Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 35 Whelen Reloading 250s and RL-15 ?

Thanks to steelhead and muledeer I shall now go forth and slay the dragons. Cheers NC

I've never seen 250gr Power Points, but I've liked the Power Points in 22 and 30 cal for killing deer.

leverite2, those loads are fast. I requested data from ramshot and it was probably conservative but nowhere near that fast. I am interested though in your loads. Not asking for them just thinking about getting some tac and running some through mine. I would like a little more speed from my whelen and 225 gr tsx's as long as there are no presssure signs. Right now RE-15 is pushing them @ 2700 with 59 grs. Its a good load, 58 grs w/250 gr hornady's also works well.

I have had good results using IMR 4064 or IMR 4320 both of these were recommended by Bob Hagel.
If these powders were not available I am using the SWAG method and picking VARGET.
whelennut

Proceed cautiously. TAC is very dense and fine grained, so don't even think about getting close to having a compressed load.

I neck size my cases and my rifle has more headspace than other 35 Whelens. This I know, because my rounds will not chamber in my buddy's CDL. So I have max powder capacity.

Started using TAC w/ 358 WIn loads after reading an article by Barsness about the 338 Federal vs the 358 WIn. Barsness got more TAC into his 358 WIn cases than I could manage, so I ended up using Ramshot's X-Terminator. But, I gave TAC a try in my 350 Rem mag...It's my go to powder now for 225 gr TSX bullets.

Built my 35 Whelen this past fall (Tikka .270 rebored) and have yet to kill something with it but it shoots 200 gr. and 225 gr. TSX's to 1" @ 100 yards groups..

35 Whelen Fed210
200 TSX
RL-15 57.5
2665 fps

35 Whelen
Barnes TSX 225 grs
RL 15 60 grs
Fed 210 primers
2600 fps

Steelhead If you want to see em and try a few send me a PM
with addie to send them to and I will ship them off to you'
Cheers NC

Not many shooting results, agreed...my Whelen has taken conservatively 10 deer and 2 hogs with a 250-gr. Speer Hot-Cor pushed a mere 2190 fps by IMR 4064. Why no faster? it can't be done in my 24" Kreiger with that powder; shoots photogenic groups, though. Shots have ranged from 30-175 yards and it damages meat all out of proportion to what you might think given its velocity. There's no "eating up to the hole". Exit holes in the ribcage on deer tend toward fist-sized or larger, although I've never recovered any fragment of a bullet...strange. Experiments with Varget were inconclusive. It seemed adding additional grains of powder only gave nominal increase in velocity on the order of 10-15 fps, which led me to believe I was overpressure even though other pressure signs were not present. Accuracy was not great and I stopped using it. When I shoot up my loaded rounds with 4064 I plan to go to the RL15 to see if I can get the magical 2400 fps, although it's not necessary for killing at short to short-medium range, I assure you.

I have switched from the 250's (Speer and Nosler) to the 225 gr TSX in my Whelen's. With 60 gr of RL 15 it goes right at 2700 fps in my old tang Ruger and worked wonderfully on elk and moose in 2008. With the 250's I used 59 gr with the Speer and 58 gr with the Nosler with both going a hair over 2500 fps.

Getting the same velocity with mine and 59 grs of RE-15. 225 gr Tsx's also, 60 grs was starting to flatten primers a bit so I backed off. 1 more grain resulted in 30 fps.

Anyone here in Texzs? I would like to trade my 270 Tilk T3 for a 35 Whelen.

This will also be very helpful to me as I've just picked up the second .35 I've ever had, a Serengetti 350 Rem Mag. This data for your Whelens should be pretty much transferable.

I get better results with Varget.......just sayin'

Furprick,
I used to use IMR 4064 but found that IMR4320 was even better.
Now I want to try VARGET. It just has such a good reputation for temperature extremes and our deer hunting can be at 18 below zero sometimes.
Do you mind sharing your results with 225 gr. or 250 gr bullets with me please?
Thanks,
whelennut

leverite2,

Am just wondering why you advise "don't even think about getting close to having a compressed load" with TAC?

For what it's worth
Dug out my notes from my 35 Whelen in a Remington classic- With the 250 grain Speer bullet, (cup and core, not A frame) 57 grains of R15 and the CCI standard primer gave me an average velocity of 2446 fps. Fifty six and one half grains, CCI standard primer, gave an average velocity of 2374 fps.
The 57 grains of R15 and the Federal LR Mag primer, gave me (in the same rifle) an average velocity of 2515 fps with the Hornady spire Point, and 57 1/2 grains of R15 with the Fed LR Mag primer gave me 2522 fps with the Hornady Spire point.

With the Federal LR Mag primer and 57 grains of R15, I got 2492 fps with the 250 Speer, and with 56 1/2 grains R15, Fed LR Mag primer, I got 2492 fps.
Looking at my notes, the one conclussion I can safely draw is to work up loads carefulley, as evidenced by the fact that with 56 1/2 grains of R15, 250 Hornady bullet and CCI primer gave me 2374 fps, but the 56 1/2 grains of R15, 250 Speer and the fed Mag primer gave me 2492 fps.
The groups the went with those chrono readings were poor, but the lugs on that rifle desparately needed lapping. I believe the gunsmith said it was one of the worse cases he had seen. My notes indicate the first group after having the lugs lapped were sub inch, and that was with the Hornady Spire point.
For what it's worth, that rifle never grouped well at 200 yards with any of the 250 grain bullets I ran thru it. Never determined if it was a rifle or scope problem, though.

Fred

My Remington 700 BDL restocked in a Lee Six stock shoots 250 gr Hornady RNs under an inch at 200 yards, though it doesn't do that well at any range with pointed soft points. Still plenty good enough.

Dennis

Dennis
I wish I had resolved the poor grouping at 200 yards. I had suspected the 1 in 16 twist, but other people like you have had good luck with the Remington barrels and 1 in 16 twist. I don't think it was parallax because 225 grains bullets grouped well. Perhaps my barrel had an even slower than normal twist. I would assume, though that twist is held quite constant on all barrels. Any ideas?

By the way, we haven't chatted fpor a while. Hope you are in fine fettle and doing well. Firming up any hunting plans for this year yet?

Fred

Hi Fred,

No plans yet...waiting for Montana to draw. I'll be somewhere that time of year doing something, though... .

I suspect the 1-16 twist prefers shorter bullets of a given weight. My rifle shoots the 250 gr RN and the Speer 250 GS much better than it does 250 gr bullets that are longer -- though it pretty much shoots everything plenty well enough for hunting elk and caribou. But the Hornady RN's it shoots spectacularly, and I've killed game somewhere past 350 yards with them, so I'm pretty much settled there. It also shoots the 250 gr Woodleighs very well, but they're sort of a semi-RN anyway.

Health-wise I'm moving along pretty well -- four months to go, and then we shall see. Went to Texas in Feb and shot some pigs with my .338 Fed and my host's 12 gauge, so that was pretty fun. And the organic, free-range pork is really good... .

How are things there for you?

Dennis

Dennis
Things are great for me- Running the road like a teenager- Went to Choteau Sunday, went to highwoods the next day trying to shoot praire dogs and headed up to Freezeout this weekend to see the geese. Need to get to Cody to go through the museum soon, plus spring bear opens next door in Idaho tomorrow.
Looks like it could be a hot dry summer though. Might have to hide out in AK for a few weeks.

Fred