Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Stainless 35 Whelen

I'd like to pick up a stainless 35 Whelen without having to get a 2nd mortgage. My options appear to be-
1. Get a 35 Whelen barrel for my TC Encore. Downside is that the Encore stock design is uncomfortable for me to shoot with 30-06 recoil, not to mention .35 Whelen recoil.
2. Second option is an ER Shaw stainless barrel kit for my .270 Stevens 200.
3. Third option is to send my .270 M700 ADL-SS to be rebored to .35 Whelen.

Yes, I know Ruger made some stainless M77 Hawkeyes, but I'd have to find one, and expect it would cost more any one of my 3 choices.

This would be for hunting black bear over bait. I've had good experience with a M700 classic .35 Whelen and 225 gr Accubonds on bears.

Any options I'm missing?

Rebore

I had a 24 inch Whelen stainless encore barrel in standard taper. It kicked pretty good but not anymore than the 26 inch 7 mag barrel I had. I sold the whelen and got a MGM 26 inch 358 Win barrel. It shoots really good but still has some jump to it. I don't think a mgm 26 inch whelen would kick any more than the 30-06 barrel does.

You may want to consider the 358 Win barrel for your encore. It's not but about 100 fps slower than the 35 whelen.

Load some 150-160 gr Partitions in one of the 270's. Bear will be just as dead, just as soon.

At bear camp last week, someone shot a bear with an '06 loaded with 180 gr core lokt. I shot a bear with the 225 Accubond. The size of the hole in the bear from the Whelen was a lot bigger than hole from the '06. My bear was easily recovered due to the ample blood trail, the '06 shot bear had no blood trail, and was not recovered until the next day.

The Whelen is potent bear medicine.

The Remington limited edition 700 CDL Stainless Fluted for this year is in Whelen, about a Grand. Remington sku # 84030.

If you're nostalgic, Lipsey's ran the K1A in Whelen too...pretty scarce though. I passed on one that I wish I had picked up.

Zapped a big bear once with my 6.5x55...he went about 10 yards...but I can identify with your 35 love.

JES rebored my Tikka T3 .270 WIN to 35 Whelen and did a great job for under $300.

Only thing I would change is the 35 Whelen label on the side, have him label in under the barrel and take it to a gun smith that can mill out the .270 marking then engrave it.

I'd send the M700 270 to IT&D and have him rebarrel it with a factiry contour SS barrel.

RH

If you want a bigger hole why don't you step up in caliber? Here is one that would be good for bear or anything you would ever want shoot.
https://www.cdnnsports.com/rugerr-m77r-hawkeyer-alaskan-375rug-muzzle-brake.html?___SID=U
I have a 375 Ruger Guide Gun and shoot Nolser 300gr. Accubond handload chronographed at 2590fps. out of a 20" barrel and get 1/2" 3-shot group at 100yds. Recoil is a push compared to a sharp jab.

I'll call IDT tomorrow and see what that would cost.

As for a .375, I find the Whelen a "just right" combination of power and recoil. The .375 Ruger would certainly be more money than my other options. Also, I already have dies, bullets, and brass for the Whelen.

I do have a Tikka .270, but it's too good a deer rifle to rerbore it.

As for the 700 CDL, I think it might be Remington's first stainless .35 Whelen. Nice, but it's more than I want to spend.

How about sending out the Classic for a ceracote coating and picking up a synthetic stock for it? Then you would have an all weather rifle. Ceracote is not that much and you can pick up synthetic stocks for the 700 pretty reasonable if you are not in a hurry.

I'm in the market for same thing.
My plan is to find a nice stainless rifle as a donor and re bore.
Right now I'm thinking of tc venture.
I love my tikkas, but it's an expensive donor and even though I am not recoil shy, not sure I want a lite rife shooting 225-250 pills.

I don't want to cerakote the classic, because it's already in a Boyd laminated stock and I have the original stock in storage. I consider it to be semi-collectible.

I think the TC Venture weathershield is plated, not stainless. The barrel is also thinner than a Remington. I know because I measured the barrel diameters.

I'll second the JES rebore. I had him rebore my Tikka 06 to 35 Whelen. I went with a 3 groove 1/14 twist. Price was $225.00 return shipped.

I haven't had time to work up loads so I used my Encore load in it this past season. Three 3 shot groups were all less than 3/4 inch. Made the scope adjustments and went hunting.

This, but I would not rule out the 375 Ruger suggestion either.But that's just me.

Sample size of two, and one using a mediocre cup-and-core bullet, the other a premium bullet; not to mention no mention of shot locations and distance.

Load a TTSX in that .270 and kill stuff.

I would go with #2. It is reversable.

Hate to barge in on a thread - my apologies to the OP.........

If anyone is interested, I'm about to put my Ruger SS Hawkeye in 35 wh up for sale. It has a 2.8-8x36 VX3 sitting on it. It likes H4895 and 250 gr Partitions. It has been shot just enough to find a load (~ 100 times). It would be far cheaper than buying a donor and re-boring - or about any other option. The SS Hawkeyes are a very nice rifle.

PM me if anyone is interested.