.35 Whelen and 200gr TTSX - looking for feedback

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njc110381

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Hi guys. I'm just in the process of having a .35 Whelen built because I fancy something a little different. I'm in the UK so not many around over here. At the moment I'm trying to figure out what bullet to use. Our deer are generally up to the size of whitetail, maybe a bit bigger. I also have boar locally which grow to about 250lb or so.

I'm thinking the 200gr TTSX could give me fairly decent trajectory and also penetrate fairly well? To shoot red deer in Scotland I need to make at least 2450fps, I need to make it out of a 22" barrel so maybe the 250gr cup and core bullets may be a little slow?

So I'm after your opinions please on what bullets I should be using? I'll probably come over to visit you guys again at some point too, so something that works for bears and maybe elk could be a consideration. Last time I came over I brought a .375H&H - most of the guys in your gun stores thought I was nuts but I was a little scared of the idea of meeting a bear! We don't have anything that can eat us here, an angry boar is about as dangerous as it gets.
 
I can't speak about the 200gr TTSX but for factory 35 Whelen ammo the Hornady Superformance worked great for me.
Out of my 22 inch H&R single-shot I got a measured 2940fps with the 200gr SP InterLock bullets. They come out with bad intentions even with a shorter barrel. Not sure how great those would penetrate at range but they worked just fine for me at shorter ranges.

 
njc110381 said:
I'm thinking the 200gr TTSX could give me fairly decent trajectory and also penetrate fairly well? To shoot red deer in Scotland I need to make at least 2450fps, I need to make it out of a 22" barrel so maybe the 250gr cup and core bullets may be a little slow?
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What is the purpose of the velocity restriction in Scotland?
 
I have a load with the 200 TTSX using 63.5gr of RL15 and Hornady cases, cci primer. Clocks on at 2822fps. I can push it faster but accuracy suffered.
The factory superperformace 200gr works well. I have taken mountain goat out to 370yards with it.
Varget, RL15 and big game powder are your friend in this cartridge.

AccuBond works well to, If you can get them to shoot. The long freebore of the Whelen can make them hard to be accurate. The Barnes seem to like the long jump and seem more accurate the further they are seated for some reason.

Sierra game kings work well and so do the partitions.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. It sounds like it's going to perform fairly well with most things from what you're saying. I guess it's not a fast round so the cup and core bullets should hold together ok.

SuperCub said:
What is the purpose of the velocity restriction in Scotland?
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Honestly, I don't know! It makes no sense because a .243 is legal but my .416 Rigby isn't unless it's loaded with very light for calibre bullets. Which one would be most humane I wonder?! It's probably an old law to stop peasants from shooting deer with old black powder muskets maybe? Luckily for me I live in the South West of England so for most of my shooting as long as I make 1700ft-lbs at the muzzle with a calibre of at least .240" I'm good to go for all species. For the smallest two, munjac and Chinese water deer, .224 calibre and 1000ft-lbs is the minimum allowed.

In some ways our game and firearms laws are quite restrictive but in other ways they are good. There's no tag system here for example, so I can go out and shoot as many deer as I want as long as they're in season. Around here we have roe deer so it's buck season April to October and doe season November to March. I can go and get a deer for the freezer whenever I want one. I guess we don't have so many hunters here and pretty much all the land is private, so the deer don't get over hunted.
 
njc110381 said:
Honestly, I don't know! It makes no sense because a .243 is legal but my .416 Rigby isn't unless it's loaded with very light for calibre bullets. Which one would be most humane I wonder?! It's probably an old law to stop peasants from shooting deer with old black powder muskets maybe? Luckily for me I live in the South West of England so for most of my shooting as long as I make 1700ft-lbs at the muzzle with a calibre of at least .240" I'm good to go for all species. For the smallest two, munjac and Chinese water deer, .224 calibre and 1000ft-lbs is the minimum allowed.

In some ways our game and firearms laws are quite restrictive but in other ways they are good. There's no tag system here for example, so I can go out and shoot as many deer as I want as long as they're in season. Around here we have roe deer so it's buck season April to October and doe season November to March. I can go and get a deer for the freezer whenever I want one. I guess we don't have so many hunters here and pretty much all the land is private, so the deer don't get over hunted.
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Thank-you. Interesting to get another hunting perspective from another country.
 
Personally, if I want to shoot 200gr bullets, I’ll use a .30 caliber rifle. To me, my .35 Whelen was made to shoot 225-250 grainers. I mostly shoot 225gr TSX at 2700fps out of mine (see my avatar) but it also shoots great with 250gr Speer and Hornady at 2550fps.
 
Having trouble where I am getting 225 Gr. bullets. Speer seems to be on back order. I also have a 30-06, heavier bullet was reason I bought the Whelan. Then if I could only draw an adult moose tag???
 
i pumped a few into Buffalo in the NT of Aus, shot them in the head at close range in the bush and had them in the bottom of the mag o the flood plains... tough alright the Tsx... TTSX might bet a better for deers and pigs.
 
bcsteve said:
Personally, if I want to shoot 200gr bullets, I’ll use a .30 caliber rifle. To me, my .35 Whelen was made to shoot 225-250 grainers.
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I would agree with that for the most part but those TSX are long bullets for weight and benefit from the extra FPS.
 
I've shot a handful of large-bodied mule deer bucks with both the 200gr TSX and lately the 200gr TTSX for the slightly better BC out of my 350Rem Mags with stiff loads of Ramshot TAC running 2900FPS 'ish from a 22" barrel.
300 yds is a chip-shot when you're zeroed appropriately,no real drop to speak of.

I take high shoulder shots exclusively with this combo and to say they get anchored on the spot would be an understatement! I used to shoot 225GK's but the Barnes with TAC really is a great combo and does all I need while being a little easier on the shoulder...(my shoulder,maybe not the deers!)
350RM and 35Whelen are very close ballistic-wise.
 
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nowarningshot said:
Almost 3000ft/sec with 200gr is 300wm territory. Sure must.be over pressure.
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I remember some years back when Barnes first published their 350RM data using the 200gr TSX and Ramshot TAC I was skeptical of claimed speeds and pressures, but after having used those loads in two Model 7's and most recently a Ruger MKII with fantastic results (and no over-pressure issues) I was sold.

My apologies if this is off topic and/or irrelevant to the 35 Whelen which I admittedly have no experience with but I was always under the impression the 350RM and 35Whelen were nearly identical?
 
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I had a Rem 700 CDL in 35 Whelen. At first I only used Remington 200 and 250 grain Core-Lokts off the shelf. Groups were a little wild. Got rid of the crappy remington walnut and dropped it into an H-S Precision stock and the groups tightened up to cloverleafs with the 200 grain loads. Although the rifle favoured the 200 grain loads more than others, I wanted the heavier bullets but the 250s were still a bit wild on paper. I split the difference and went with the 225 grain soft points. My vote goes to the soft points on the medium bores. I do not trust the TTSX or similar bullets with the lower velocity cartridges, just my opinion, but I know some shooters love them.

All that said, a 270 Win with 130-150 grain projectiles is all you need for anything in North America or Europe.
 
Never liked the feel and fit of Remington walnut stocks. For my preferences, glass bedding was not worth my time. But, we should not segue the thread from 35 loads.
 
nowarningshot said:
Almost 3000ft/sec with 200gr is 300wm territory. Sure must.be over pressure.
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When you go to a larger bore the pressure has a larger area to press on and it gets the projectile up to speed easier, think of it this way, scenario A. 100psi on 1 square inch of a projectile in a tube, vs. scenario B: 100 psi against 2 square inches of a projectile in a tube. The same pressure but twice as many square inches of surface, so scenario B moves the projectile faster. (Pounds per square inch)

Also if it is easier to get a projectile up to speed quicker the pressure spike drops for a larger diameter cylinder containing the explosion and less resistance to push a projectile out. The only downfall is more drag on a wider projectile so it loses velocity quicker.

Kind of why the 338 federal had some popularity. Look at its performance vs 308 or 7-08 for muzzle energy.
 
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