Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 250 Honady RN in 35 whelen

I've been trying some loads for the Colonel. I want to use 250gr round nose hornadys. I've been shooting some paper with them, but no game yet. Has anyone some experience with these bullets on deer? I'm shooting a Rem 7600 using 57gr of Reloader 15, rem cases (formed from '06), and win large rifle primers. Any input would be appreciated, just a little curious as to how they work since the rifle opener will be here in a little over a month.

Thanks,
Pat

Pat,
I have tried every bullet I can find in the Colonel and it likes everything! Even the 200 gr will punch right through a deer.
The 250's are more accurate in my Remington Classic. I have used the 250 Hornady spitzer but not the round nose. I used a lot of the 200 gr round nose and it flat out does the job. The 250 should please you and the Colonel.
Good Luck.
whelennut

I've shot the 250 hornady spitzer, but I just like the round nose. That bullet just looks good in that case. I've found what you said to be the truth, there hasn't been a bullet yet that I could not get to shoot with it. I guess I was just wandering if the 250rn was soft enough to open up on deer.
i can't wait for rifle season to open and give the Colonel a go. I've been wanting one for a while and finally got one this summer. I'm sure it will do just fine, but until that first Monday after Thanksgiving I will just have to talk about it here.

Pat

I shot some hornady 250rns from a 358 win into dry paper and they expanded but i think they are a harder bullet than the hornady 200sp. If I had a whelen they would make good moose medicine but probably on the stiff side for deer.

Nope...I've shot several mule deer and a caribou with 250 Hornady RN's pushed by 58 gr Re 15. They open just great on deer, and turn in sub-MOA groups at 200 yards in my Remington 700.

It's definitely my "go to" bullet for the Whelen.

DN

I've not shot a deer with one of those Hornady RN bullets, but I have killed a coyote and a bull elk. Blew a BIG hole through both shoulders of the coyote, so expansion on a deer should be quick enough. It passed right through the elk with a broadside lung shot from just over 100 steps, so penetration is obviously adequate too. I have shot some deer with the two Speer 250 grain bullets, the GS and PSP hot cor, they seem a bit slow to expand on deer, but are good for elk. I bet you'll like using the Hornady RN.

The RN will work just fine on deer.

Hmm. I may take another look at the 250RN for my 358's. the reason I started was I bought 6 boxes from a place that was closing out its reloading section so I have a small supply.

Even in lower velocity cartridges such as the 9X56 mannlicher and a 9X57 mauser they work very well on deer. Only talking about kansas whitetail here but I have used these bullets quite a bit and never had a problem with them.

Thanks guys. Sounds like I should be ok with them. I've been getting great groups from them and am glad to hear some of you have been using them with success.

It's a wonderfully accurate bullet. My 35 whelen was re-chambered to a 350 Rigby, and pushes the 250 hornady rn 2700 fps. I shot a small doe in the neck at near point blank range, and she was nearly decapitated, quarter sized entrance and fist sized exit. I'd think at the more sedate whelen speeds it would be perfection on deer.

Nice choices .

Pics, please? Maybe on another thread? I have an 8x56 and a 9x57, so I am sort of a slut for the old numbers .

DN

muledeer, I'll see what I can do. But be warned, they are just rusty old guns ya know.

I am very pleased with the Hornady 250 RN. I originally chose it because it was shorter than a spitzer and gave me some extra case room in my 350 mag while still using a 250 gr. I killed a moose and a whitetail with it, then switched to Speer 250 gr spitzers. I'm gonna kill one more elk with the Speers just to make sure, but I think my preference will be to switch back to the Hornady.

I launch the Hornady at about 2400 fps, so it should be right in there with what you will be doing with the Colonel. With the moose, it was a broadside shot at about 125 yds, nicked a bit of hide out of the front leg, hit a rib dead on going in, pulverized the lungs, hit another rib on the way out and ended up under the hide. Amazingly, the bullet, which was perfectly mushroomed, weighed 246 grains when recovered. In my estimation, perfect performance, unless you're in the "one hole on each side are better than one hole" camp. With the 250 Speer, I punch right through elk with rib cage hits and it seems that the bullet is a bit too hard and doesn't mess things up inside as much as the Hornady. But, my elk shots have been longer, etc, so I'm still workin on it.

Now to get to the point, RE: deer. I was hunting elk a while back with the 250 Hornady RN in the rifle and happened on a smaller Whitetailed buck, which I had a tag for. It was near the end of the day and I was pretty close to the truck, so I decided to use my tag. He was broadside about 75 yards away, and I hit him in the lower rib cage just behind the front leg, and the bullet exited on the off side behind the leg. He jumped straight up in the air with a little twisting kick and hit the ground in high gear, headin over a little hill in the bush. I figured he was heart shot so I let him go without shooting again. I gave him my mandatory 10 minutes then headed over to the blood trail. He was piled up about 40 yards away. I hoisted him up on a little tree and checked him out as I gutted him.

The bullet had separated the muscle layers on the entrance side, and blood was found between these, all the way up to the shoulder. Both lungs were shredded, and although I'm sure the bullet did not actually go through the heart, it was ripped open. The off side had a hole about 4" around in the ribs and was blood shot between layers worse than the entrance side. I ended up throwing out quite a bit of meat.

Although this is only one case, I decided the 250 RN was just too much bullet for a deer. I'm a meat hunter, so maybe my estimation of preferred terminal performance is different than some. After all, the bullet did a fine job of making absolutely sure the deer didn't go far.

But.... I'd use the Remington 200 gr CoreLokt PSP as a first choice for deer. Most 35 cal round nose bullets are too soft in 200 gr, being made for 35 rem speeds, but the harder Remington bulk 200 Pointed SP seems to work well at Whelen/350 Mag speeds.

Check out 35cal.com and especially this article for some good info.

54.0gr of Varget with that hornady 250gr RN was an extremely accurate load in my ruger 35 whelen. It clocked out just under 2400fps and was very good for all around hunting.

You mean like this old 8x56 ?



(Sorry for the mini-hijack ...)

DN

nice rifle. think anyone makes em in a left hand version?

I'm sure they've been shot by left-handers .

The M1908 Mannlicher-Schoenauer hasn't been made for more than 50 years, and was never made with the bolt on the wrong side of the rifle .

The M1905 was made in 9x56 M-S, and Buffalo Arms (www.buffaloarms.com) sells 250 gr RN bullets swaged down to the correct .356 diameter that look amazingly like Hornady's.

DN

I have always felt that the Speer was softer than either 250 Hornady. It seems to let the water out of identical 5 gallon cans faster than the Hornady SP does anyway.





The 250 Speer does have a good rep on game though and open even at low velocity.

This was one I recovered from a moose which involved bone only on the far side of te animal:



Pretty hard to go wrong with any of them on deer though, I would think.

Klik,

Appreciate the input. Circumstances aligned so far that I've never used a Speer 250 on a close in shot. Course that's the reason I switched from the Hornady, better BC for long shots on elk. Been convincing myself lately that BC doesn't really matter that much at Whelen/350 Mag ranges though (50 to 400 yds).