New gun: 35Whelen or 350mag?

Seabass

Seabass

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I know the performance/ballistics are similar but which rifle manufactures currently catiloge them ruger? rem? I reload as well so which is easier to load and has readily avialble brass?? Reforming? etc? Or does anyone make a 348 anymore?

Cheers

Seabass
 
Why not a .338-06?

The .338 bore offers a much better selection of bullet weights for the reloader. And Weatherby sells factory ammo. And of course, there is no shortage of '06 cases around to start with. This cartridge gives up only about 200 fps to the WinMag, with less recoil.

Cheers.
 
There are no flies on the .350 Rem mag, but I use and love the .35 Whelen because any rifle that is set up to properly feed the 30-06 will work as well with the Whelen whereas a few .350's have feeding issues with the short, belted case. It is slightly easier to reload a beltless case, and heavier bullets are a bit easier to load in the Whelen with normal magazine length. If you are going to shoot 200 gr. deer bullets, there is no practical difference in finding a magazine-appropriate load length.
As for the 338-06, it is probably a slight bit better multi purpose big game round for the one gun hunter, but for me the .35 is best as a specific BIG big game round. I feel the Whelen is at its best with 250 grain bullets.
It's easy to do a search of current manufacturers, I believe both Rem and Ruger have both .350RM and .35W in their lineup. It is also a simple matter to re-barrel any rifle previously chambered for the 30-06 family to either 338-06 or .35 Whelen, and re sizing 30-06 brass is also a cinch. However, the .350 RM be-barrel or brass re-size is not so easy. The advantage of the .350 is the handy short barreled, and short actioned rifles it has been chambered in.
 
The 338-06 would probly be the most versitile choice but I've always had a soft spot for the 35calibers so rebareling a 30-06 to a 35 whelen might be the way to go. What would the avg price a gunsmith would charge for this???

Cheers

Seabass
 
The Whelen is a great cartridge, easy to load for, generally very smooth feeding, lots of capacity for powder regardless of bullet weight. The 350 rem mag is more unusual.

Both are cool, the whelen because of it's history, the 350 because nobody else will have one. Pick one.
 
AFAIK the only company that markets either cartridge is Remington, the .350 in their Model 7 CDL and the Whelen in the 700 CDL. I own and really like the .350 but I would recommend getting a Whelen as one can run into OAL issues with the magnum in a remy short action. I have a 700 classic and I haven't had any feeding problems with it but my father in law owns a model 7 cdl and it was a nightmare. It took a few trips to the 'smith and a few dollars to get it figured out...As was stated before the whelen will feed like butter. Ballistics are virtually identical between the two cartridges and so is the coolness factor. In this case it won't apply as you roll your own but the whelen has a number of different factory ammo options while the magnum has one.

'rifle.
 
Thought I saw a Ruger 77 in .350 Mag not long ago, full length barrel, and a guy at WSS tried to show me a .350 in some short barreled version as an all-around truck gun (good one.)
.35 Whelen would be my choice of the 2, but I agree with above posts - .338-06 is more flexible, wider variety of components, easier to form your own brass and plenty scarce enough to be the only one on the block. It can shoot a 225 gr bullet very close to a .338 Win Mag's performance. Difference between the .35 or the .338-06 amounts to how much you like one more than the other.
 
longrifle said:
AFAIK the only company that markets either cartridge is Remington, the .350 in their Model 7 CDL and the Whelen in the 700 CDL. I own and really like the .350 but I would recommend getting a Whelen as one can run into OAL issues with the magnum in a remy short action. I have a 700 classic and I haven't had any feeding problems with it but my father in law owns a model 7 cdl and it was a nightmare. It took a few trips to the 'smith and a few dollars to get it figured out...As was stated before the whelen will feed like butter. Ballistics are virtually identical between the two cartridges and so is the coolness factor. In this case it won't apply as you roll your own but the whelen has a number of different factory ammo options while the magnum has one.

'rifle.
Click to expand...
Ruger chambers both as well, in current or recent production
 
350 hands down, especially if you are buying used. the case design of the whelen is flawed, especially if boneheads try and magnumize the thing. have had both, will take the 350, better case design.

when i was a kid, my first big rifle, aside from a long since departed .303 was the whelen. unfortunately, this prick sold it to me smiling. ran ok while testing, though i noticed when i got it home it would not always fire. headspace was way off because the douche who sold it to me loaded it red hot for years. gunsmith said i was lucky to not have blown my face off.

that was one way to learn about how wonderful poeple are

cheers
 
33,34,35

I know it was supposed to be 35 rem or 35 whelen but if you have to get a bbl put on I'd go 338-06. Most bullet makers don't offer .35 cal bullets any heavier than 250gr, the same as the biggest .338 bullets, so there isn't really a BIG game advantage (.02" little less SD). Barnes etc offer 185gr bullets that offer lower recoil and flat trajectory and as mentioned before a more extensive selection. The 06 family rounds seem to feed better in most actions than short belted types so if that's a concern....by the way .348's are cool if you can find one, they are around.
 
patricksbb391 said:
The .338 bore offers a much better selection of bullet weights for the reloader.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that... what kind of a selection of handgun bullets do you have in mind for the .338? Having bulk handgun bullets available is kind of handy for those who like to shoot a lot.

If you can't get it done with bullet weights between 150 and 250 grain bullets in a .35 caliber, you aren't going to do any better with a .338 caliber bullet.
 
I'd go for the 35 Whelen and I would go the route of getting a used 30-06 at a decent price and then have it re-bored to 35 Whelen.

By doing this, you can get a wide range of choices as to manufacturer, model, features such as magazine, metal, etc, etc.

A re-bore job will cost you between $250 and $300.

I do use a 35 Whelen with 250 gr bullets as a bush gun for deer hunting. It's a Remington 700 BDL in blue with a substituted synthetic stock and an after-market detachable magazine.

I'm in the process of replacing it with a custom job starting with a new Remington 700 SPS 30-06 in s/s and a camo synthetic stock with detachable magazine. It is being re-bored by Ron Smith to 35 Whelen with twist gain rifling and the barrel cut to 20". The s/s metal will be coated with Ceramicoat in an appropriate color to match the rest of the gun.

My blue 35 Whelen will probably be up for sale on the EE forum in the new year.

Duke1
 
patricksbb391 said:
The .338 bore offers a much better selection of bullet weights for the reloader.
Click to expand...
How much bullet selection does one need anyways? There lots of very good 35cal bullets out there. I only shoot two different ones in my 35s [250gr Speer and 200gr Remingtons]. I hear this argument all the time when diff cartridges are compared, but most folks only use a couple, maybe three different bullets per gun anyways. I doubt you shoot all the available selection of .338 bore bullets in yours.


patricksbb391 said:
And Weatherby sells factory ammo.
Click to expand...
Have you ever priced Weatherby brand ammo? :eek: Remington sells 35 Whelen ammo for MUCH less.

patricksbb391 said:
And of course, there is no shortage of '06 cases around to start with.
Click to expand...
.... which of course, is the parent case for the 35Whelen as well.



The 338/06 and the 35Whelen are so close together in all respects that chosing one over the other is more a matter of personal choice than anything else. Both are very good med bores for the shooter wanting something for deer or heavier game.


.
 
m1978 said:
350 hands down, especially if you are buying used. the case design of the whelen is flawed, especially if boneheads try and magnumize the thing. have had both, will take the 350, better case design.
Click to expand...
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.

m1978 said:
when i was a kid, my first big rifle, aside from a long since departed .303 was the whelen. unfortunately, this prick sold it to me smiling. ran ok while testing, though i noticed when i got it home it would not always fire. headspace was way off because the douche who sold it to me loaded it red hot for years. gunsmith said i was lucky to not have blown my face off.
Click to expand...
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!


.
 
I agree all the way with SuperCub on all of the above. The selection of bullet argument always make me laugh too. From handgun bullet to 200, 225, 250, 280 and 300gr rifle bullet including premiums like the Partition, Accubond, A-Frame and TSX what else could you ask for?

Anyway, once you find a load for the 225gr TSX at about 2700fps, you won't be looking for any other bullet choice!:D

Oh yeah, I shoot a .35 Whelen.;)
 
I would go with the 35 Whelen, the 338-06 really offers no advantage other than maybe a slight edge when calculating ballistics on paper, but nothing that would make any difference hunting big game. Call me a bonehead; I shoot a 35 Whelen A.I, and for the 338 advantage I shoot a real 338, a 338 RUM.:D
 
As for a 338-06 vs 35 whelen or 358winchester I'm not worried about factory rounds as I reload and I even though we could pinch numbers of ballistics I can't seen any supiortity in the field between them. I just wonder what would be the easier to reload. I only know guys who hunt with 30 calibers and the odd 338 out there but no 35's. I kinda like the underdog, hasbeen old cartridges. Hell, I hunt 90% of the time with an outdated 45/70, apperently it doesn't have enough velocity to kill a deer or shoot past 50ft!!! :)

Cheers

Seabass
 
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