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Joined: Feb 2010
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I want to load some 180 gr & 200 gr. bullets in my .35 Whelen for whitetail hunting, specifically I am considering the 180 gr. Speer Flat Point, Hornady 200 gr. Spitzer FTX and Hornady 200 gr. RN Interlock. Powders I have on hand are IMR 4064, IMR 4350, RL-15 and Varget. Can anyone share their experiences with these bullets on whtetails, load info regarding favored combinations also sought.

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I used to load 200gn Remington SPs in my Whelen with H4895 for 2770fps. I used Varget with the 225gn Accubonds. I never shot a deer with the 200gn bullets but I did shoot lots and lots of pigs. I found that if shot behind the shoulder the 200gn Rems would go right through and pigs would run 50 - 70 yards before going down which was a bit of an issue in the dense scrubby country that we hunted. When plugged right through the thick shoulder pad however, the pigs would drop like hit by a Mack truck. A light for calibre bullet in a calibre that makes a big hole kills very well when driven into bone and thick muscle to cause it to expand. The 232gn Normas are the same in the 9.3x62.

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I used the 180gr Speer hot core bullet on deer with my Whelen; it was an accurate bullet and killed OK but not as impressive as some others. It's a pretty tough bullet and expansion wasn't very much judging by the holes.

The two 200gr Hornady bullets you mention are mostly intended for 35 Rem velocity, i.e. 2000-2200 fps at the muzzle; I think your results might be a little explosive at higher speeds in the Whelen, unless you're looking for reduced loads. You might consider the 200gr Hornady SP instead.

Personally I switched to the 225 Partition for my Whelen hunting load and never looked back; the results were always as good or better than what I'd seen with lighter bullets.

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That's interesting. We load the 180-grain .35 Hot-Cor at 1900 fps in my wife's 16/9x72R German combination gun, and so far it's knocked the snot out of every deer she's aimed it at, with every indication of having expanded very well.


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It's possible that Hot-Cor blows the nose off on impact (in the Whelen I was pushing it closer to 3,000 fps) but I never saw evidence of it; usually a bullet that does that leaves a pretty noticeable cavity of destruction somewhere in the wound path. No pictures though sorry, it's been nearly 20 years since I quit using that bullet.

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It's also possible the bullet had changed since you used them. Have seen that happen more than now and then.

The deer she's killed, starting in 2010, have all been within 150 yards. They've been shot both through the shoulders and through the ribs. All the deer went down quickly, all the bullets exited, and all left plenty of destruction between the two holes.


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The 200g Rem. SP is what is in the factory load. It works well on deer sized animals and pigs. The 200g Hornady SP is probably a little bit tougher bullet. The Hornady 200g FTX as stated above is designed for the .35 Rem. lever action. I've use the Speer 180g FP in my Marlin .35 Rem. with good results on a few deer but the 200g RN both Rem and Hornady seem to have better on game performance. I even loaded some of the old Hornady 180g SSP designed for the Contender in .35 Rem in my Whelen. Got a complete pass thru on a deer shot thru both lungs. There were, however, bit of jacket scattered all over the the inside of the ribs on the exit side. I'm hording my Barnes 200g 1stGen XFB's. Those were amazing in my Whelen. I'd expect the current Barnes offering to be equally as devastating.


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I have used the 200 grain core-lok bullets in my Whelen.

Shot 2 deer with them.
The first was 125 yards and when shot dropped so fast i thought it had ran off.
What happened was it had reversed direction,it was shot in the chest.
The other was over 300 yards and it had hit a limb and deflected and hit the neck.

Both were found in their tracks.I do have some of the original Barnes-X 200 grain that were to be used for elk but none were harmed.
It did travel through three aspen trees and one tamarack pine before going to ground.The trees were around 10 inches in diameter at 100 yards.

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I've had good luck with the Speer 180/35 on several deer shot with a .35 Remington at 2300+ fps. The only place that they went was on the end of my drag rope.

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I used the 200X for years out of a 35 WAI going 2970fps. H322 was the Berries. I would think the Speer 180HC going 2700 in your Whelen would be also. I have a friend out here who uses the 200 Hornady in his similar 338/06 for muleys/elk just fine.

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