Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The Great 35 Whelen

el divino,
The contact info for Jesse's re-boreing is: 541-942-1342 evenings. He's in Cottage Grove, Or.
I just had my Winchester 94, 30-30 re-bored to 38-55. Am VERY happy with Jesse's work! 4 day turn around time, 'course I'm only 30 minutes from him.
Virgil B.

yes the whelen is a fine big game cartridge, problem for me is that all other calibers are compared to it . I only use the whelen now and my other rifles sit at home, its that good, I hunt in g-bear country and the whelen is enough for that in a manageable weight rifle.

Thank goodness Virgil posted the contact info. I'd filed mine in my reloading room where the filing system is a bit shaky on the best days. I called Jesse about my project and was mighty impressed talking to the man. Maybe I shouldn't have abandoned the project with him but this year and last have been expensive ones at my house so my hunting and shooting must be self supporting - thinning out firearms and not starting any new projects is the easiest way to free up a couple dollars. Ward

Sounds like my .375's problem. Once, in my pre-Whelen days, it was my go-to gun. Now spiders live in its barrel. I use the Whelen for most everything now, from mountain goats on down to javelina, and from eland down to klipspringers. What did I ever do before?

thanks

Glad to be of help!
Just got back in from shooting my 38-55 re-bore again. Got 1.25" for 5 shots at 30 yards. I put the target appature in my peep sight, and it helped a bit. At almost 55 this is about as well as my eyes can do.
Virgil B.

Shot my first wild hog recently with my Whelen, on my first hunt in Texas. 260 lb hog, bang flop with the old remington 250gr roundnose factory load. Quartering shot into the shoulder, very little meat lost. My buddy started looking for a whelen after seeing the meat damage his 7mag caused on his pig.

Had the same experience on my black bear with the 225 federal factory load, with the Bear Claw bullet.

Cool, when I return your S&W 617, I will borrow the 38-55.

BMT

BMT,
Got 3/4" for 5 at 30 yards Sat. with my hand-loads.
I didn't think I could see iron sights well enough to shoot that good!
The Hornady 220 grain F.P.'s seem to work!
(grin!) Virgil B.

sakoalberta.... yes, I agree that the 358 win. is very nice and I have ordered a Ruger Hawkeye,,but more than the rifles, I would like to see more factory loads in the 358,, only one I know of is that Winchester 200gr.

358 win mag/350 rem mag/ 338 Fed all good calibers and trying to pick the difference is like trying to pick flys**t out of pepper.

Likewise, 338-06/35 Whelan/9.3x62.

I have the 338 Fed and 9.3x62 out of the bunch but they are all good IMO.

I guess its all down to the rifles they are available in and personal preference!

Here is my list of 35's: 700 classic 35 Whelen / Ruger 77 MKII 350 Rem Mag / Marlin 336 35 Rem and last & new to the family Hawkeye 358 Win. Also had a Rem 700 SA 20" #3 contour 358 Win built by E R Shaw. 35 caliber, what's there not too like. Ken

I too am a fan of the .35 Whelen, shortly before I retired I had one custom built in .35 Whelen Ackley Improved. I used a Turkish Mauser action, the smith sent it to AZ and had it heat treated, custom bolt handle, replaced the safety with a push forward back type and Timney trigger. I handloaded 250 gr. Hornady's to near max and ran them across the chronograph for an average of 2550 fps. I built it for Elk but with my back and age I don't think I could wrestle an Elk out by myself anymore so I am think of selling it. I still have an 06 and 7 X 57 that will do the job in the event I ever do get a chance to hunt Elk. When I began this project I was waving back and forth between the .338-06 and .35 Whelen Improved, it was more or less a toss of the coin because they are both about equal and both great rifles.

I've got a Remington Classic in 35 Whelen. I've only used it on whitetails but man does it put them down. I really like it. I should put a scope on it. I've been using iron sights.

A few years back Cliff LaBounty rebore a 30-06 BLR to .35 Whelen, Works well, now if I can only get out west where they have stuff big enough to use it on.

There's Ken with them big ol' 35's again. He loves those things!

Always thought the Whelan made more sense than any other medium bore ('cept the 375)A friend in Idaho swears it's a better killer than the 338, on elk-size stuff and up,slipstick theory notwithstanding.

If you really want to love your Whelen, try loading IMR4320 and a Speer 250 gr. I used 53 grs and results were gratifying to say the least.
whelennut