Please school me on 35 Whelan!

I use the 225 ABs in my 350s so I wanted a different bullet for the Whelen, with it's long throat and long magazine I thought the 250 Speer HC or the 250 Part would work well. Couldn't find any 250 Speers so I went with the Parts and the photos show that it would be hard to do better.

Thanks Johnn........
 
Potshot21 said:
So basically, I must reload my own to feed it?
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While some factory ammo is available, it is a very good cartridge for reloading as it allows to a much better selection of bullets.

Potshot21 said:
Will they typically fit in a 30-06 box magazine?

Anyone know a spot to purchase donor actions? If its not too expensive to find one, I'll build it as opposed to ripping apart my 30-06 (sentimental value and such).
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Yes they will easy fit in a 30/06 mag box perfectly. Any 700 or 70 or 77 will work just fine and tons of them on the EE.

Potshot21 said:
What kind of twist rate would be good?
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I've used 12, 14, 16" in 35cals. All worked fine with the longer 250s. Given the choice, I'd order a 14" or 12" twist.

Potshot21 said:
And would a 20" varmint contour barrel sound silly for this application?
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Yup, a 20" varmint would be a bit silly and something you would regret. I personally like something close to a Remington sporter contour 20" to 22" in length. My current 358Win is fitted with a 22" sporter contour right now and handles very well.
 
Whelens are the ducks nutz for Bigger species of Deer!

Ive had mine for a fair few years now and reload with Woodleigh 225gr RN , Always get text book mushroom effect an dumps 100% of energy onto the Game most of the time. I use it for general stalking an shoot out to 200 no thought about it.

With a better choice of projectile im sure its great t o 300meters, Ive been some TSX 200gr so am going to try them out shortly.

WL
 
I have always wanted to play with a Whelen. This one was to be my newest medium thumper, too bad the stock came apart in my hands under recoil. A few more months wait and it will be furnished with a Mcmillan.



 
I have an older BDL Custom Deluxe in Whelen. Often refer to it as my precious. As a factory gun, it has a 1-16 twist, as was most common on .35 guns. Not that it's a big deal, but that twist rate supposedly won't stablise 300gr properly, and that is why Barnes aren't bigger than 225gr in .35.. This may be something you'd want to think about if you are going custom.

I personally stick to 225 TSX over IMR4064 and 250 Hornady over H4895. The Hornady's are over published max, but safe. They let you know when you've touched them off though. They also are about 5' low at 500 yards.

I'm not recoil shy by any means (6'1", 210lbs) but I don't really care for it. As such, I generally find that the Whelen doesn't bother me too much until there's been a box down the tube at range day, even with a lead sled.

Until I started handloading, I used 200gr Cor-Lokts, and they shot just fine. I took several whitetails and a 44" moose with them. They did very well, however they were purchased about 7 years ago so I am unsure of the quality of them today.

There are newer cartridges, there are faster ones. There are are shorter ones and there are more popular ones. But they certainly don't change the fact that the Whelen is still a great one.
 
Got One coming in winchester model 70. Bought a few boxes of ammo the other day at wss. Hornady 200grsp remington 250 gr psp and nosler custom 225 gr accu bond. I'm just trying to decide what I should throw on for a scope. Ballistic wise it's quiet close to a 3006 180 gr so I might go with a 2.5x8 or a i have a spare 1x4 vx 2 kicking around I might go with. Going to use it this fall for bears and moose. But next year it's grizz time!

What are you guys scoping your 35s with?
 
For some reason my test targets (not a collection about to threaten the Library of Congress!) show that the .35 calibre (a 350 RM 700 and a 35 Whelen 7600) and also the 375 H&H all hold pretty good round groups with no "flyers". Very consistent hunting accuracy IMO. As said already anything 250 grains at 2500 fps is pretty effective. Someone said once you hit 2700 fps if you want more power - add bullet weight Not velocity for a big game rifle. I believe this to be correct.
 
This rifle is affectionately named "The Colonel". The two of us have a strong bond. She is a Remington 700 from their custom shop in the 80's. I've shot several moose with it. This one was taken with a Federal Factory 225gr Trophy Bonded Bearclaw. I've since started loading 225gr Nosler Partitions to about 2700fps. I use 200gr Remington corelokts for deer.
2005BulMoose.jpg
 
I have a cooper classic in 35 whelen, great round. Recoil is pretty manageable. I think my twist is 1/10 I could be wrong? I've pretty much settled on 250 gr hornady sp over varget for large game. I use .357 158 gr hornady xtps over trail boss for small game loads. I think of it as a 300 yard rifle which is about perfect for me and my style of hunting. Brass is easy to make by resizing 3006. I do think to get the most from it you should handload, if I didn't handload I probably wouldn't have one.
 
I had two of them. Both accurate and very effective. Moose dropped in their tracks.

The Remington pump is a great hunting rifle, and available in 35W. It has a floated barrel, so tends to be more accurate than most out of the box bolt rifles.
 
I have Ruger 35 Whelen with B&L 1.5-6x32mm scope used only on my moose hunting trips in northern BC. I use 225NP handloads for everything exept when I walk in heavy bush or when the game is on the ground then I change the cartridges for my last eight left 270gr Hornady RN handloads. They are printing only 1" lower at 50m but I am not to concerned about it.
Why do I do it?
Over the years I and my hunting party were chalenged twice by grizzlies over the ownership of meat. Somehow during the hunting season those buggers think that any shot fired in the bush is the dinner bell for them....
I feel very safe behind that gun;

-nothing never ever goes wrong with it, it's a workhorse kind of gun
-scope mounts are better than others costing four times as much
-5 rounds of 35 Whelen is two more shots than 3 rounds of more potent magnums
-recoil recovery and following target aquisition is faster than more potent magnums
-no mush and no bloodshot meat is very important to me
-easy to handload cartridge (RL15 is THE powder) and finding great accuracy is never a problem
-35 Whelen feeds very slick from magazine and has enough shoulder to headspace properly
-Some will say that 30-06 is as good as 35 Whelen and 338-06 even better but IMO that is a lot of smoke and mirrors kind of lie.

With greater dia of bullet the one with bigger cross section allways comes on top energy wise with equal pressure behind it.
 
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If the darn things would only keep that speed all would be well, and vastly simplified.
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yes ! but this one
New HSM loaded .50 BMG match grade long range ammunition. 2650 fps @ Muzzle 773gr T-50 Solid Ballistic Coefficient: 1.062
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does a pretty fair job...
 
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