Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Custom .35 Whelen rifles, what did you build yours on?

Lh Zastava and a blank I got off ebay.




I was going for a period Griffin and Howe sort of look--the kind of thing the Colonel would have seen as practical. So a receiver mounted peep sight seemed just the thing.

I had a 7600 cut back to 20 inches, trigger worked and a pad added. It was perfect.

After that I had a 700 BDL short action fitted with a 21 inch 358Win bbl by Beven King in BC and bedded to a McMillan compact to be topped with a FXII 4x. More perfect.

My Classic shot the Barnes Original 275s just as well as it did any other bullet... I was obviously the limiting factor.

I have two Whelens, the first is the 700 Classic I changed the stock, but that was all......the second one is a custom built on a Zoli action. I am still working on a stock for it.

All the 7600s in 35W I owned would shoot 250gr Speers well.

Mine shoots the heck out of 250gr Nosler Partitions.

Some really nice Whelens on this thread. Mine is not really a custom but it has become one of my most dependable and favorite rifles.

It is a 1942 Winchester model 70 that was converted to left handed operation. I had Cliff LaBounty rebore it to 35 Whelen. It loves any 250 grain bullet and 56 grains of 4320. It wears a Weaver K2.5x with a post and crosshair reticle and a slightly modified left handed model 70 take off stock.

1903A3 Springfield action, '03 bottom medal, maple stock, leather pad. Safety has since been changed to Win 70 type 2-pos. A bit heavier than is usual in this day and age, but does soak up the recoil of 250 grain loads.

Custom or bitza? I never got along with my Tikka Varmint 243Win enjoying a somewhat love-hate relationship with it. Accurate for sure, but souless and somewhat boring, so ended up swapping over the bolt-stop, throwing a 5 shot magazine in, added a Green Mountain 35cal barrel from the cupboard, a set of Brno rimfire sights, set of AUD$45 QD mounts and voila ... the 35Whelen McTikka was born.




Looking for Talley QDs locally ($100+), came across this set of Russian made, all steel QD mounts that retail locally for about $45. So on they went, clamping to a set of Weaver bases. These mounts are medium height, have a set of lows about to go on.



These shots are the first with the scope mounted and brought to aim, then 3 where the scope was taken off and returned ... not sensational perhaps for a varminter, but great for a hunting rifle. Groups have continued to shrink as the barrel runs in and I fiddle with loads to an average shading MOA. This group was from PPU 30/06 brass opened, a charge of AR2206H, a 250gr Bertram RN projectile ... and away she went.



The swine amongst the pearls at a recent BGRC shoot. The McTikka was good enough to be steered to 6th overall from about 70 competitors.



Whilst this bitza custom was put together as a bit of a joke, it continues to impress with its no nonsense performance.
Cheers...
Con

Wow. Awesome bunch of Whelens!

I bought it after the work but mine started life as a Weatherby Vanguard 30-06 that was drilled out to 35 before a round was ever fired thru it.

My favorite is an 1895 Winchester (Miroku repro) rebored by Cliff Labounty.

Just a nice big lever in a classic chambering.

You just described my dream gun. We must have pictures!

I don't have a lot of pics, but here you go.

Amazing!

Nolser Outfitter with a Leupold 2.5x8. Shoots extremely well, seems to like everything I feed it and puts it all into one inch or less. Elk seasons starts October 1 here and I will be using it with 225 Nosler Accubonds.