Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 35 Whelen and 250 Speer on Deer

My Ruger 35 Whelen shoots 250 speers real well with 52gr of 8208 XBR. Anybody use said bullet on deer, how it work for you...
Thanks

I can't comment on the 250, but the 180 and 220 FPs are hard for deer, unless you drive them fast....356/358 win velocities. JME

I normally shoot 200 grain Rem Corelokts. I tried 250 grain for the heck of it early on in my journey with the Whelenizer, but it was just too much for too little in return. That is, for all the sound and fury (not to mention recoil) I was not killing the whitetails any deaded than a 200 grain. For that matter, deader than a 30-06 with 165 grainers.

Be very careful about how tough the bullet is. The first time I shot a buck with the Whelenizer, the buck took 3 in the boiler room and stood there looking defiantly at me. This was at 80 yards. At the suggestion of folks here on the 'Fire, I switched from the PSPCL Corelokt to the SPCL and I went the next decade with nothing requiring a second shot.

Just about any decent 250 grain bullet, at Whelen velocities, is reliably effective on big game. I have taken a pretty good collection of game with my Whelens since 1987 or 88. Started with 200 grain Hornadys, then standardized on 250s. Speers, Hornady's and Noslers have shot, and worked, equally well in the field. A Partition is now my go to load, but I have had no issues with either Speers or Hornadys. Simply got a bunch of Partitions from Shooters Pro Shop and a rediculous price.
Should add that I believe that overkill is just right.
I have yet to have a disappointing experience with the Whelen.

I'd save the 250's for bigger critters. My 350 Rem. Mag. (35 Whelen ballistic twin) punched a 200 grain Hornady through a decent sized 175-200 lb. boar's plates & came to rest just under the off-side hide with major expansion. I doubt any deer would ever stop it. It shoots the 250 Partitions well too, but it has quite a bit of punch on the back end, so 200 grain it was!

Same here. They work. I wouldn't expect much different about the Speer's either though. When the velocity is kept moderate, bullets tend not to offer many surprises in performance on game.

I've only used a 250 (rem) on one deer from a Whelen. Double lung, LONG blood trail. 250's will kill them but 200's are much better suited for deer.

I shoot 225 grain Sierra or Nosler bullets in my Whelen, double lunged a KY 8pt. a few years ago the blood trail could've been followed by a blind man.

Usually use the 200 Horn SP, but did take 1 deer with the 250 Speer. It worked fine, exited the animal and created a pretty good wound path.

Thanks for the replies. I wanted to use Hornady or Sierra 200gr RN, but I can not get the rifle to shot them worth A dam. So A little concerned that bullet will not expand all that much.

The 250 Speer spitzer is my favorite Whelen bullet. I have killed feral hogs, Whitetails, Mule deer and two elk with that bullet with no problems whatsoever. This bullet gives good expansion seemingly no matter what I shoot with it. My Whelen would not shoot the 200 gr. round noses either though the Hornady 200 gr. spire point shot very well and I used a box of them in Texas on feral hogs and Whitetails also with no regrets.

250 Speer works great on Black Bear looks like someone threw a bucket of blood on the ground.

The first mule deer I ever shot with the Whelen was with a 250 Hornady SP. It looked like the rug had been jerked from under him, all I saw was legs up. Since those early days I've reserved the 250s for elk, and the 180-225 gr bullets for the lighter critters. I've settled on the 180 gr SP and the 200 gr SP, pushed to 3000 and 2900 fps respectively for most of my game hunting, and the 225 gr AB around 2800 fps makes the 250 grainers near obsolete IMO, nevertheless I still run a pretty stiff measure of IMR 4064 behind the 250 gr Speer for elk if there's ever any question.

180 gr Speer fp @ 2850

350 Rem Mag.

Bang/Flop

I'm thinking you will have enough gun!!😁

For sure, just trying to find out how heavy constructed 250 Speer is....

Pretty much the same as the 250 Partition.

I have not done the experiment, but I'd wager that if you shot a few dozen deer with it and with a 30-06 shooting 165 grain Ballistic Tips you'd see a trend of the 165 BT dropping them quicker.

the 250 gr big for deer,use 180 work best

mathman I would agree with rib shots, but threw the shoulder not so much.