[7-30 Waters]

It seems a majority of the more popular cartridges have been wildcatted. With that being said, why hasn't anyone designed an improved version of the 35 Remington?

I think an 40 degree shoulder and neck length similar to what is now would be just dandy. For those of you who are into wildcat cartridges what do you think? Is the 35 Remington worth improving?

 

[EdK]

Worth improving? I've often thought so but with reamers and dies not commonly available after all these years it will probably remain a discussion board topic for the most part.

As far as having been done (ever) - it has, by a good number of people. I think even one poster on this (GBO) board has done it (Johnly - if I remember correctly).

Edit: cut a rim for Krag brass while you're at it. I have it on a standard 35 Rem and love the big wide rim.

 

[Lone Star]

The .35 case already has a short neck and not that much body taper. Expect less than 100 fps improvement at the same pressures. Because of the pressure limitations on the Contender, there would not be much velocity improvement at safe pressures. The way to go is the .358 JDJ. More performance than any "improved" .35 Remington and proven safe - with plenty of load data, dies, etc. available.


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[EdK]

The .35 case already has a short neck and not that much body taper.

First off I agree that if the 35 Rem were a great candidate for improving it would have been done (widely). At the same time I've heard the body taper comment a number of times before. I never did the math but that always struck me odd as when looking at a 35 Rem case it doesn't look too straight-walled to my eye. Anyhow tonight I got out a couple of my reloading manuals for reference drawings and did the math: the 35 Rem case body has approx 40% more taper than the 30-30 which is probably the all time favorite improved case (i think).

No, it does not have a lot of neck for moving the shoulder forward (which is a big factor in the 30-30) although I always thought the reasons for improving in these break-open actions was (1) reduced backthrust and (2) case life more so than the increase in case capacity so I'll relegate that to third place.

Oh, well... I'm happy with my 35 rimmed as is. Up to this point I've resisted the urge to modify it and just spent the energy and $$$ adding different barrels.