Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .35 Whelen fluff piece in current RIFLE

Give me a break...Did they need something to fill the blank spots or what?

Mike

Even fluff on the 35 Whelen is nice. But I do see your point. Not a whole lot of original content in that one.

Yep,

We need more new/original stuff on the 30/06 .

Wolfe Publishing is happy to consider free-lance submissions. What article would you write in its place?

Since I haven't received my copy yet, I don't know if it's a good article or not. But I do know you're welcome to submit your copy to take the place of pieces you consider inferior.

Good luck,

Dennis

I don't make a living as a writer.

Mike

I haven't received my copy yet but if it's on the .35 Whelen it can't be that bad! .

Hi Dennis

Might be interesting. What payment might one expect?

Serious question...

John

I haven't read the articcle yet, but since it's under the "classic cartridges" section, it DOES make more sense than a piece about the .260Rem......

One person's fluff piece is another's eye-opener. Personally, I'm sick of the hype/thinly disguised advertising for the new lines of cartridges that don't really improve on the existing classics. I'll take fluff pieces on the classics any day.

Many of todays younger shooters don't know squat beyond what's written up in the mainstream gun mags-------just stand at a gun counter and listen to the world "Ultramag" repeated ad nauseum. They just don't know that anything else exists. If the next generation of budding gun looneys show enough interest in classics like the .35Whelen, maybe we'll be lucky enough to get more factory rifles chambered for 'em, rather than having to pay custom chamber prices for "standard" cartridges. And if not, at least we can be treated to the warm 'n fuzzy feeling when reading about some great old cartridges.

and I want it to be clear this is not an attack on the writer. John H. wrote another article in the same issue on .22 Mags that was very good.

I guess it is from my desire for RIFLE and HANLOADER to be advanced reading material, which it sometimes still is, not just a better GUNS & AMMO.

Mike

I used to tell my writers (again and again) two important things (inter alia) about writing for our magazines:

� An article about, say, the .30-06 should interest readers who're already familiar with the .30-06 � and should preferably tell 'em something that they don't already know.

� Never forget that whatever you write about, some of your readers already know a lot about it that you don't know.

The .22WMR article was good and not a bunch of hype. Especially where the comparo to the .17 HMR was. The .35 Whelen article is dead on no hype. It was chambered by Remington and Ruger for short amounts of time, it did go away for slow sales and those who have one do wax poetic about it. It was a short factual blurb about a fine wildcat.

I just read it over morning coffee. Someone could have written it while stopped at a red light. But JH does right some very good stuff although he uses the same photos too often. That "Classic" column I believe is to get a short overview on a topic rather than a long disertation. Not bad but could have been better.

I subscribe to both Rifle and Handloader, although the Whelen issue hasn't made it yet.

Those two publications seem to me to be aimed at a more sophisticated audience with at least some experience in the shooting sports.

I'll reserve judgment until I've read the article, but it is frustrating when a topic is poorly or hastily covered.

A personal pet peeve seems to be the need to re-hash the history of each and every cartridge. I understand Ken Howell's dictum that each article should interest novice and expert alike, and in my opinion there is not a better writer who informs both than Brian Pearce.

I rather enjoyed the Africa piece my Venturino.

I thought Venturino's piece was interesting, but not representative of what most folks would experience with a good trip. I think his aversion to snakes overshadowed everything.

Years ago a writer no longer with us wrote a very nice article on the 35 Whelen.

My brother was impressed with the writer's arguments and built a custom 35 Whelen using the same action, barrel, and stock that were used in the article. Years later at a gathering where the writer was present, my brother proudly showed the unsuspecting writer his 35 Whelen. The writer asked my brother where he got such a dumb idea as building a custom 35 Whelen. My brother brought out his worn copy of the writer's article on the 35 Whelen. The writer said he couldn't remember was caused him to write that article because the Whelen wasn't worthy of a second thought.

My brother still has his 35 Whelen and enjoys it. Has talked me into getting one made too.

I like the 35 Whelen, but I like the 358 Win, 338 Federal, 338-06, and 9.3 x 62 cartridges too.

.

I've got a Whelen and I like it alot. Every thing I've shot with it has died quickly and I'll have it with me this fall in the canyons of the Blues. I subscribe to all the Wolfe magazines and I like 'em all but I don't think the editor or staff have any real interest in the Whelen. The only article I recall in the past few years that gave it more that a passing glance was one by Wayne Van Zwoll written about cartridges built off the '06 case.

As I see it the reason for this is the folks there want their medium bores to shoot 270 grain pills or better and the Whelen isn't built that way. The twist rate sets it up to shoot light for caliber bullets, 250's or less, mostly less. Anyway any mention at all is better than nothing, I was surprised to see any thought at all given the Whelen at Wolfe.

Mule Deer wrote an excellent piece several years ago about shooting cast bullets and taking game with it.

It inspired my 1st custom build a VZ-24 with a 12 twist barrel.

The differences in the two articles is MD actually had a rifle and shot it no less!!

Mike

Mike, I think John Haviland wrote that article in the Handloader July/August 2000 issue. It was titled Wheelweights, the Whelen, and Elk. The rifle in the article was a Rem 700 Classic.
Haviland article

Just went and pulled the hard copy. I believe you are absolutly right. I may have to search and see if MD wrote a similar article. I believe(without reading it) that that was the one.


That's a good example of the kind of article I want to see each month.


Mike