Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska .35 Whelen Rifle Question

Understand the lusting after a 7x57,have two myself. One is a Winchester M 70 Featherweight and the other is a CZ 550 American.

Going to have a third built off of a Mauser action,just as soon I can get enough money for a down payment.

I saw a very nice FN M70 Featherweight/Super Grade stock, on one of the auction sites for ~ $1,300.00. Maybe I'll get one of those one day since I already have a CZ 550 American in 6.5x55. I've also seen several custom 7x57s built on Mauser actions, but they're quite a bit more expensive.

Mine is a Shot Show Special,no fancy stock or anything like that. Just a nice piece of wood.

Heres a pic of it with a mule deer I killed last year.

Nice!

Thanks!

Can't believe nobody's posted stuff that's been Whelened to death yet. I shot this bull with a 250gr Barnes Original spitzer over 4064 a few years ago.

Nice bull.

HN,I will take some better pics of the Featherweight and post them here later this morning or early afternoon.

Here you go HN.

TheKid: Very nice! Did it drop in its tracks?

Ken: Thanks for the photos - nice rifle!

Thanks HN.

Yes, rainy day and a huge spray of mist lifted off the side of him at impact, pretty neat to see. Of course in the interest of full disclosure the other big bull that was standing beside him also went down like he'd been electrocuted when my sister in law put a 150 Nosler from her 270 into his chest. In fact I have only seen one caribou shot that didn't drop in it's tracks, they are really about the easiest animals in NA to kill IMO.

I agree caribou usually die easily, but a seriously large bull I shot in the Mulchatna herd many years ago was one of the toughest critters I have ever seen die. Multiple broadside shots through both lungs at 250 yards or so with a 300WM did not drop it before I walked to the animal, first wading King Salmon Creek and then climbing the hillside. There was a very big herd and he walked into the herd so getting to him was difficult and finding a safe shot even tougher.

I had multiple bulls walking right up to me and some had fighting intentions it seemed. It was very late October and the rut was still evident in many of the bulls. I suspect they had some unbred cows coming back into heat.

I finally got to shoot the bull again at very close range right in the hip socket after following him for at least 400 yards. Then I put another in the neck...

He was damn near inedible... Stank... and had a bruised talley whacker that looked like it had been run through a meat tenderizer. It made B&C all-time by official score.

That would be disappointing to say the least after putting in all that effort. Bummer.

Some critters just don't want to quit sometimes, I've seen little old 125 pound deer soak up bullets like a sand berm. Then of course there was the young cow caribou I shot on a winter hunt one year with the Whelen. 325 yards and she folded like a cheap suit at the shot. Dead as free lunch when we got to her but I never did find a bullet hole. Guess she had a bad heart.

Interesting.

I watched an episode of "Life Below Zero," where Glenn Villeneuve passed on a shot at a large bull caribou, in favor of a doe because it was during the rut and he said that the bull would taste terrible. I've had similar experiences with whitetails, the rut really does make bulls inedible.

I've also heard that caribou are easy to kill as stated above, but I have no direct experience with this.

Sitka deer: congratulations on your record book caribou.

TheKid: sounds like it was a fun hunt. I know many people disparage the venerable .270, but it's quite an effective round IMO. I shoot Federal Premium 150gr. Nosler Partitions exclusively in mine and it's never failed to perform on whitetails and huge feral hogs here in W. TX - an exceptional and accurate round, IMO.

I shoot a 150 gr NP out of one of my .270's. From a 22" it's getting 3000 fps average. Using RL-26 and Fed 210 Match primers.

This one.

Ken: 3,000 FPS for 150s is quite good.

Yup,it is why I use RL-26. The best I gotten with H-4831(I think,it's been over a year) was just about 2900 fps with a 150 gr NP.

Just need an elk tag to try it on.