Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 338 federal or 35 whelen for a new hunting rifle.

I've got some 200 grain

I've got some 200 grain round nose Hornady loaded up, i like the look of a round nose bullet. Are those 250 grain Hornadys old Stock? I thought they quit making them. I bought 5 pounds of 000 BUCKSHOT to load for mine. I haven't got around to that project yet. That's the great thing about a 35 caliber, you can shoot everything from a single 000 buckshot pellet to a 310 grain Woodleigh. You can even shoot a Hydrostablised Elephant Bullet. Powder is the same way. There seems to be very little powder that you can't get a 358 Winchester load out of.

The 358 makes a lot of sense for shooting cast. While the Whelen will shoot cast with aplomb, it is a larger case than necessary even with 280 gr cast bullets and the 358 win is a better choice. Just don't go crazy with the twist rate, I think 1-14 would be ideal. My 1-12 twist 350 rem mag isn't nearly as cast friendly as my old 1-14 35 whelen.

What I found on the HOrtnady brass was it seems to be thin walled to give a greater interior capacity. That gives them more room for their blended proprietry powder which we can't duplicate, The brass has such a different volume you can't correlate tdhe loads to other brass or the book loads. Have you tried looking for Federal Fusion; I bought mostly that in 200 gr., maybe I should have not even tried to reload.

As for reforming 30-06 brass, a decent die with proper neck lube will do the job, or you can fire form if you want a perfect fit in your chamber. The bullet looks so different and the neck size is so different that it is easy to spot the reworked ones. Look back to my other post where you can use any of the 06 family. The splits I had were on .270 brass, hadn't annealed them. There is a certain advantage in having a headstamp that is right, but Whelen brass is expensive compared to 06 and you can find lots of 06 range brass.

The one thing about having a different head stamp is if you trade off anything to a friend. I once gave .25-06 realods done .270 to a friend. He doesn't reload or follow some of the finer details, and got very confused so I had to explain to him about the case families. No good deed goes unpunished.

Acdtually my vote would go to the .338 just because it is differenter. Both the offered choices are way more than is needed for deer.

That's the reason I picked the 358. I had always wanted a Whelen but the 358 would push cast right up to the limit and I was interested in the reduced loads. I see your a 35 guy. I bought a 338 RCM. It's been called the modern day 350 Remington Magnum. Being a 338 I don't completely buy into that.

Have you seen the 358 Yeti? It's a necked down and shortened 308 case to fit into a AR. It's supposed to be comparable to a 35 Remington. There's a video on YouTube where a guy shot a deer and he's showing the damage. He's amazed that his fist fits into the hole under the skiname, then he sticks his hole finger out the entrance hole from the inside. I'm thinking, that's a 35 caliber for you.

I tried to private message that John barsness about that article about the 338 federal vs the 358 winchester and I was unable to send it. It said that the recipient was unavailable or something along those lines.

I have a copy of that article. I can look up the issue and a back issue can be ordered.

Thank you. So going back to talking about reloading for the 338 federal, prm were you ever able to get a 200 grain speer got core going 2725 like alliant powders have in their load data?

Short answer, no. Certainly not using 2000MR and staying at their book level. I need to look at my notes, but I do think I'd be close with AA2230. I asked Accurate Powder about AA2460. There's no published data, but they state it is a slightly slower version of 2230. That may be ideal for a 200 as 2230 absolutely shines with the 160 and 180s. Will get over 2800 with a 180 AB and AA2230. Also, the barrel I've loaded in recent years was a little slower than a Ruger I used to have. If there was a temp stable version of 2230, that would be nirvana in the 338 Fed. 8208 will get you to the upper 2600s with a 22" tube. That's a good option.

Here's a link to reloader nest. You pick a caliber and it shows you the reloads. It can give you a rough estimate of how the cartridges compare. The TKO numbers would be good to look at as close as the calibers are. You should also cruise over to cast boolits forum and search the calibers your looking at.


http://www.reloadersnest.com/rifle.asp

The article is in the August 2008 issue #254.

So decided on the 35 whelen. Although i do plan on reloading in the near future, it's easier for me to find factory loads for the whelen. I went with the Montana rifle company V2. I'll put some pics up after it comes in. Thank you all for the great input.

good move. the whelen is like a mini 50 bmg. its cool factor is uber.

Whelen, I have a Ruger Hawkeye SS and it shoots bugholes with Barnes Vor Tex 180 TTSX. Bullets up to 250 grains, two buds of mine are shooting 150 grain Cutting Edge bullets and it puts a 35 caliber hole in the animal.

I do want to pick up some of those vortex Barnes 180 grainers. I'll probably try whatever i can pick up at the local gun store to see what shoots the best and to be able to save up some brass.

The Whelen, if the choice is between those two.

But for deer in Michigan, what you should buy is a 30/30.......

I can't see dropping below 225 gr in the whelen unless you want to plink with cast bullets.

"338 federal or 35 Whelen for a new hunting rifle?"

YES!





(Or an 8X57. Or a 338-06. Or a 9.3X57. Or a 358 Winchester. Or a 9.3X62)




(B)................. all of the above!

I do have handed down 30-30. It does work fine for deer in Michigan. But I do plan on doing some guided hunts in the future for other game and wanted kind of do it all caliber.

I do have handed down 30-30. It does work fine for deer in Michigan. But I do plan on doing some guided hunts in the future for other game and wanted kind of do it all caliber.