Elk hunting, at least my version of it, consists of long days afield, only occasionally interrupted by success. Between the moments of excitement, my mind tends to wander towards custom rifle builds.
Shortly after moving to Montana, my wife and I focused our elk hunting efforts in the densely forested mountains around our home. Opportunities at elk were fleeting, and when they did present themselves, it was far more likely to be at bayonet ranges, not the ultra-long-distances all the rage these days. On one of these hunts, the idea for a custom rifle began to take hold.
My plans for a custom build rarely follow the same thought process. Usually a specific pursuit, such as pronghorn on the prairie, or whitetails in the forest offers the germination of the platform. Other times, a particular action may pique my interest, which then dictates the allowable chamberings, and I continue to tumble down the rabbit hole from there. This time around, the idea called for a svelte rifle with quick handling characteristics and an easily accessible safety, such as the tang safeties found on fine doubles. With this in mind, the action of a choice became the Ruger No. 1.
Introduced in 1967 by Strum Ruger & Co, the No. 1 action is loosely based on the classic British Farquarson action and offers a solid starting point for a classically styled stalking rifle. Further, a No. 1 action measures approximately 4 inches shorter than a standard length bolt action. The extra length saved on the action can then be added to the length of the barrel, thereby maximizing potential muzzle velocity, while still keeping the overall length of the rifle no longer than a standard bolt action. For example, a bolt rifle with a 22″ barrel would have the same overall length as a No. 1 with a 26″ barrel. While sizzling velocity is not a requirement in this build, I didn’t necessarily wish to handcuff a round’s potential by mating it to a stubby barrel, either. By using the No. 1 as the basis of my build, I could construct a compact rifle without sacrificing muzzle velocity.
What I wanted was a sufficiently powerful rifle that would allow me to capitalize on whatever opportunity presented itself, no matter how oblique the shot angle. The magnums would obviously fit the bill, but the range afforded by these chambering would be needless in the dark timber we haunted.
I typically build my rifles around obscure classic cartridges, and this project was no different. A well-timed article in Bugle by Wayne Van Zwoll titled “Modesty with Muscle” introduced me to the 35 Whelen as an elk round. If van Zwoll was right, I had just found the round to build my rifle around.
Created in 1925 in a joint venture between Col. Townsend Whelen and James Howe, the 35 Whelen is essentially a 30-06 necked-up to .358″. Firing a 250 gr bullet at 2,600 fps, the Whelen’s performance crowds in on the venerable .338 Winchester Magnum, but without the sharp recoil or muzzle blast. I’m not a huge fan of arguing the “efficiency” of one caliber over another, but it’s worth mentioning that the Whelen achieves this performance burning a scant 55 grains of powder, versus the .338’s 71 grains of powder. The Whelen achieves this not through some sorcery of case design, but by virtue of having a larger bore diameter, which provides a greater bearing surface for the burning powder to do its work.
While not nearly as abundant as the more popular calibers, handloaders still have access to enough components to keep their presses busy. For my purposes, the 250 grain Nosler Partition would be the bullet I’d build my barrel, and subsequently the rest of my platform around.
For this build, I selected a number 4 contoured 25″ Douglas Air-Gauged premium barrel. Douglas offers three twist rates for the .358 caliber: 1:16″, 1:14″, and 1:12″. Given that the purpose of this build was to create a rifle for elk hunting, I stuck with the 1:12″ twist rate for its ability to stabilize bullets exceeding 250 grains. Yes, exceeding. A brief perusal of http://www.midwayusa.com revealed that the current suite of 35 caliber rifle bullet offerings included the afore mentioned 250 grain Nosler Partition, a 280 grain Swift A-Frame, and a 310 grain Woodleigh Weldcore. Serious medicine for even the largest North American game animals! Velocities for these heavyweights are modest, and trajectories reflect that. Remember, however, this platform was built for scenarios where shots are more likely to be under 200 yards than over. With that in mind, does the point of impact at 400 yards really matter?
One snowy day on the mountain, I was slipping quietly through an elk bedding area. Branches heavily laden with snow unleashed their burden as I brushed by, eventually obscuring the objective of my scope. While it didn’t cost me an opportunity that day, the experience lead to the idea of having iron sights as a back-up when the cover was particularly thick, or for still-hunting in inclement weather. Since I wouldn’t use them unless very close to the target, the iron sights would be regulated for a load utilizing the 310 grain Woodleigh Weldcore roundnose, trundling along at approximately 2,150 fps. The trajectory of this load would be plenty flat for as far as I can reasonably hit with irons. As for the sights themselves, a New England Custom Gun Masterpiece front sight and single folding rear sight fit the bill nicely. A pair of Talley quick-release low-set scope rings would allow access to the iron sights with two quick twists of a lever. A custom quarter-rib and barrel-band sling stud rounded out the remaining barrel furniture. All metal work, save polishing and bluing, was completed by Dennis Erhardt at Frontier Gun Shop in Helena, MT.
Dennis gave the action a few modest upgrades, including inletting the safety tang, an upgraded trigger, and used a surface grinder to true the flats.
Gordon Alcorn (see more of Gordon’s work here) did a bit of engraving on the screw heads, stippled the quarter rib and front sight ramp, engraved a hallmark on the barrel, and caliber designation on the quarter-rib. In my third and final class with Steven Hughes, I gave all the parts a traditional slow rust bluing to finish off the metal work.
A modestly figured piece of English walnut, sourced from Jim Bisio at Heritage Walnut was selected for the stock. Jim’s a wizard with a duplicator, and roughed this stock in for me, which saved a pile of time and energy.
I used Steven Hughes’ time-tested stock finishing technique, which includes the judicious use of Behlen’s Solarlux to enrich the tone of the walnut. Not every stock needs it, but in this particular application, the effect was stunning. You can read more about Steve’s finishing technique in his excellent book “Double Guns and Custom Gunsmithing“.
For glass, I chose to top the rifle with the now discontinued Leupold VX-3 in 1.75x-6x. The 32mm objective allows me to keep the scope mounted low, which is aesthetically pleasing and lessens the compromise required for the drop at heel to accommodate shooting iron sights and/or a scope.
Once completed, I found that a hot load of IMR 4064 capped with the afore mentioned 250 grain Nosler Partition would pound tight cloverleafs with little effort on my part. In fact, the first 10-shot break-in string cut one big hole! Velocity averaged 2,640 fps out of the 25″ Douglas barrel. Sighting 3 inches high at 100 yards puts the point of impact only 9 inches low at 300. That kind of trajectory takes little thought to place lethal shots on animals the size of deer and elk at any reasonable hunting distance.
As much as I wanted to christen the rifle on an elk hunt, the first game animal taken was actually a handsome pronghorn buck; not exactly the heavily muscled wapiti the rifle was built for! As an aside, while I would not consider the 35 Whelen the ideal antelope cartridge, the heavy bullet, moving at a moderate velocity resulted in less blood-shot meat than a round from one of the ultra-fast magnums. On smaller big-game (e.g. deer and antelope) meat loss is minimal if the shot is placed correctly, tight behind the shoulder.
At this point, the rifle has cleanly taken pronghorn, whitetail deer and elk. I’m quite pleased with the entire package, and look forward to the Whelen joining me on long walks afield in the future.
