Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Let's Talk 35 Whelen, Who Loves Them?

I ignored the 35 Whelen for many years, just chalked it up as some old outdated cartridge that was only good for "brush busting." Then in a just a couple days I talked with Matt Bettersworth at Hill Country Rifles about a build and he suggested the 35 Whelen. He mentioned that he had hunted extensively with it and I should look into it. A few days later I called Nosler customer service about something and somehow got on the subject of a 35 Whelen. The gentleman on the line stated that it is very popular with the crew at Nosler and that many of them hunt with it as one of their main rounds. Both parties suggested that it was not just a short range round and with modern bullets like the Accubond and TTSX it was 400 yard elk rifle.

So I got curious and did some research and played with some ballistic calculators. I was surprised to see that it stacked up very well against a 30-06 with a 180 grain bullet. Here are a couple screenshots I took of a online calculator I just found just to give you a idea of the ballistics. This is with a 200 yard zero and each bullet leaving at 2700 fps.




So I said what the hell and bought a used 700 CDL in 35 Whelen, picked up a box of 250 grain Core Lokts and a box of Nosler Trophy Grade ammo with 225 Accubonds. Got on paper with the Remingtons and then zero'd with the Noslers shooting right around 1" at 100 yards and left for Montana for a Elk/Mule deer hunt outside of Butte, MT. Ended up getting a small bull that literally dropped in his tracks when hit. My dad used my rifle on a cow with the same results. We both were pretty impressed. Also recoil doesn't seem any worse than a 30-06 with 180 grain bullets.

The 35 Whelen has since become my primary round. It gives me warm and fuzzies and that is important. It is a round I just want to shoot. For me, hunting it more than just pulling the trigger. I love all aspects of it including the research, load development, range work, history of the round, etc. Is it better than a 30-06? Who knows and I don't really care. For me, it is the round I prefer. There is just something about that big .35 caliber bullet that holds my interest. Life is too short to hunt with boring calibers!