the .35 Whelen Story

I managed to get an M77 Hawkeye in stainless synthetic a few years back. It's taken 3 elk and a moose plus a handful of deer. To me it's the perfect hard use stopper. 225 accubonds are my choice, they give pass throughs on elk and really knock the dust off of deer.
 
As much as I like the 35Whelen (owned several), I really doubt it has much to offer over a 30-06 with good bullets, esp for avg Joe Canadian hunter who hunts deer and the occasional moose.

.
 
Sad times, I'll never see another NP again- so im saving the 4 i do have left :)

i picked up like 27 loaded rounds with 250gr Nosler Parts in it-- i pulled, re loaded and sighted, eventually hunting with the NPs -

they are now down to 4 rounds and ive decided to keep them :p

I had loaded Hornady 250gr IL SP in the past - so i dug up that data and loaded a good 30 or so rounds to use once those NP dried up.
the NP dried up faster than usual an i say its because my mate who used it last, pumped 3 of them into a Stag........ it only needed the one LOL

SOOO

we are of to the targets today, a 308 franchi down loaded in hand and ill Zero the 250gr Hornadys-- i had 100x of them so will allow for plenty of hunting only with them
from memory 53 gr varget in the 22 inch ruger seated to cannelure---

have a bunch of SPEER hc, read alot of good about them but havnt spent any time developing a load until the Horns are gone.,
 
Nosler Load , last 3 rounds, an Reloaded some SPEER 250S with Varget more recently this week.
Initial testing showed promise.

I've found that the Speer are shooting about 2 inch Right of POA of the Nosler PT load... So I'm re sighted slightly favouring the Speers....

The Hornady load with 250 Interlocks are much Higher and Out Right that a complete re sight would be needed.

So for now, were hunting 250gr Speer Hot cors. An I'm excited about it
 
I've had a Whelen for 7 years now and love it. 225 ABs at 2750fps makes it the most accurate of 16 rifles in the safe. Honest cloverleafs that slightly outdo a custom 7rm. Purchased the barreled action off a gentlemen by the name of Gary Flach before I knew of his work and he advised that another well known barrel builder by the name of Uno had his hands on it at one time as well. I guess that explains why the rifle performs like it does.

It will be the last rifle I part with when the time comes. Just for the 9.3 fellas, " however the two cartridges compete the Whelen will always have the cool factor advantage that comes with carrying one of the original wildcatter's name." Not just a number. :)
 
I’m a big fan of the Whelen and I’m on my third which is a semi custom kimber Montana with a 22” barrel.
From my experience on a few animals from mountain goat to elk it hits like a hammer. Animals I have shot have all died as if I hit by lightning.
I have owned a custom 9.3 but always went back to the Whelen.
I have switched to reloading using TAC and that powder really makes it easy to get to that 2750-2800fps mark with 225 game kings and accubonds. For some reason varget and rl15 could not get me there in the three rifles I loaded for.
I can see why some don’t like it after they see factory low velocity ammo or old reloading manuals but it truly becomes something special when loaded to modern specs.
If I need something bigger I’ll grab my .416 but I rarely do
 
I have two tang safety Rugers, one with a 1-4x and one with a 2-7x both shoot the 250 Hornady hand loads MOA, I just loaded some 180 Speer’s to try out as I acquired 700 for a bargain, will be interesting to see the results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom