaded normally. Set your size die off the shellholder a bit so you only neck size and don't push the shoulder back.

As for bullets, I have had great results with the RCBS 200 FN, the one made for the 35 Rem. It fits the throat (or what there is of it) and is very accurate.

A wonderful modification I made to my old barrel was to add a rim cut using a single point boring tool on the lathe. This allowed me to make cases from 303 Brit brass. FL size and trim to length - very easy, and then it would hold headspace with any load I wanted to use. With normal rimless cases you can't load light plinking loads or the cases get shorter and eventually won't fire. As a bonus, 303 is now a lot easier to find cases for than 35 Rem.

-Nobade

[speedyr]

I never had any issues with firing my 35 but almost everything I shot was hand load. In the contender I usually shot 150 and 180gr spire point bullets just because I could. In my 141 I shot 200gr RN. I've been looking at the RCBS 200RN mold as I"ve heard very good things about that mold. I know NOE makes a clone of it as well.

most of the rifles are tubular magazine so you are limited to the round nose bullets. They shoot fine in the contender as well so if you have a rifle and just want one load for both (if the accuracy is there) that might be a good option. I liked the looks of the 180gr bullets in the 35 case so ran those. They seemed to work fine..

another option these days if you want ballistics and performance for hunting are the "newer" FTX bullets from Hornady. flexible tip so you can use them in tubular magazine but ballistically a bit better than a plain round nose. I keep wanting to get a few and leverlution powder and see how that combo works.

[357Mag]

R8ed -

Howdy !

When/if headspace is not outrageously off; you make the brass fit the chamber.

If any cases happen to have had their shoulders shoved too far "down" during case sizing, you can try fire-forming
a primed ( but no boolit ) case w/ 8gr Unique; and a wad of Cream-O-Wheat held in-place w/ a tuft of tissue paper.

Orient gun vetically ( again, not a boollited' case ), and fire the case w/ the aid of gravity holding the case aft in the breech
( against firing pin ). In some cases and when one is carefull, the primer can be seated just a tad " high ", which aids in holding the case in-place until fired.

For a shoulder bump, you might be able to use a .380Auto sizing die. It worked on my .35 Rem brass, after I gave the cases just a simple outside skim turning of the necks ( to remove " texture" and irregularities ). The cases were a good slip fit, thereafter.


With regards,
357Mag

[R8ed]

TC sure was good about cutting those chambers too deep, weren't they?

In my own experience, I had to pull the bullets on factory ammo and seat them out enough so the barrel had to be forced closed. Remove the extractor to do this. That would hold the cases back enough to let them fire and form to the chamber. Then they can be reloaded normally. Set your size die off the shellholder a bit so you only neck size and don't push the shoulder back.

As for bullets, I have had great results with the RCBS 200 FN, the one made for the 35 Rem. It fits the throat (or what there is of it) and is very accurate.

A wonderful modification I made to my old barrel was to add a rim cut using a single point boring tool on the lathe. This allowed me to make cases from 303 Brit brass. FL size and trim to length - very easy, and then it would hold headspace with any load I wanted to use. With normal rimless cases you can't load light plinking loads or the cases get shorter and eventually won't fire. As a bonus, 303 is now a lot easier to find cases for than 35 Rem.

-Nobade

Thanks for the reply. I did a search for .303 British brass and that seems in short supply also.
I'm going to stick with .35 Rem for now. I have enough brass to last a while and .308 can be formed to it.
I think once I get the bugs worked out I will be OK.

[ohland]

the barrel to frame gap is 0.002"

Barrel to frame gap is pretty tight (good!). Note that Bellm offers a horizontal milled "notch" across the breech to enable you to get a better grip on cases. The point being the barrel to frame gap can be even more as long as the head is supported.

[Beerd]

Thanks for the reply. I did a search for .303 British brass and that seems in short supply also.
I'm going to stick with .35 Rem for now. I have enough brass to last a while and .308 can be formed to it.
I think once I get the bugs worked out I will be OK.

FWIW, I make my 35 Rem rimmed brass from 30-40 Krag.
..

[Nobade]

FWIW, I make my 35 Rem rimmed brass from 30-40 Krag.
..

I used to do that too, but 30-40 is even harder to find now. A nice thing about this conversion is you can still use rimless 35 Rem brass as well.

-Nobade

[KLR]

A wonderful modification I made to my old barrel was to add a rim cut using a single point boring tool on the lathe. This allowed me to make cases from 303 Brit brass. FL size and trim to length - very easy, and then it would hold headspace with any load I wanted to use. With normal rimless cases you can't load light plinking loads or the cases get shorter and eventually won't fire. As a bonus, 303 is now a lot easier to find cases for than 35 Rem.

-Nobade

Thanks, Nobade. That's a great idea! I have a CVA Hunter in 35 Rem on the way and was wondering what to do about brass.

[R8ed]

Thanks, Nobade. That's a great idea! I have a CVA Hunter in 35 Rem on the way and was wondering what to do about brass.

Thanks for all the info everyone.

I have not tried it, and I have no afiliation with, but GRUMPA here at cast boolits forms 35 Rem from, I believe .308. You might want to look into it.
I have enough cases for now. If or when I need more brass I would probably go this route before I pay inflated auction prices.

30-40 and .303 don't seem readily available right now

[R8ed]

Taking a step away from casings for now, my next questions are around mold selection.

My understanding is prior to purchasing a mold I should slug my barrel. Seems pretty straight forward to me. The question I have is should I remove the scope from the barrel first?
I'm thinking recoil from firing would be worse than tapping a slug through the barrel.
What's the consenses here?

Another question, once I measure my slug, how do I find which bullet works best without buying a bunch of different molds to try?
Thanks for all the help and keep it coming.

[smoked turkey]

I will go with Nobade in his post #2 and say that I have found the RCBS 35-200 FN boolit to work very well in both my Marlin Lever and my TC 35 Rem barrel. Do a little research on here and I think you will agree. Also from my personal experiences I would not think it would be necessary to remove the scope before you slug the barrel. Usually you want to size and lube the as cast boolit to be .001"-.002" larger than your measured slug for proper fit in your barrel. I have found the above mold to cast a large enough boolit with wheelweights to do this.

[No_1]

Y'all are killing me. I purchased a 14" sometime back, have added the scope but have not shot it. I guess it is time to get busy.

R.

[R8ed]

GIT R DONE No1
I'm chompin at the bit to shoot mine again.
The weather finally broke here, now the range is a mud hole.

Y'all are killing me. I purchased a 14" sometime back, have added the scope but have not shot it. I guess it is time to get busy.

R.

[R8ed]

I don't have a 380 die. Do you think 9mm would work?
I'm going to try over the weekend

R8ed -

Howdy !

When/if headspace is not outrageously off; you make the brass fit the chamber.

If any cases happen to have had their shoulders shoved too far "down" during case sizing, you can try fire-forming
a primed ( but no boolit ) case w/ 8gr Unique; and a wad of Cream-O-Wheat held in-place w/ a tuft of tissue paper.

Orient gun vetically ( again, not a boollited' case ), and fire the case w/ the aid of gravity holding the case aft in the breech
( against firing pin ). In some cases and when one is carefull, the primer can be seated just a tad " high ", which aids in holding the case in-place until fired.

For a shoulder bump, you might be able to use a .380Auto sizing die. It worked on my .35 Rem brass, after I gave the cases just a simple outside skim turning of the necks ( to remove " texture" and irregularities ). The cases were a good slip fit, thereafter.


With regards,
357Mag

[gpidaho]

Thread drift here, but when you get the 35 Remmy Contenders out for afternoon beer can rolling I really like the Lee 356-124 RN, powder coated sized .358 over 5.5 to 6gr. fast powder. I use Tite Group but I think anything fast would do the trick. Low recoil plinker and very economical fun. Love the 35 Rem. GP

[357Mag]

R8ed -

Howdy !

I'd have to check case OD specs, comparing .380 to 9mm.


I'll take a look, soon as I get the chance.


With regards,
357Mag

[357Mag]

R8ed -

Howdy, again !

OK... I did ck one reference on those case' specs.

The 9mm was listed as being .007" greater in outer case mouth diam than the .380 Auto.

Seeinz how you might not be outside neck turning your brass ( or maybe not even a skim trim ), the larger diam of the
9mm die might work just fine; in your instance.

Why not test-fit some cases, and let us know how it worked ?


With regards,
357Mag

[R8ed]

Now I'm feeling dumb. Why didn't I think of that?

I'll try and get to it this weekend. Got some family things to attend to and hoping to do my first poor, afew .54 round ball.

Thanks!

[R8ed]

R8ed -

Howdy, again !

OK... I did ck one reference on those case' specs.

The 9mm was listed as being .007" greater in outer case mouth diam than the .380 Auto.

Seeinz how you might not be outside neck turning your brass ( or maybe not even a skim trim ), the larger diam of the
9mm die might work just fine; in your instance.

Why not test-fit some cases, and let us know how it worked ?


With regards,
357Mag

Ok, now I'm confused. I got out the 9mm dies
The 35 doesn't fit inside the sizing die. How could it possibly bump the shoulder towards the case mouth?
Thanks
R8ed