thegreatmodel8.remingtonsociety.com

Gentlemen: I am new to the Forum and am the proud owner of a beautiful Model 8, .35 cal, gifted to me by a close friend of my father's who used it to hunt tigers in India long ago. The rifle is in excellent+ condition, but was missing the magazine spring and follower when I obtained it. I located a reproduction spring at Wisners and had my gunsmith install it. He claims the spring broke when test-firing (I think that he installed it improperly) and claimed that the Whelan ammo was incorrect for the rifle. Am presently trying to locate an original magazine spring. Question: will the Whelan .35 cal. ammo fit the magazine? Or do I need to use Remington .35 ammo exclusively? Any suggestions would be deeply appreciated. Thank you in advance!

PLEASE never use anything other than 35 REMINGTON ammunition in your gun!

Your Model 8 is designed to use the chambering that is stamped on the barrel. 35 Whelen is not equal to 35 Remington, they are totally different dimensions.

Thank you Hibby! That answers my question; do you think that may be the cause of the spring failure...?

Hibby83 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:19 am PLEASE never use anything other than 35 REMINGTON ammunition in your gun!

Your Model 8 is designed to use the chambering that is stamped on the barrel. 35 Whelen is not equal to 35 Remington, they are totally different dimensions.

WHAT Hibby83 said!!!!!!

Eightisgreat wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:37 am Question: will the Whelan .35 cal. ammo fit the magazine?

Eightisgreat wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:45 am Thank you Hibby! That answers my question; do you think that may be the cause of the spring failure...?

I can't answer what caused your replacement magazine spring to break. I hope it doesn't take long to remedy the issue. I don't want to sound overly cautious, please be sure your firearm is safe to shoot.

There's no way you could manage fitting a 35 Whelen in a Model 8 magazine. The overall length of a loaded cartridge for 35 Remington is 2.525, while the O.A.L for 35 Whelen is 3.340. I hope your firearm is ok! If you have any questions please ask the forum. Get familiar with the workings of the rifle and make some time to read up on the plethora of knowledge this forum has to offer.

The only possibility i can think is someone cut down and resized whelen brass to remington size. Although that's just a theory.

35 Remington ammunition isn't too hard to find, call shops to see availability and if not have them order you some.

P.S- Welcome to the forum. Post some pictures, we all enjoy seeing them.

Hibby - Thanks again for your very helpful advice! (Normally I'm much smarter than my post suggests) My Model 8 is actually in excellent condition and to the best of my knowledge was not damaged when the gunsmith fired it. I have since purchased another spring from Wisners and will make sure the new spring is installed correctly and the right ammo used for test firing.

As soon as I get it back I'll be happy to post some pictures!

Thanks again!

Rick

Rick,
I have several of the Wisner springs, none required fitting just put in. Of course you gotta take it apart. & cleaning meanwhile helps....
As for the 35 Whelen, I agree it probably would not go in the mag let alone the chamber. IF 35W does chamber this is MAJOR error on the part of somebody. Our Ladies are not designed for that pressure levels.

Hey fellas, Ihavent posted anything for awhile. But I see some of my friends posting and I must reply. Always be careful of any ammunition that is marked differently than your gun is. That being said, many brass cases are re purposed into some other caliber. If you’re unable to get the correct 35 Remington ammo, then maybe one of the members here can sell you some. And by the way, I would never consider calling any of my M8s, ladies. My guns are all blue collar construction workers. Even the excellent condition units. These were designed by JMBrowning to be hunting rifles. Not style show queens. Just wanted to stir things up here ,just like I used to. (Lol) Sorry ,Carl.
Thanks for your time
Roger

Depending on how/where the mag spring broke, your g'smith might be able to rivet it back together. Apparently, some were riveted from the factory:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5603

Roger
Know you are cruisin'; watch out the Ladies don't gang up on you. What was that about scorn