Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .35 whelen bullet

Mule Deer and anyone else with real on game experience.I am trying to decide which bullet would best serve for shooting a moose? I have on hand,Nosler 225&250 partitions plus 225gr. accubonds.I also have some 250 gr. Norma Oryx that are of special interest to me.I have previously loaded 250 gr. Hornady and Speer bullets and am interested if the Oryx creates more pressure than those two? Thanks in advance to all that respond.

Not MD, but I have used the 250 PT and 225 AB a lot in the Whelen. I can't hardly tell the difference between the two of them when used on elk or deer. Both penetrate really well and I have yet to recover one. Used the 225 TSX as well, also worked pretty decent and is the only .358 bullet I have recovered from a medium'ish black bear a couple years ago. Did good work though.

I use the Speer 250 as a practice bullet for the 250 PT. They both shoot the same with the same die settings and powder charges, speeds are really close as well.

Never shot any of the Hornady's out of my Whelen, but they are supposed to be decent. Used the 225 PT's out of the 358 Winchester on deer and it works excellent in that cartridge, can't see where it wouldn't be just as good in the Whelen.

No info on the Oryx, but it seems like it might have about the bearing surface as a 250 Speer or PT generally. Of all you picked, I can't really see a bad one in the bunch though. Good luck. Love to hear about the Whelen blasting elk and moose. Seems fitting.

Again, not John, but I do have considerable experience with both the Whelen and moose. Any of those you mention will do well. A moose, despite its size, really doesn't take a lot of killing. My own preference is the Hornady 250 grain. The Whelen's velocity is slow enough that premiums aren't needed.

I haven't shot any moose with the .35 Whelen, but have shot considerable game (including a British Columbia bull moose) with the 9.3x62, which is basically the same thing. Have used a wide variety of bullets including Hornady Interlock, Nosler Partition and AccuBond. Haven't used the Oryx in the 9.3 but have in other cartridges and it's a very fine bullet too.

So +1 to what Rupert Bear posted!

THe 250 Speer Hot-core is all you need to know.. Big soft C/C bullet that shoots well and kills stuff. And very accurate in my rifle

A friend here in Montana would disagree, since he had one come apart during an angling shot on a medium-sized elk. He'd had good luck with them before then, but all bullets are great until one fails.

Haven't shot a moose and probably never will but if the opportunity did arrive, I'd take my .35 Whelen and the 225 gr. Barnes TSX and never look back. I can load it to 2710 FPS from my rifle with Re15 and have shot darn near lengthwise and the bullet just kept on going. Bullet hit just behind the short ribs and exited between the neck and shoulder. The elk moved exactly three feet, straight down. The bullet will reach out nicely as well. took a different elk at 350 yards, same rifle and load, same result. Haven't been able to recover a bullet yet.
I have no doubt any of the 250 gr. bullets would worm. I do have two friends in Canada who swear by the 250 gr. Hot Core for moose and one used it for his Grizzly Bear hunt. Unfortunately was unsuccessful but he had full faith in the bullet.
Paul B.

The 225 gr Accubond is my favorite but nothing wrong at all with the others you listed. Have shot moose with the 225 gr Ballistic Tip, Accubond and TSX and seen the 225 gr Partition work well too on moose. I have never found the 225's to be lacking in any way so have only taken one bear with a Hornady 250 gr RN and recently a 200 gr Accubond, planning on running the 200 gr AB or TTSX this fall for moose.

I had a 250 grain Speer hot core not pass thru a bull elk's neck at a range of about 40 yards. The bull later scored 382 gross so was a very large animal for a free range "wild" elk. I contacted Speer about the lack of penetration and was advised to use their Grand Slam bullets rather than the hot core models. I have done that since then. My rifle was a 35 Whelen.

I've never shot a moose either, but that bullet shoots so good in my Whelen, I don't load anything else for it these days...

As I recall, I've taken 17 WT deer with the 225 gr PT in my M700 Classic 35 Whelen. All but 1 were 1 shot kills. The other was hit twice as he moved through the cedar swamp. 3-4 ran about 30-40 yds with impressive blood trails, the rest were DRT. One buck played peek-a-boo with me but lost when the 225 gr PT hit him head on at the neck/chest, dropping him in his tracks. The bullet exited in the genitals. When I opened him up, the guts were not all busted up. I also took a 250 lb black bear, dropping him in the bait pile. I put an insurance round in him but it wasn't necessary.
The 225 gr PT is deadly on WT deer and black bear!

JD338

The 250 Partition has been my favorite for many years. Shoots great and the three caribou to my rifle's credit were all suitably impressed with the bullet. My rifle seems to prefer 250's. I haven't found one it doesn't like but it doesn't seem to care much for lighter bullets so I've not played with them in many years. I settled on the 250 grain Partition with 56 grains of 4320 and it works great.

I have been flirting with some 275 grain Hornady round nose but haven't gotten a chance to use them on game yet. My rifle seems to like them almost as well as the 250's.

I've had good results with 225 gr Accubonds on several bears. I bought some 250 gr partitions, but never tried them after using the 225 gr AB.

12 twist? I'm going with this bullet (250 NPT) or the 200 TTSX. Rifle hasn't told me which it prefers quite yet, but it is 12 twist.

I shot one cow at about 250 yards and one small bull elk in the timber with the 250 hot core. Max loads of VV140. Both shots were well placed

I never recovered the bullets or made notes. Both were dead right there I made mental notes they worked very well. and I know they shoot well in my rifle with my VV140 load.
As I noted they are soft C/C bullets. Perhaps there are better..don't know. My load research consisted of the 225 Sierra and the 250 Speer with only 3 powders

They shoot/hunt well for me.

in case you missed it, Rolly also posted about a 250 Hot-Cor that didn't exit a bull elk's neck. But if you're happy....

Mine's a 14 twist. Surprises me that it doesn't shoot lighter bullets well. It thinks it's a varmint gun with 250's.

I've used the Speer 250 gr Hot Core on ground squirrels with good results. Complete penetration and no tracking necessary.

I have about 200 rounds loaded with 250gr Partitions. Great accuracy in the Whelen (yes, it's a 1-16" twist) and I've never caught one.

There just something that seems right about 250gr bullets and the Whelen.

I may have to rethink the Speer based on the other info. I was only offering my very limited experience.