Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 35 Whelen with modern powder and bullets...?

I built a Whelen on a VZ24 action and loaded a 225 gr. TSX running just shy of 2700 fps. Longest shot just over 350 yds. I took three bulls with this load/rifle and my Pop took one. This is one of those bullets that incredibly, travelled the full length of one of those NM bulls.



My Pop has a 700 Classic in Whelen, and the last couple of years of his elk hunting he carried it because with the old 4X Leupold it wears, it is such a light rifle. Load development was easy, and I worked up a load with a 250 gr. Speer SP that ran it just over 2500 fps and grouped very well-



As luck would have it, he got a shot at a rag-head bull at exactly 44 yds. The 250 gr. Speer acted sort of like a varmint bullet at that range. The short blood trail looked like it came out of a 5/8" garden hose. The shot was slightly quartering away, entering behind the right shoulder and angling forward into the left shoulder. Talk about a mess....

Entrance-

Off shoulder-

Remains of the bullet-

Shoulda used a Partition, but had these on hand.

Memories....and his last bull at age 75-