The .400 Whelen
cartridge was developed by Colonel
Townsend Whelen while he was commanding officer of
Frankford Arsenal
The Frankford Arsenal is a former United States Army ammunition plant located adjacent to the Bridesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, north of the original course of Frankford Creek.
History
Opened in 1816 on of land ...
in the early 1920s.
The cartridge resembles a
.30-06 Springfield
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced "thirty- aught-six" ), 7.62×63mm in metric notation, and called the .30 Gov't '06 by Winchester, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized; it remained in military use ...
case necked up to .40 caliber to accept bullets manufactured for the
.405 Winchester.
Design
Colonel Whelen asserted the very small remaining portion of the .30-06's 17° 30 angled shoulder was likely to cause potentially dangerous
headspace difficulties.
[Sharpe, Philip B. ''Complete Guide To Handloading'' (1953) Funk & Wagnalls pp.206&398] The headspace issue has been widely discussed. Frankford Arsenal machine shop foreman
James Howe necked down cylindrical
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
available in the arsenal manufacturing process to form cartridges with a shoulder to fit the chamber of his rifles. Experimenters had less success forming cartridges by enlarging the necks of .30-06 cartridges with (or smaller) shoulders, but could form brass from
.35 Whelen
The .35 Whelen is a powerful medium-bore rifle cartridge that does not require a magnum action or a magnum bolt-face. The parent of this cartridge is the .30-06 Springfield, which is necked-up to accept a bullet diameter of . This cartridge is m ...
cases.
Quality Cartridge has manufactured unformed, cylindrical empty brass cases
headstamp
A headstamp is the markings on the bottom of a cartridge case designed for a firearm. It usually tells who manufactured the case. If it is a civilian case it often also tells the caliber: if it is military, the year of manufacture is often added ...
ed for this cartridge.
Performance
Griffin & Howe chambered custom-built rifles for this cartridge; and using neck resizing with cases carefully
fire formed to the chamber in which the loaded cartridges were to be used, these rifles were reportedly very effective for killing
elk,
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
, and
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
at ranges up to .
See also
*
List of rifle cartridges
List of rifle cartridges, by primer type, calibre and name.
File:Cartridge Sample 2.jpg, 350px, From left to right: 1 .17 HM2,2 .17 HMR, 2.5 .17 wsm, 3 .22LR, 4 .22 WMR, 5 .17/23 SMc, 6 5mm/35 SMc, 7 .22 Hornet, 8 .223 Remington, 9 .223 W ...
*
.30-06 descendants
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:400 Whelen
Pistol and rifle cartridges