Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Thoughts on 35 Whelen scope?

Something in the 1.5-6x range with a bold reticle. Mine wears a Burris Signature with #4 reticle.

I am also considering a scope for a .35 Whelen in the future. Scopes under consideration are the Athlon 1-6x24 Cronus BTR, Burris RT-6 1-6x24, Burris XTR 1-8x24, and the SWFA SS HD 1-6x24 Tactical. I know that's a fairly big list, but I have plenty of time to make a decision. My concern with all these options, however, is the "tactical" type reticles and the battery life. I may also consider a scope in the 2x8x36 range.

+1 on the VxIII 2.5x8 - a great scope for the Whelen

I have a 2-7 Leupold on mine. It has worked fine. I mostly put 2.5-8x36 Leupolds on my big game rifles if installing a new one these days.

Iput it together as a backup for my .338 when hunting our brushy coast. Longest shot so far was 240 yards+-, on a larger whitetail doe. I used 225 TBBC. DRT. I would use my 225 gr Sierra load for the same job these days.

Congrats on the Whelen. I hope you like it. It is an amazing cartridge. Very close to a .338 Win Mag in velocity with the same weight bullets.

I have a Leupold 1.5x5 on my M700 CDL and a Leupold 1.25x4 VXR on my 7600 Whelens. Both of them work just fine and I’d have zero issues with anything in that range. They work for me.

My black timber elk rifle is a 760 in 270 and it has a Leupold 2-7x33 with the heavy duplex reticle mounted with a Weaver base and Warne QD Maximas. This rifle has has a couple different 2-7x33s on it, a VX-II that I send back to Leupold to have the reticle changed to the HD when Leupold would change reticles for a reasonable fee and a newer VX-1 Shotgun scope that came with the HD reticle. I couldn't see any difference between them and AFAIK the only differences were the lens coatings and the factory set parallax.

EDIT: I believe that Leupold has dropped the 2-7x33 Shotgun version, but the last time that I looked, there were a couple of new, old stock, VX-1 Shotgun versions on eBay for under $200.

My M-700 wears a Leupold 3-9x40 VX2 with CDS. I keep it tuned to 200 yards for the instance I don't have time to fiddle with knob turning. Happy Trails

Leupold 4x33 fixed. (K.I.S.S.)

^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^

I don't have a Whelen but I do have a 350 mag and it has a 4x and it's perfect for me. My 760 has a 2.5x8 and my 7600 has a 4x. All have the post & duplex reticle.

I'm old school and agree with Muskegman. 4X leupold is all I have ever needed or wanted.

Eye relief has been mentioned; I would recommend +/- 4". It may not matter for field positions, but I like that much on a bench at the range with the Whelen, or prone, for that matter. I started with an old steel Weaver 4x but now have a Leupold 3-9x40 on mine. A 2-7 Leupold would also be good. My father has that VX-III 2.5-8x on his Model 7 7mm-08 and it's an awesome scope. Would work well on a Whelen if you wanted something compact.

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I tried the SWFA HD 1x6 and just couldn’t get excited about its use on a pump give the large turrets. Also felt like I was too dependent on illumination when on low power given the FFP causing the the reticule to get smaller (and less visible in low light).

This is my vote as well. I'm not sure there is a better general purpose hunting scope for sporter weight rifles.

Tom

I was lucky to find a VX-3i 1.75-6 on here in the Classifieds for my No. 1-S .35 Whelen.
To me that is ideal. A 2.5-8 would be a close second choice.

Nikon Monarch 5 2.5-10x42

Leupold or Weaver fixed 4x.

3-9x40 conquest on my wheeler encore. Works well in the woods. Or plots.

Right now I have an older 4x Burris compact on my custom Ruger. That rifle has had several other scopes on it, 6x36 Leupold, 2x7 Leupold and a 3x Weaver. The contour of the barrel won't allow me to mount anything with a 40mm objective without going to high rings. The 4x is just right for what I use it for.