A few days ago, I bought a Remington Model 700 Classic in 35 Whelen. Date code tracks to August 1988, the first year of production for this combination of rifle and cartridge. I also snagged 100 pieces of Hornady brass and two boxes of 225-grain Sierra Game Kings.
I put it into an old factory synthetic stock and stuck an old 4x Leupold on it. All-up weight is just under 8 pounds.
A quick ladder test with TAC showed that 61.4 grains looked good, so I chronographed five shots on the MagnetoSpeed and got 2,689 fps average. I loaded a couple of dozen rounds with the GK about 0.10” into the case, planning to refine the OAL by seating them progressively deeper.
Recoil is kinda sharp so I flinched on the first group but the second was 0.788 MOA.
I’ve fired a total of 25 rounds to get this far, and I might be done with load development.
Seems like the 35 Whelen might be a pretty poor choice if you're looking for drama.
Okie John
