Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 35Whelen - what is your go-to bullet?

I was having a tough time finding 250s when I first finished up my Whelen. Shot some caribou with 180 Speers and 200TSXs, the TSX worked wonderfully and the Speer was junk that turned inside out and blew up.

Next season still looking for 250s I ended up with a box of 350 Remington Mag handloads from the early 1990s and the end flap indicated they were loaded with a 250gr Wyoming bonded core. I pulled them and gave the brass to a friend with a 350 and loaded the bullets in reformed 270 brass for my Whelen. A couple shots at a target confirmed zero and into the bush plane I went. Shot two middling sized grizzlies with those bullets and recovered one after it clipped the edge of the skull and then broke two vertebrae and the off shoulder blade. Cut it out and it weighs 249.1gr.

Next season finds me almost out of my mystery bullets when I happen onto a 2”x2” ad in the back of a 1991 Handloader magazine for none other than Wyoming bonded bullets. On a dare I called the number and left a message. A couple days later a nice guy named Robin called me back wondering how on earth I had gotten his number and called wanting bullets. He’d been out of the bullet business since the mid 1990s. After a visit he told me he made one run a year of bullets for old customers who wouldn’t shoot anything else and since I’d asked nicely he would put me in the queue. We ended up becoming friends and visiting via phone and email for years and I continued to be on the list and shoot his bullets. I probably have enough now for about all the Whelen use I’m likely to engage in.

Otherwise I like 250gr Hornady RN and Nosler Partitions.

225 grain GK
It’s a hammer

I have two 35 Whelens. They both love 225g bullets. Especially the .358 Accubond Noslers and 223g Hammers.

I shoot deer with mine. 225 Game Kings. The only one that ever stopped in a deer went lengthwise and was under the skin on a ham. It was a perfect mushroom. I figure they would work well on anything.

Mb….Thanks for the reply. Remington did load the pointed 250 in the Whelen and I bought 5 or 6 boxes of them along with the 250gr roundnose.

Appreciate it.

Your welcome.

Like others I have used the 250 grain bullets the most and the 220 Speer some. I had no issues with the Hornady RN or spitzer, the Nosler Partition or the Speer Spitzer. If I had to pick a favorite it would be the Speer first and the Partition second. However they all did their job perfectly. I had spotty results with the 220 Speer on a few hogs. 2600 fps may have been too much for it.

For one bullet in the Whelen for moose/elk/black bear/whitetail you'll do no better than the 200 TTSX (the 200 TSX is nearly as good). I've used that combination for several mature moose, several brown bears, a caribou, and deer in my Whelen. I've witnessed a couple failures with Hornady/Sierra/Remington cup and core 200 grain bullets on whitetails and have no confidence in their penetration at Whelen velocities. The various 250 grain bullets work fine, but at increased recoil and a less useful trajectory. The 220 Speer is too soft for moose IME, though they just barely worked. The 225 Sierra, 225 Accubond, 225 Partition, and 225 TSX are all fine bullets for bigger deer, and I've used them successfully for deer and moose. The 200 TTSX has always expanded wider in deer size critters and penetration isn't an issue, but I'll admit that I typically load 225 TSX when my hunts are for moose/brown bear.

Emulating a 30/06 loaded with 220gn bullets puzzles me.
I get that the Whelan has greater frontal and expansion area and I get that the '06 has greater SD but.........

I really like the 200 TTSX and the 220 Hammer Hunter, both are fast, flat shooting, excellent killng power and plenty of penetration

On game performance will probably clear it all up for you, if you really want to understand it. You might question if the Whelen is any more effective on animals than a 30/06. That's a reasonable question and with the innovations in bullets in the past century the difference isn't what it once was. As for the 200 TTSX in a Whelen, it'll compare more similarly to the .300 Win Mag. Penetration will be measured in feet and easily more than many of the 250 grain bullets that are touted. Personally, I've used a lot of different bullets in the Whelen for a variety of North American game for decades, and while I prefer other bullets for certain applications, the 200 TTSX at 2850+ fps is as good of a selection as I am aware for the variety of animals such as moose/elk/black bear/whitetail.

One big advantage the Whelen has is cast bullets. Though I shoot cast in both.

Full respect for the ‘06 and 220’s but there is an observable difference in on game performance with a 358 bullet like the 225 X at 2700-2800 and a 250 expanding bullet at 2600. The size of the full penetration hole and the shuddering effect on the animal.
I’d be happy on anything anywhere with either but the old Whelen stands tall.
F01

180 or 200 gr Barnes TTSX.

Seeing that the TTSX seems to be more consistently available, I might have to give the 200 grain TTSX a try

200 TTSX

Jacketed, cast and pistol bullets, my Redman rebored Whelen shoots them all accurately. Ken Waters Pet Loads has lots of great info on .35 Whelen loads, it's my one stop source for accurate loads.

I used a Furry 220gr Flat Point last fall on a small 7pt whitetail, and it knocked him sideways. Damage was not excessive but thorough.

One counterpoint to that, fellas, is that a 250 grain bullet that "loses" 40% of its weight just blasted 100 grains of lead fragments through the vitals while (in the proven case of the 250 Partition that folks have been advocating) continuing with very reliable penetration and a probable exit.
I killed my first elk with the 250 Partition, which worked great, but have also put 3 x 200 TTSX and 2 x 225 TSX through elk with fine results since. Only Barnes X I ever recovered, of any caliber, was a 225 TSX that went through both shoulders at the thickest point on a big 342" bull. DRT, and bullet under the hide on the off side. It weighed exactly 225 grains after being cleaned up, for 100% retention (all these were the .358 bullets, per this conversation, but the 200 TTSX were from the .358 Win at 2700 FPS muzzle velocity - Others were in the Whelen).
So while I'm a Barnes fan too, I'm not blind to the virtues of the big 250 Partition. I'd also bet it retains more than 60% weight based on where the partitions are located on the big Noslers.




Cheers,
Rex

I used the Barnes 225 grain TSX at 2550 fps out of my 22" Remington 700 (originally 30-06, rebored by JES ). I've taken a Sitka blacktail, a Michigan whitetail, and a Kodiak Island Brown bear with ii. No bullets recovered. I'm very happy with its performance, knocks deer size game off their feet. The bear took 2 hits to put down.