Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .35 Whelen bullet penetration and expansion test with pics

I recently bought some 250 gr. Hot Cors for my .35 Whelen. What was your load with the Hot Cors? I have been using 58 gr. of RL 15 with 225 gr. Sierra BT, but have not tried any of the 250 gr. bullets yet.

It looks like I have a tight chamber/barrel. I can't even get close to Alliant max of 59.5 gr of RL15. When I was working up a load I first started 2 grain below max. I got 2654fps with 57.5gr out of a 22" barrel. Alliant says 2550fps with the max 59.5 out of a 24". I haven't quite finalized the load yet but it looks like its going to be around 53-54gr for 2500-2540fps. The 225 TSX will probably end up at 55 for 2700fps.

Nice, inch and half out of the book. 20" is minimum for Black Bear. Still, a great bear.

Thanks

He was damned happy with it, and wants to go back.
Too rich for my blood though! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

The Whelens seem to vary up and down alot on the amount of powder it takes to reach max........likely due to differing dimentions of custom made reamers over the years.

My rifle would take at least 5 more grains of RL 15 to reach 2700 with 225 gr slugs .

I am a new member on the forum, but I have enjoyed this place a lot. I use a 35-284 which is almost identical to the 35 Whelen in performance. I have shot 3 Elk using the Sierra 225gr Game Kings and 1 with a Nosler Partition. In all cases they penetrate completly through the Elk. 1 shot kills. I also am very pleased with the accuracy of these bullets and have shot to 3/4" with the Sierras going right at 2700 fps. Great caliber..

Welcome Ruger 4570!
It is a great place!

How about some specifics on your .35-284?

duckster, that Sierra 225 BT is a bomb.

bd65

Agree.

WN

BCsteve,first THANKS for vposting the pictures and info! its truely appreciated!

Ive used those 250 speer .358 bullets for years,in both my 358 win and 35 whelen, no complaints at all with accuracy or results on game.and since the cost is far lower I get to practice with them far more frequently

I have had 0 luck with Hornady and Barnes bullets in my rifles. I am just finishing up a 35 Whelen AI and plan to use Speer GS and Sierra Pro hunters bullets. I can't see how a 284-35 will have comparible numbers to the 35 Whelen which holds more powder....but what do I know....I'm 61 years old. I just finished a 6.5-284 that shot the 140gr bullet at 2750'/sec....very accurate I might add. How can a 35-284 shoot a 200gr + bullet at the same speed? I sure would like that receipe...Regards, Rick.

nice, bc, nice.

I had lost the links to the pictures when Imagestation changed so I re-attached all the pictues using Photobucket instead. A picture is worth a thousand words and I thought is was a shame to loose the pictures on this thread. Unfortunately I couldn't just edit the pictures so I had to add a post.

Test media was wet newspaper.
Impact velocity: approx 2500fps for the 250gr and 2650fps for the 225gr.

Side by side view of the exit hole after approximately 6" of penetration. First one is Speer GS vs Barnes TSX, second one is Hornady IL vs Speer HC.




Hornady 250gr SP IL


Penetration: 17"
Expansion: 0.802, 0.793, 0.792....avrg: 0.803
Weight retention: 206.2, 206.0, 204.2....avrg: 205.1gr



Speer 250gr HC


Penetration: 18"
Expansion: 0.670, 0.796, .0774....avrg: 0.747
Weight retention: 173.8, 217.8, 209.5....avrg: 200.4



Speer 250gr GS
[img]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/...let%20test/35250grSpeerGSsideviewjpg.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/...llet%20test/35250grSpeerGStopviewjpg.jpg[/img]
Penetration: 18"
Expansion: 0.656, 0.700...avrg: 0.678
Weight retention: 208.3, 212.8....avrg: 210.6
(one bullet got away)



Barnes 225gr TSX
[img]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/bcsteve/35%20Cal%20bullet%20test/35225grTSXsideviewjpg.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/bcsteve/35%20Cal%20bullet%20test/35225grTSXtopviewjpg.jpg[/img]
Penetration: 20"
Expansion: 0.737, 0.755, 0.686...avrg: 0.726
Weight retention: 225.1, 225.0, 224.9...avrg: 225.0

Nice! It looks like any of those would work well!

Yeah, great pix.

Just kidding.

I shot a pretty big moose this past year in BC with my 35 Whelen, using 225gr TSXs. The first shot went through both shoulders and exited. The moose went about ten yards and stopped, and was finished with a neck shot. The first shot went through both scapulars, creating a hole that looked like it had been drilled,leaving white powdered bone that looked like sawdust. The distance for both the first and second shots was about 40 yards.

My guide, who was great, had never heard of the 35 Whelen. When he saw what the Whelen with the TSX did, he thought it was a new wonder rifle.

Gotta love the Colonel! Easy to load and shoot, and deadly on game.

Steve