I've had a Remington 700 Classic for over 25 years. It is my primary hunting rifle. I've used the Remington and Federal factory loads and Sierra 225 SBTs in it. It is my most accurate rifle. It kills what you shoot with it pretty quick and doesn't bruise up meat a foot from the impact. Recoil is more than some people like similar to a 300 mag.
I had an thumper itch. My main hunting rifles are 270 and 06. Wanted that heavier pill. Looked at the 338-06 first but then I wanted 35w and planned on rebore a tikka. Ended up with 9.3. Now I can push 250 and bigger with out a problem. No regrets. Plus there is cheap ammo available unlike the other two I mentioned
All of them do something better than the 30-06, but none of them do everything as well.
I've had a Remington 700 Classic for over 25 years. It is my primary hunting rifle. I've used the Remington and Federal factory loads and Sierra 225 SBTs in it. It is my most accurate rifle. It kills what you shoot with it pretty quick and doesn't bruise up meat a foot from the impact. Recoil is more than some people like similar to a 300 mag.
That has been my experience as well. Nothing has killed big deer and elk deader than 225 gr TBBC loads out of my 700 Classic. I have a pile of other big game rifles but none kill any better. My farthest shot was 308 yards and drt. My .35 Whelen would be the next to last gun that I would ever get rid of. Happy Trails
Life Member NRA, RMEF, American Legion, MAGA. Not necessarily in that order.
I have been using a Whelen since 2000. Mine is a M700 classic. It has been to Canada, Africa (twice) and quite a few other states. I have used the Federal TBBC ammo quite a bit, it shoots well out of my rifle and I had purchased a lot of it for my Africa trips. I also like the 225 gr. or 250 gr. Partitions. Use the 225 grain Sierra for light game, like deer in handloads. Great cartridge, IMO.
Sometime in the late seventies, I built a 35 Whelen on a 1908 DWM Mauser, for a customer. I liked the result well enough that I decided to build a similar rifle for myself; though it was to be several years before I got around to it. I finally built mine on a 1935 Mauser action. I built a decidedly chunky rifle with a 22 inch barrel, a twelve twist Shilen, which I turned down a bit from a #4 contour. A little heavy, at 8 3/4 pounds all up, it handles and carries well, nonetheless. I load 250's with Varget and get about 2475 fps. With this rifle, I made my longest shot on a big game animal; I shot a mule deer buck at about 460 yds. The rifle has been used in very rough conditions for over thirty years and the only time I have had to change the scope settings is when I have changed the scope mounts. Accuracy is MOA or a bit better. 158 grain Speer bullets, ahead of some 700X and a square of toilet paper, shoot 1/2 inch groups at 50 yds. MV is 1150 fps. It is a rifle I will probably keep for as long as I hunt. By the way, I later re-chambered the customer's rifle to Brown-Whelen and he gained just under fifty fps. This led me to believe, if you want more than a Whelen, you want a 358 Norma. GD
If I’m in big bear territory, you can bet it’s with the .35 Whelen or .300 Weatherby. In thick timber the 22 inch barrel is a bit handier than a 26” one. Just sayin. Happy Trails
Last edited by WAM; 07/02/18.
Life Member NRA, RMEF, American Legion, MAGA. Not necessarily in that order.
My 20" JES rebored 1:14" M77 paddle stock shoots the 225 sierra very well with a Remington front sight and an NECG ghost ring. Velocity is right at 2625. I built this load with whitetails in the brush and our little Montana black bears in mind. Have yet to test it on game yet though. .
Working with this rifle has been pretty refreshing. With this being an open sighted, short barreled rifle I don't plan to shoot it over 200 yards at game so my accuracy requirements weren't real high. To work up a load I put some H4895 under a 225 SGK till I got close to the velocity I thought was reasonable, shot a three shot group at 100 that was close to an inch, adjusted my sight a bit for windage/elevation, launched another to verify POI, proceeded to shoot rocks from 100-200+ yards. Kinda fun not worrying about finding lands, extreme spreads, excessive brass prep, verifying dope for my scope, etc. As long as it goes bang and consistently hits cantaloupe sized rocks out to 200 yards or better life is good since it is still cruising at 2225 fps and packing close to 2500 pounds at that range.
Mine seems to shoot the 225 TSX fine too at about 2600 fps and that would be my choice for a one bullet for everything solution. A 200 TTSX may also be pretty versatile if you want a little more velocity. I have some on hand but I have yet to shoot any.
Truth is, it is so much fun with 158 grain pistol bullets over a charge of Trail Boss that I rarely shoot anything else unless I am getting ready to go hunting. One of the funnest rifles I own.
I have a Remington 700 Classic w/22" bbl. I've killed whitetails with both the Remington 200gr factory loads as well as Speer 220gr handloads. None past 125 yards; all were one shot kills. I do have a box of factory loaded 250gr Speers by DoubleTap. These were intended for an elk hunt that never materialized and I had heard great reports of their performance on elk from several others. I would either use those or go to the 225gr loads with Nosler Accubond or Nosler Partitions. The 225gr loads were not readily available just a few years ago, and seem to be the select choice.
