Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 9.3x62 or .35 Whelen????

It's the off-season and time for "projects". I have a Model 70 (actually it is a Sears Model 53.....but it's REALLY a Model 70) chambered in .30-06. Since I already have 6 .30-06 rifles in the gunroom......this rifle is begging to be re-barreled to something new.

I have lots of rifles in the smaller calibers and don't want to go through the hassle of opening the bolt face.......so my thinking is toward a medium bore rifle. The leading candidates are the 9.3x62mm and the .35 Whelen.

What are the thoughts on these (or p0ossibly something else)???

I can think of no more emblematic names than Winchester and Sears when it comes to American industry and trade. To me, the Whelen cartridge just fits right in with those associations. The 9.3x62 is a fine cartridge that I plan on getting later this year in the Ruger African, and I see no significant advantage in the field for either round over the other. It just seems that the .35 would "seem" more right in that rifle if it were mine.

Flip a coin.

Go American with the Whelen. Not that there is any thing wrong with that Jimmy Carter metric thing.

Yep. Though I'm a wee partial to the Whelen.

I agree on the American theme...nice SeeDepp.

If one of your other 30-06's is on a Mauser action turn it into the 9.3!

Yeah, on an American action I'd do the American round.

9.3x62!!!

After near 2 decades with the 35whelen I would go with the 9.3 just because those 250gr AccuBond's are that good on game and have a BC of .494

I just went through the same decision process and landed on the Whelen. Thought through the Africa DG thing for the 9.3, but if I was making that trip and had DG on the menu, I'd probably do up a nice rifle for that trip in 375 or bigger.
I like the aura of the Whelen, also using my pistol bullets in there if I want, but when in compliment to my 308's and below - I couldn't think of anything better that the Whelen project I got going now.

Put 'em in a hat and shake 'em up. Add in the 338-06 if you please. Draw one out and go kill stuff.

I've been beating this around for a couple years myself. Since Ruger's release of the African in 9.3 that's what I'll be doing. I made that decision because my 375 H&H is an 11 lb. pig. It's a M70 Super Express with better sights n such added, but she's going for a rebore/chamber to 458 Lott. I already own a 416 Rigby on a Ruger RSM, so the 9.3 would make a workable backup/light rifle for either of those 2 on a DG hunt, and also make a fine medium for any North American game.

If not planning anything DG in African, probably would go with the Whelen myself. Plenty of bullets, and cheap ones, available. And ammo is probably much more available nationwide.

David

I'm beginning the final stages of my Whelen project on a VZ24 at this moment. My smith "lost" the project (he was fitting the barrel for me) for almost three years! Now, thankfully, the "lost" has been found and I'm ready to finish things up. A semi-inletted Boyd's laminated stock is to arrive here by brown truck on Tuesday and I just stumbled on a lovely Leupold M8/4X post reticle scope on the cheap at a gun show today! Things are looking up!

PC

+1

-Bob F.

I admit I was really leaning toward the 9.3x62mm.....just to be different. However, most here seem to be advising the .35 Whelen.....which I admit is so close to the 9.3 in performance as to be equal.

Africa is probably NOT in the mix....unless I win the Lotto (which I'm still hoping for) and it seems a re-boar (or rebarrel) is easier in the .35.

I actually have no "NEED" for anything new as I have almost everything smaller (.25-06 to .30-06) covered and a .338 Magnum above......but what does that have to do with anything anyway.

Never really thought about the American action-American round thing before.....but it kind of makes sense. I will admit that I've never been a big fan of the Model 70 (seems to me the '98 Mauser is what Winchester was trying to copy....poorly....and the Ruger 77 is a better effort).

But I do have this action waiting to be made into something useful. It is a push-feed post '64 version (which I've never thought was a "bad" idea....except that it wasn't a pre-64. Couldn't Winchester have called it something else.....cause it wasn't a Model 70.

I've already restocked it in with a modern snobble-tip Featherweight stock.....which is maybe the "best" stock design introduced in the last 50 years.....I really LIKE that design. All I need is a caliber that I can like as well.....and a medium bore seems "right".

Although I'm sure the whelen is a great round, I built a 9.3x62 on a model 70 action and couldn't be happier thus far, but I've yet to kill anything with it.

What he said. Or maybe a .338/06.

If you don't reload 35 Whelen is easier to get

I was going to say 9.3x62 until I read about the gun.

A Sears Model 70 - go .35 Whelen without a doubt.

I had the same dilema a few years ago with a stainless Ruger MKII in .30-06. After comparing numbers between the .338-06, .35 Whelen and the 9.3x62, I went with the Whelen. Not enough difference in performance and Whelen brass are easily available from Remington. A 225gr TSX at 2700 fps is all you'll ever need. That's what I use on moose.

Even if you do reload , Whelen brass is readily available and easy to make from 30-06 cases !