New gun: 35Whelen or 350mag?

>35 Whelen/.350 Rem

I have one of each, everything everyone else said is true about just about no difference although I do run 225 gr Partitions through the Whelen but it is accurate with 200 and 250 as well. I do like the Rem guide gun for thick country and I mostly load 250 gr Partitions for it.
 
I have had all the 35's at one time or the other.I have both the whelen and 350 rem,both are great.The whelen is slightly better for all around use, as it will have a magazijne length long enough to handle the longer bullets like the 225 accubond and trplie shocks.the whelen when loaded with a 225gr at 2650-2700fps is one of the best out there for moose and elk size critters within reasonable range, out to 300-350yds.The 350 is more compact and is fantastic but magazine length limits bullet choices,give the edge to the whelen.
 
The whelen is slightly better for all around use, as it will have a magazijne length long enough to handle the longer bullets like the 225 accubond and trplie shocks.the whelen when loaded with a 225gr at 2650-2700fps is one of the best out there for moose and elk size critters within reasonable range, out to 300-350yds.The 350 is more compact and is fantastic but magazine length limits bullet choices,give the edge to the whelen.
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X2 to what Grit says.
My Ruger77 in 350 had feeding issues but not my older Rem M660 and M600 in 350. Also a range of jacketed bullet weights in 35cal from 125gr (pistol) to 310 grains are readily available - many options - http://35cal.com/bullets.html I don't see that the 338 bore has more but rather less these days.
 
My first powerful rifle was a .350 magnum that I bought in the early '70's. It was said to be the equal of the Whelen, but it does have some disadvantages that while not insurmountable still exist. The .350 suffers from a short neck and and most rifles chambered for it have a short throat. Thus, any time you wish to load a heavy bullet it must be seated deeply into the powder capacity of the case which is detrimental to top performance. If you don't intend to use heavy bullets, but would like to use a TSX, the problem still exits due to the length of those bullets.

Case seperation of belted rounds tends to be higher than non-belted with non-belted rounds. This is because the case is designed to headspace on the belt rather than the shoulder. After the first shot the case lengthens to headspace on the shoulder, but improper full length resizing that sets the shoulder back too far causes the brass to stretch with subsequent firings and sooner or later the case fails right ahead of the belt. Compare it to full length resizing a bottle-neck rimmed case.

Lastly consider that belted magnum brass is typically more expensive than brass for cartridges in the /'06 case family. If you don't get better performance why pay more for your ammo?

I was interested that you asked about the .348 Winchester. A couple of months ago Precision Shooting had an article on a wildcat cartridge based on the .348 and chambered in the '95 Marlin dubbed the .358 Kodiak Express. The cartridge was a .348 with a .358" bullet seated on it, and the brass was fire formed to give it a sharp shoulder. Performance and accuracy was pretty impressive. 180 gr Speer clocked at 2905 and a 280 gr hard cast clocked at 2365. Re-22 and Re-25 was the powder of choice respectively, and the velocity was from a 25" barrel. They show a pic of a target with all the holes touching fired at 25 yards with the ghost ring and post, and go on to suggest that the rifle was accurate out to 275 yards, the farthest they tested it.
 
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My vote is for the 350mag. But them it's the only one of the two that I've tried. Only had a chance to try it on one stupid blacktail buck standing at the side of the logging road. Dropped right in his tracks so the wife was happy no dragging out of a slash. LOL 225 partitions if I remember correctly and my model 660 liked them. I jsut bought a new rifle on Gunbroker last night so keep an eye on the classifieds in the next month or two because your likely to see the model 660 along with my guide gun on the block unless I can talk my wife into letting me keep one of them. But with these silly export/import fees I'm pretty sure I'll be selling both to pay for the new one.
 
35 Whelen and a 250 grain Hornady or Speer spitzer is all you need--that is the beauty of the whelen--you don't need expensive premium bullets to get the job done--not saying they don't work, just that they are not necessary. I do use 225 Nosler partitions sometimes for heavy game and 225 BT's for deer.

I had a 350 rem mag for a few years and shot a few deer with it--nothing wrong with it but just didn't warm up to it.

FWIW, 44Bore
 
A shameless plug. However, a couple of my buddies bought these from me and love them for moose/bear. A very handy 'little rifle'.

Ruger Model 77 Stainless Synthetic .350 Rem Mag Back In stock$799.99
M77350Mag.jpg
 
I've got rifles in 35 Whelen, 338-06, 338 RCM, and 9.3x62, but for the terrain where I hunt and the distances I shoot the choice lately always seems to be the 9.3.
Powder choices are similar to the Whelen or the 338-06 and heavier bullets are readily available, also the fact that my 9.3 is considerably lighter to pack is a bonus... ;)
 
I would personally go for the 35 whelen, as the 350rem is only comfortable with the heavy bullets in a long action, and if your going to do that your lightyears ahead with the 30-06 style case.
Mike
 
My choice would be the .35 Whelen in an off the shelf rifle. The only way I would go with the .350 is in a custom rifle. My logic is that if you want to load heavy or long bullets, which is my preference, the standard .350 chamber has too short a lead resulting in the bullet being seated so deeply into the case that powder capacity is compromised. Therefore a custom rifle with the lead cut so that the bullet does not extend into the powder capacity of the case is the only way that a .350 can be the equal of the .35 Whelen.

When the cartridge is loaded with the bullet being seated long, one must take care in the choice of action to ensure that the non-standard COAL will function through the magazine. All this means that you would choose a .350 only because you wanted one very badly. Custom rifles are great, and should you be considering the custom route anyway, the .350 would be a fine choice, but if an off the shelf rifle is the equivalent of the custom rifle at several times the cost, there would seem to be little point.
 
.350RM the original short mag! Rugers apparently have slightly bigger mags so you can seat bullets out a little further, not sure about their chambers though.
 
SuperCub said:
How is the Whelen case design flawed?

How is the 350RM case better?

BTW ... Boneheads will try to "magnumize" all cases, even magnums, but that doesn't make the case design flawed.


Again ..... the problem here wasn't the case, it was the chamber in the form of excessive headspace.


I've owned 6 or 7 35Whelens over the yrs, some were 700s and the others were 7600s. All had proper chambers and none gave me problems!


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i was in a foul mood when i wrote that :D

anyhow, the gunsmith who looked at the whelen told me that whelens can develop headspace issues over time, and ken waters, in his book "pet loads" also mentioned the same thing. i believe that was the impetus behind the "35 whelen improved." mind you, the average shooter who loads responsibly probably wouldn't shoot the thing enough to develop problems.

cheers

oh, those guys championing the 9.3x62, i think that would be just gravy in a cz rifle
 
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I really like the -06 case. on the north american continent there is really nothing it can't do.

my vote is the Whelen. (if I couldn't have a .338-06 ;) )
 
surprised no mention of .358 Winchester here I just picked up a Hawkeye in it. .338 Federal is also interesting; Sako developed it with Federal, both are just a necked up .308 and therefore quite nicely balanced, inherently accurate
 
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