2-8-08
Glad to have found this thread. I was trying to decide what caliber would find a home in my newly acquired left hand 98 Mauser action. My experience with a steel BLR in 358W has been great with whitetails, but I wanted a little more for elk and moose. Performance of those 250 Speers in the BLR on a Texas Heart Shot convinced me that 35's are real performers. Did not recover the slug.
It came down to a 35 Whelen or a 9.3X6...and after reading this thread it still is a 35 Whelen or 9.3X62!! As a Keith fan I love those "heavy for caliber" bullets but am no fan of magnum level recoil. (I shoot 2-3/4" turkey loads too.) So either of these rifle rounds fit the bill nicely. The Whelen has better sectional density at comparable bullet weights, but I am not so sure it is really a good predictor of penetration. Momentum and expansion seem more realistic indicators.
Can anyone give me one overriding reason to choose the 9.3? Performance-wise, I doubt it, but give it a try.
I can always apply my sure-fire formula in the end. I l have the same fondness for the 6.5's others have expressed here and I chose the 6.5 X 64 Brenneke (6.5X270) over the 6.5X55 or 6.5/06 because the performance is close/identical respectively, and it is different enough that no one else at the range has one.
Looks like the only argument that will defeat the "uniqueness" test is the cheap '06 brass and usability of relatively inexpensive std. Speer 250's.
It's still a dead heat in my mind.
Roger
