The .400 Whelen cartridge

Cartridge (firearms)

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...

 was developed by Colonel Townsend Whelen

Townsend Whelen

Townsend Whelen , called "Townie" by his friends, was an American hunter, soldier, writer, outdoorsman and rifleman....

 while he was commanding officer of Frankford Arsenal

Frankford Arsenal

The Frankford Arsenal was a United States Army ammunition plant located adjacent to the Bridesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, north of the original course of Frankford Creek.-History:...

 in the early 1920s. The cartridge resembles a .30-06 Springfield

.30-06 Springfield

The .30-06 Springfield cartridge or 7.62×63mm in metric notation, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and standardized, and was in use until the 1960s and early 1970s. It replaced the .30-03, 6 mm Lee Navy, and .30 US Army...

 case necked up to .40 caliber to accept bullets manufactured for the .405 Winchester

.405 Winchester

The .405 Winchester is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced in 1904 for the Winchester 1895 lever-action rifle. It was the most powerful lever-action cartridge available until the .444 Marlin was introduced in 1964, and was highly regarded by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt during his safari...

.

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. The headspace issue has been widely discussed. Frankford Arsenal machine shop foreman James Howe necked down cylindrical brass

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

 available in the arsenal manufacturing process to form cartridges with a 0.458 inches (11.6 mm) shoulder to fit the chamber of his rifles. Experimenters had less success forming cartridges by enlarging the necks of .30-06 cartridges with 0.441 inches (11.2 mm) (or smaller) shoulders, but could form brass from .35 Whelen

.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...

 cases.

Quality Cartridge has manufactured unformed, cylindrical empty brass cases headstamp

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

Fire forming

The term fire forming in firearms refers to the process of reshaping a metallic cartridge case to fit a new chamber by firing it within that chamber...

 to the chamber in which the loaded cartridges were to be used, these rifles were reportedly very effective for killing elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, moose

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

, and bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 at ranges up to 400 yard.

See also

• List of rifle cartridges
• .30-06 descendants
  .30-06 Springfield Wildcat Cartridges
  Wildcat cartridges are firearms cartridges whose dimensions have been modified. Usually these modifications are with an eye toward improved performance, either measurable or not. This article deals with wildcat cartridges which result from a simple necking down or up of the original .30-06...