Why Aren't The 35's More Popular?

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Coolhand_Luke

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The 35 family of cartridges is one I have been reading up on recently and they definitely have my interest. They seem to have a lot to offer as a balance of power, trajectory and recoil as well as ease of hand loading. Take the 35 Whelen, it is a necked up 30-06 and handles 180-250 grain bullets at velocities that offer enough power and a flat enough trajectory for any game in North America for anybody that wants more power than the 30 calibers, yet the Whelen is barely hanging on for life as a factory chambering. It has the pedigree, age and on paper ballistics that should make it a winner, yet it's always been a niche cartridge. Just looking at it on paper you might expect it to be one of the most popular over 30 cartridges in Canada, Alaska and anywhere game bigger than deer is on the menu... so what gives?

Same could be said for the 358 winchester. In light compact short action ed bolts, pumps and levers it is like the little brother to the Whelen like the 308 is to the 30-06 and should have been more popular than it is.

Even here on CGN, it seems like either 338's or the 9.3/375 get more attention. The 35's have been around as long or longer and seem to have a lot to offer I'm wondering why they seem to be the 'red-headed stepchild' of the shooting community and get so little respect?

It seems like when a barrel is bored to .358 caliber it's like the kiss of death for a gun or cartridge...
 
Depends on where you are hanging your hat.

Most people start at small bores in the .224 or .243 region... when it is time to play with the big kidz they invariably move into the .308 cal camp. Many stay right there for their full career... others who tire of chucking moderate pills, long for more... many of these make the leap right to .375, a few of the awkward, timid types advance slowly through the 8mm, .338, .35 and 9.3mm options, but once they start the journey they realize there really is nothing holding the back from trucking all the way to .458... either way, the mid cals don't get the love that either end of the spectrum does...

A "one rifle" rifleman might choose a .35 and do well with it... but a "one rifle" rifleman is a rare creature indeed.

For myself, I have owned and shot a couple dozen rifles in .35 Whelen, .358 Win, .350 RM and .358 Norma... I will always have at least one in the locker, .358 Win at the moment.
 
The Whelan is a good cartridge... And it has had a pretty good run considering ammo for it was never mass produced... I would say that it's like anything else, manufacturers want to see you new rifles so they start slowly phasing out cartridges and pushing the "latest and greatest".... If you have a nice Whelen in your safe, and ammo is readily available cheap then what is your motivation to buy a new "magnum", or latest and greatest "ultra wizzbang magnum"?....

As for the .358, I personally like it, but I have an affinity for short action bolt guns.... That being said it was the answer to the question not many people asked when all of the other calibers like the .366 were already out there.....
 
I just picked up a 35 Whelen and I think it looks GREAT! This Nosler M48 Outfitter will be my new bear & moose bangstick, while the Cooper Model 54 in 308 has become my deer rifle...

Cheers
Jay

image140.jpeg
 
In Ontario deer camps, the 30-06 & 308 seems to reign supreme, with those from southern Ontario favouring 270's due to caliber restrictions in some municipalities.

In the four camps I have been part of annually since 1968, I can only recall a few other individuals using something other than the "big 3", namely, the odd 30-30, one 32 Spcl., 300 Savage, one 7mm Rem. Mag. and a couple of 303 Brits.

Being the resident Gunnut, I'm the one using the "strange" (to them) stuff, including a 257 Roberts, 25-06, 264 Win Mag., 358 35 Whelen, 44-40, 44 Rem. Mag. 45-70 & 450 Alaskan.

The 35's do a credible job on not only deer, but moose & bear as well. In the 35 Whelen, I load 200 RN's to a modest level for deer and 250 RN's to near max. for moose.
No complaints over the past 25 years with how the Whelen performs.
 
beretta boy said:
In Ontario deer camps, the 30-06 & 308 seems to reign supreme, with those from southern Ontario favouring 270's due to caliber restrictions in some municipalities.

In the four camps I have been part of annually since 1968, I can only recall a few other individuals using something other than the "big 3", namely, the odd 30-30, one 32 Spcl., 300 Savage, one 7mm Rem. Mag. and a couple of 303 Brits.

Being the resident Gunnut, I'm the one using the "strange" (to them) stuff, including a 257 Roberts, 25-06, 264 Win Mag., 358 35 Whelen, 44-40, 44 Rem. Mag. 45-70 & 450 Alaskan.

The 35's do a credible job on not only deer, but moose & bear as well. In the 35 Whelen, I load 200 RN's to a modest level for deer and 250 RN's to near max. for moose.
No complaints over the past 25 years with how the Whelen performs.
Click to expand...

There are no caliber restrictions for deer in Ontario..... Except where there are shotgun only zones..... Not sure where you get your info from....
 
I love both the 35 whelen and it's shorter sister the 350 rem mag. I shot a whelen for a couple years and took many an animal with it. But for me it came down to distance. Wanting to reach out and touch something. In hindsight. It was an error of a move and I'm in the process of trying to buy it back. Came to the realization that if I shoot something 500 yards away, that's 5 football fields I have to pack my game out.... on top of however far I walked it. Short and sweet for now. Keep your enemies close and your kills close to the road...
 
358 Win and 35 Whelan are very popular in Alberta and northern BC where I hang out. I own one of each and a 338-06 and a 9.3x62. They are all good moose and big bear guns. Maybe not popular where you live but either is a good all around rifle.
All my buddy's and every hunter that I know has at least one if not more of these. 9.3x62 is the oldest cartridge ....
 
Just picked up an old Marlin 336A in 35 Remington and she shoots like a dream! This old girl will be going with me to the deer woods this fall. I have owned several 35's over the years including a couple of nice Remington pumps in 35 Whelen, but have sold them off for other more available cartridge friendly rifles like 30.06, 270 etc. I guess I have reached an age that I appreciate an "old school" lever in a classic "woods rifle" caliber.
Health and Happiness to all!

Ten Ring
 
Frank McFarquhar said:
He was thinking about using his .270 in southern Ont. for other hunting , like coyotes & groundhogs . ,,,,,,,,,,, FK.
Click to expand...

Here is his post.....

In Ontario deer camps, the 30-06 & 308 seems to reign supreme, with those from southern Ontario favouring 270's due to caliber restrictions in some municipalities.
Click to expand...

Nowhere does it say anything about coyotes.. And even in the case of coyotes, you can use whatever caliber you want in the limited area where caliber restriction exists for small game as long as you have a deer license..... The restFiction is only in place during deer season.....

No offence to beretta boy or yourself..... Just trying to dispel this largely spread myth that Ontario has some ridiculous caliber restriction in place....... (Although I do believe anyone should be able to use anything they want for yotes without being requir d to have a deer license).....
 
I have owned and used a half dozen. 35 Whelens, a couple of. 358s and I currently have a. 35 Winchester and 2. 358 Normas. The Normas are my favourite as I reload and can load from. 35 Whelen to. 375 h&h power. I can't wait to shoot something with them!! Years ago a very good friend of mine shot a running doe and blew a Frisbee sized patch of skin off the opposite side. When I saw that, I was hooked. He was using a 7600 in. 35 Whelen.

All that aside, I used my CZ 9.3 x 62 this year to hammer my buck. He gave up the ghost quick enough.
 
I think this is what the gentelmen are talking about with caliber restriction in ontario this is out of the 2015 hunting regs

If you are hunting small game in an area where there is an
open season for deer, moose, elk, or black bear, you may
not possess or use a rifle of greater muzzle energy than 400
foot-pounds or shells loaded with ball or with shot larger than
No. 2 shot (non-toxic equivalents include steel shot larger
than triple BBB, or bismuth larger than double BB), unless
you possess a valid licence to hunt deer, moose, elk or black
bear as the case may be. This restriction does not apply south
of the French and Mattawa Rivers during an open season for
deer that is restricted to the use of bows.
A person hunting small game may not carry or use a rifle
of greater calibre than a .275-calibre rifle, except a muzzleloading
gun, in the geographic areas of Brant, Chatham-Kent,
Durham, Elgin, Essex, Haldimand, Halton, Hamilton, Huron,
Lambton, Middlesex, Niagara, Norfolk, Northumberland,
Oxford, Peel, Perth, Toronto, Waterloo, Wellington or York.

Dave
 
if your not a reloader most of the 35's suck for ammo. same with the 338 fed and 338 06. I like the 35 whelen but the 358 is a little slow for my likings. a lot of guys want a rifle with more range. most of the medium bores work quite well to 300 yards further than I want to shoot. the older I get the closer I want to be. its been years since I shot anything much past 100 yds and most much closer.
 
That's the one..... NOWHERE does it say you can't use a rifle greater than .275 for coyote.......

Don't get me wrong, it's a stupid rule.... And to further my point, a .270 sports a .277 bullet, but they go by head stamp......

Just bothers me that many limit their rifle selection and experience because they don't understand the regs......
 
Standard velocity medium bores never got much traction, despite the protests of their fans that everyone else was sadly misinformed and out of touch with their view of reality. Fans tend to be convinced that since its bigger, its got to be better. This is as much a belief based on intuition as anything else, but people's beliefs are real enough to them. They usually and correctly point out the due to terrain most shots tend to be rather short and at such ranges trajectory is sort of academic. They also feel that there is an advantage on larger game, whether or not said game is actually hunted. They also seem to spend a lot of time thinking about bears.

Small bore users (lets say from 6.5 to 7.5mm for the sake of argument) acknowledge grudgingly that bigger is better than smaller, but usually in the same sentence where they declare their belief that faster is better than slower. They will support this belief by pointing out that the majority of people must agree with them because the market has clearly spoken a long time ago. If range is mentioned they point out that while many shots are close, that's a far cry from all of the shots being close. They will correctly point out that "small-bores" will be in the game at ranges that would have the standard mid-bore guys aren't likely to even dream of. Regarding game size they point out that while bigger game certainly exists 90% of the game in the world isn't one bit bigger than a big Canadian whitetail buck or muledeer. That makes the default average shot not very long at a animal that isn't very big. They correctly observe that they don't seem to struggle to kill these unlucky animals. Regarding bigger animals it will be noted that moose are big pussies, and that elk are both not pussies and have an excellent chance of being a long ways away. Bison? Uh, how many people are actually going to shoot one outside of a farm setting? Grizzlies? There aren't enough to go around, so most people won't get one. Blacks? Well, most black bears aren't particularly big and they aren't hard to kill.

Maybe, it can be boiled down to some people believing that the mid bores might have an advantage in some situations where it really doesn't matter and might have an advantage in other situations that probably aren't going to happen. Some won't even give throw them that meager bone. That isn't much to base a successful marketing stategy on. The .350 Rem, .358 Win and my .35 Whelen are deader than dirt as far as market success. Outside of Africa nobody but enthusiastic hobbiests even know what a 9.3x62 is. Battle is over, guess who lost? The medium that truly succeeded is the one that crowds up against the big guns. The .375.

Its best to keep the two camps apart when whisky is present.;)
 
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