Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles IMR 4350 or 4831 for the 35 Whelen?

I've found the same powders, 4320, 4064, RL15, 4895 and powders of similar burn rates work best in my 35 Whelen. I've never tried RL17 but it should do well. 4350 and 4831 are far to slow to be of any benefit to the 35.

With Varget and RL-15 in the mix another powder with similar burning rate with no temperature sensitivity (this is what Hodgdon says) is IMR 8208 XBR.

Hodgdon's reloading data center has this powder as the fastest with a 250 gr bullet in the 35 Whelen. 54.3 gr for 2515 fps

From description of IMR 8208 XBR: "shooters will find IMR 8208 XBR totally insensitive to changes in temperature, while yielding max velocities and �tack driving� accuracy."

It sure works well in my 308 win.

RL-15 for me.

Currently loading 52.6 grs under Hornady 250's for avg 2339 fps. 22" 1-12 twist pac-nor barrel.

Plenty for a Georgia whitetail I'm sure, may find out this year!

Mike

+1 on IMR 4064 in the .35 Whelen, after extensive research and range time testing loads I have found IMR4064 to be my powde of choice. I have heard a lot of good reports on RL15, I have a pound on hand but have yet to develop a load for it.

RL15 works excellent for the 225's and 250's. IMR4064 is really good with the 200's. Varget and 4895 looks to be another to latch onto if you can find them.

ditto
4320 rl15 etc

FWIW I loaded for a 35 Gibbs for a lot of years and tried different combos, it has a little more capacity than the whelen but I found the best powder for me with a 250 was H4895 for 2700+ and good accuracy.

This seems confusing to me? Isn't imr 4350 supposed to be the go to for the 06 case and heavy bullets?

Neither 4350 nor 4831 are going to work all that great for the Whelen. Way too slow to really get enough in the case to get useful speeds.

Varget, 4064, 4320, RL15, TAC, and similar are going to work much better.

It's not just the size of the case, the size of the hole in the end matters too.

I tried the 8208 in my Whelen. I got bad accuracy with it. Best thing in my rifle has been 4064. I am going to try some of the new Speer data that is on line. It sounds optimistic for velocity though.

I started with Re15 and the 225 gr. Barnes TSX. Found nirvana at 60.4 gr. and 2710 FPS. I never looked back.

FWIW, I just checked in three manuals for 4350 (either one) and 250 gr. bullets. Powder was conspicuous by it's absence. Just confirms that it and 4831 are too slow for the cartridge. As far as temperature sensitivity, my load was worked up at temps between 95 and 105 degrees F. Last elk I shot was at 4 degrees F above zero. Bullet hit the elk right where it was supposed to go. The elk died.
Paul B.

I've had good results with both H4895 and Varget in two of my Whelens.