25+ years ago I had Randall Redman rebore a pre'64 Winchester M/70 .30-06 to .35 Whelen. After I got the rifle back from Redman I did exhaustive range testing and found that the bullet my rifle liked best was a Sierra Game King 225gr. over IMR 4064. This was my whitetail load for years until shoulder surgery prompted me to go to a lighter bullet. A search of Ken Waters Pet Loads found one of Waters most accurate loads was a Hornady Inter-lok 200gr. RN over IMR 3031. My rifle was super accurate with that load 100yd. 3 shot groups were tight cloverleafs and the load performed admirably on whitetails. The one bullet that I was able to recover was perfectly mushroomed and retained 66% of its original weight. I never used a bullet heavier than 225gr. as I didn't feel it necessary for whitetails the majority of which were taken at ranges of 100yds. or less.
