Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 35 Whelen

How many 35 Whelen shooters are on this board? What do you think of the Whelen as a all-around caliber for animals like Whitetail, Blackbear, Wild Boar, and Elk? I've found one of the new Rugers and a Rem 700 Classic, both for a good price but I've never shot any game with the Whelen. Most of my shots are less than 150 yards but the occasional 250 yard plus shot pops up. What would be the best all-around bullet weight that will give me power and still make the rare 300 yard shot? Does anyone make a sturdy 225 grain bullet? What kind of velocity can I expect from the 22" barrel and 225 to 250 grain bullets? From what I've read I'm guessing I can get 2650 or so from the 225's and around 2500 or a little more from the 250's. What are a two or three powders that work in the Whelen? I've got some IMR-4198, 4350, and 4831, I've also got some H-4831 and Re22 but I suspect they are a little too slow for the Whelen. Is the Whelen worth the trouble or should I just get a 338 mag? Thanks again for the help. Greg

WVShooter, -- JMHO, if your terrain is anything like VA go with the 35 Whelen and don't look back. The Trophy Bonded Bear Claw 225gr is a hoss. I say the Whelen because I have seen the conditions around DC and Manassas, If you hunt the clear cuts or fields the 270 Win is all you need. -- no

There is a whole cult of folks who dote on the 35 Whelen and some will be sure to post here. I had a 700 Classic and after shooting it a bit and taking one deer with it I re-barreled it to 25-06.<BR>The problem for me was that it doesn't have a very flat trajectory and you give up an awful lot of B.C. in exchange for frontal area.<BR>I'ld get a 338 and never look back.<BR>If you get the Whelen, try RE-15 or IMR-4064 and 225 bullets. Either Sierra or the Nosler BT.<BR>Nothing really wrong with the Whelen but you can do better. JMHO, Joe.

If you want a powerfull do-everything gun, get the whelen. You can load up it to near 375 H&H level or down to .357 mag pistol level. I don't think there is anything that a .338 or .375 can do that you can't do with the whelen, and neither of those calibers have light pistol bullets available for reloading. If you are really power hungry, you can have it rechambered to 35 Ackley Improved. With .225 grain noslers the 35 whelen is almost as flat as a 180 gr 30.06 out to 250 yds. For relatively short range deer or pigs, you can load 200 grain round points for devastating results. Can't go wrong with the whelen, Weagle

I've got a custom VZ24 Mauser sporter in the .35 Whelen Ackley Improved. I load a Hornady 250 grain Interlock to 2700 fps. It's now got 5 hogs to it's credit. What I really like about it is that it leaves a big blood trail in the event of a bad shot. For some odd reason (probably because I'm so noisey going through the brush), I always seem to find my hogs on the run. It's nice to have a the frontal diameter and the bullet weight going for you if you're a little off on your lead, or have to make an end to end shot. <P>I shot this one hog broadside on the run with this rifle. Thought I had my lead right, but the bullet hit dead center-of-pig. I thought I had missed altogether as the hog did not even break stride! I went over to see if there was any blood. What I found were chunks of intestine and liver blown literally 20 yards past where the hogs tracks were! The tracking into thick poison oak didn't take long with the easy blood trail. Found the hog about 40 yards into the brush, with a huge section of intestine strung out the far side exit wound. Guess there is something to be said about the "vacume, or vortex" that is created behind a large frontal area bullet! Glad I didn't have to track any further into that poison oak. As it was, I got a rash so bad it put me in bed with a fever for 3 days. Had it been a smaller caliber, say a .243 [img]images/icons/crazy.gif" border="0[/img] , I may have lost that hog.

These are Nosler Partitions, first number is SD second number is BC. Not much difference!<P><BR>.338" <P>210 Gr. Spitzer .263 .400 <BR> <BR>225 Gr. Spitzer .281 .454 <BR> <BR>250 Gr. Spitzer .313 .473 <P><BR>.358" <P>225 Gr. Spitzer .251 .430 <P>250 Gr. Spitzer .279 .446

I had a chance to run a series of 225-grain Federal Premiums through my Special Edition Ruger over a chronograph today. Please keep in mind that this Whelen only has a 22" barrel. The slowest shot was 2566 ft/sec and the fastest was 2591 ft/sec. The mean was 2578 ft/sec. With my Classic that has a 24" Shilen barrel, I am averaging a tad over 2600 ft/sec with the same round. CP.

WV Shooter check this out: <A HREF="http://www.african-hunter.com/site/firearms/35wheleninzimbabwe_01.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.african-hunter.com/site/firearms/35wheleninzimbabwe_01.htm</A> <P>Mike

I do not handload. What are your opinions regarding factory ammo for the 35 Whelen? Is it mostly underpowered to accomodate older rifles (i.e. .45-70 Government)? Or, are there adequate loads to be found on the shelf?<P>Just curious.

I just bought a Remington 700 BDL .35 Whelen about two weeks ago. I ended up getting about a box and a half of 225 grain Sierra Gamekings with the rifle. Does anyone have experience with these bullets? I know Gamekings are supposed to be quite accurate but I was wondering what the penetration and expansion characteristics are like. The other one that I'm interested in trying is the 250 grain Hornady round nose. Could the 250 grainer at 2400-2500fps be expected to expand properly on the whitetailed deer that would make up the secondary use of this rifle (black bears will be its main use)? Any experience you might be able to relate would be really useful to me.<P>Chuck Fraser

My sole hunting rifle at the moment is a 35 whelen ackley, and I don't feel the least bit hindered by not having any other calibers.<P>As far as the comments about trajectory and sd, those are for the load book balisticians. The whelens performance in the field has always been rock solid. The muzzle velocity isn't so extreme as to require special bullets, nor are the bullets so svelt that they need every grain to penetrate. If you take a 250 yd shot, and things don't go right, it isn't due to the the trajectory, or retained velocity, things would have gone wrong with any round.<P>As far as preferred powders RL15 and Varget are very similar and popular. I personally prefer VV N550, but there is no published data for its use, so I can't recomend it. <P>Velocities for std whelens w/ 22-24" barrels are 2400-2500 w/ 250's and 2550-2650 w/ 225's. My ackley pushes 250 gr a-frames 2700 even 10' from the muzzle. I personally have no need for lighter bullets, as 2700 is plenty flat, and I'd rather have a slightly heavier bullet then a slightly light one, though you really don't need the 250's over the 225's unless you are going after critters over 1000#'s. <P>The real fun starts with cast bullets, and you just don't know what fun is til you load a 150-180 gr pistol bullet over 8-10 grs Universal Clays or Unique.

Paul stop it man!! My Whelan got pushed back by the .338 I just bought and your making me slobber on the keyboard talking that much sense!! <P>Mike