350 Jacob H&R Range report

[fanner50]

I only have 2 rifles left to my name a H&R in 218 Bee and one in 350 Jacob (my own wildcat). I was hoping for the new magnum action, as were many of you, but it didn't happen and I already had a 35 Whelen barrel at Wayne York's being re-chambered and a muzzle brake being installed, so I have made do. The 350 Jacob is a belted magnum made from a 300 WM necked out to .358 and then fire formed to a 40 deg shoulder with no case taper. I guess you could call it a 358/300WM/AI but I named it after my son who was 1 yo at the time hence the "350 Jacob". In Jake's Winchester 70 our loads have cronoed 3250 fps with a 225 gr Nosler guite obviously too much for the Handi to handle, but the solution is the same one that 45-70 owners have done for years. There's 45-70 Trapdoor, 45-70 lever and 45-70 high power loads for Ruger#1 etc. I took my elk last season with a 225 nosler over 56 gr of R15(35 Whelen) and it did just fine, so I started the 350 Jacob at 57.5 gr of R15 and a 200 gr Hornady just to see what I would get and to fire-form some cases.The results were magnificent. No sign of pressure, very little recoil (Wayne's muzzle brake helping here) and accuracy a go-go (showing my age there) 5 shots all touching at 100 yds. In the initial development of the round I discovered many starting loads that gave moderate speed with great accuracy. I have always felt the 300 WM was a great round but seemed to need hot loading to do it's best. When enlarged to .358 the case becomes much more efficient and when fire-formed the cases have very little case stretch or shoulder separation (as touted by PO Ackley). I'm going to keep working along these lines with Nosler 225's and Barnes 225's as well as the Hornady 200's. The late James M. Stanley , gunsmith, engraver and my hunting buddy would say"Speed ain't everything lad, ya got ta hit it first". I'll try to post some pic's and crono reports in the future for those of you that are interested.
Regards to all - Fanner 50 aka Gary

[quickdtoo]

Sounds interesting Gary, considering the 500S&W has an operating pressure of about 52kpsi and a case head of .526", the .513" head of the 350 Jacob should work fine as long as you keep the pressures at mid level, and hopefully since it's accurate at that starting load(which seems very low to me, I'm shooting 62gr RL15 in the Whelen with the 225gr TSX), it's got a great chance of being accurate at higher pressures. If you can PM me some specs, I can run it thru QL to see what you might achieve, need water weight capacity filled to overflow, bullet length and cartridge overall length.

Tim

[fanner50]

Tim - Thanks for the help. Here's what I came up with. Over flowing case full of H2O according to my Lyman 500 scale 91.7 grs that's all the way to the top of the neck. Hor 200 gr bul. lgth= 1.045 COL 3.280....Nos 225 Par bul =1.180 COL 3.500....Nos Acu Bond 225 bul =1.372 COL 3.500...Barnes 225 TSX bul =1.310 COL 3.500. Reamer has a long throat. I just felt that this was a good place to start 57.5 gr of R15 as I am fire=forming cases not really ringing things out at this point. I also at my age and condition prefer pin point accuracy to recoil. I'm interested in what the performance of these bullets will be 300 yds from the muzzle at say 1500 to 1800 fps. Thanks for your help and I look forward to seeing what ya come up with. - Gary

[quickdtoo]

I figured the 37.5gr must be a typo!!  Is the 2.275" supposed to be a case length, it's a tad short, I can't get a 3.5" COL with a 1.045" long bullet!!

Tim

so I started the 350 Jacob at 37.5 gr of R15 and a 200 gr Hornady just to see what I would get and to fire-form some cases.Regards to all - Fanner 50 aka Gary

[fanner50]

OK
Tim
I think I have fixed the typo's. Thanks for the call. Can't wait to get your info.
Fanner 50 - Gary

[smokinjoe5150]

Sounds like you're working up a dandy elk rifle, Fanner

[fanner50]

It's been a dandy since 1984 but I have always had it in a strong bolt gun. My son has the one I built him on a Win 70 with Douglas barrel. In that rifle we have cronoed a 225 Nos at 3250 fps. That pressure would be too much for the Handi. Since I'm basically down to one rifle I thought why not use the same cartridge just load it down a little. I believe it will still be a very good performer and yes a very good elk cartridge. I'm going to use it on Spring bear starting April 15 through May 31. Wayne York did an excellent job on the chambering and his muzzle brake is superb. The barrel started out as a factory 35 Whelen 22" then added the brake. I have done a matte black Dura-coat finish on it and the rifle has a factory camo lam T-hole stock and forend. Forend is RTV bedded and trigger is about 2# with no take up. I topped it with a Burris 3X9 Balistic plex and Warne rings. I'll be working with 200 gr Hornady, 225 gr Nosler Partitions, 225 gr Nosler Acubond, and 225 gr Barnes TSX. - F50

[fanner50]

Tim - Thanks for all the good info. I just put a new battery in the crony so this will be fun. In 84 when I made this thing there were very few good 35 bullets designed for the speed the cartridge is capable of but now there's a great selection. Thanks again - Gary