Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .35 Whelen vs .338-06?

What’s the best way to get a .35 Whelen or .338-06 rifle at a modest price?

Savage rifle with a barrel swap? JES Rebore?

Tanhauser, pick up any bolt action of your preference in 30-06 or 270 and send it to jess. No medium bore hunter ever needed a match grade barrel for hunting. Leave that to the creed-crowd, where somehow match shooting and sniper wannabes have influenced the hunting rifle.

In open country, on 400-500 yd shots on caribou and moose, sometimes I wish my 9.3x62 was a 338-06 with 250 grain bullets.

Though I've put away thousands of lbs of moose and caribou meat with the ole nine-three, I don't hesitate to admit that the 338-06 is far more versatile.

The Ruger Hawkeyes in 280 or 06 for under 500 bucks on CDNN would make a helluva 338 or 35 Whelen. JES might not be match grade but they are plenty accurate.

That’s kind of what I did. I found a nice SS model 70 from New Haven and had it rebored by JES BEFORE I shot it. Ya know what they say about shooting the donor. Anyway, it turned out great and shoots wonderfully just like the 338 Federal and the 9.3x62 also done by JES.

Now just to figure out which one to carry any given day.

Take care, Les

I found mine, a 98 FN here on the Fire Classifieds. I re worked the bedding and painted it. Unknown barrel maker. Looks new thru the bore scope and shoots really well.

If building one, I’d look for a well used Pre-64, get it rebored, put it in a synthetic stock, refinish in a protective coating. Some of those prices are coming down. But, all done, that may not be so cheap.

Not a Salvage fan, but they seem to shoot pretty well even though barrels can look pretty rough thru the Hawkeye. Probably not an issue with a rebore.

May not be a real inexpensive way to get there, short of finding one like I did.

DF

DakotaDeer was spot on, symmetry in all things.

Yep.

Making a 338-06 round is real easy with just one pass thru a FL 338-06 sizing die with tapered decapper/expander.

Same with those others he mentioned. Easy to do.

DF

Damn that sound sweet!

9.3X62 should be in this somewhere. Just look at that photo of the three involved here, and make sure the load is the famously deadly 286 gr RN. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

I appreciate all the responses. I’m starting a search for a donor rifle on Gunbroker now

35 Whelen just because I already have bullets, brass, and reloading dies. Sold several Whelen rifles along the years....but kept my components just in case.

I found my donor rifle and have decided on a 35 Whelen. I’m almost certain a 338-06 will be another other than down the road.

Anyone interested in following the discussion there’s a thread here

35 Whelen out of a short barrel

I'm a bit late to the party, but my two primary hunting rifles are chambered in 338-06 and 35 Whelen, both built on a 700 action. I intended for the rifles two have two different purposes, but in reality, they have a lot of overlap. I have shot many deer with both rifles and both put them down without much trouble, and all projectiles have exited the deer. 225 grain TTSX's in the 338-06 and 250 grain partitions in the Whelen. Subjectively, I find the 338-06 has a bit sharper recoil. Six of one, half dozen of the other. It's just splitting hairs - you can't go wrong with either.

Ignore the 300 win mag in the background.
Middle is the 338-06, intended for general woods hunting.
Front is the 35 Whelen, intended for thick woods and when I finally get a moose tag.



Edit: I can think of one advantage for the 338-06...338 caliber suppressors are easy to find. I've never come across a 35 caliber (or larger) suppressor that wasn't a 50-cal specific suppressor. (But I chose to build a 338 Federal for use with a suppressor instead of the 338-06.)

Well, save the best for last do you speak. Those are fantastic looking rifles, and I’m sure every one a shooter.

I decided to go with 35 Whelen as the donor rifle I found is a Rem 700 with a post-factory shortened barrel to 19”. Mu thinking was the 35 Whelen was probably a marginally better choice for a shorter barrel.

I'd agree with that. Best of luck.

No, What do they say ??

Don’t shoot the donor too much or too carefully or you may decide not to use it for a donor after all. Then you need to start looking for a new donor

I was in the Same boat couple years back, as I love the 06 parent case. I Was going to send a donor tikka to JES.

Since I can shoot 220s with 06 and I wanted to shoot heavies, I ended up with a 9.3 to really shoot the heavies.
While the sauer 100 is really a great gun and 9.3 is everything I wanted and then some.
There are days I wish I would have stuck with my original idea of 338-06 and send a tikka to JES.
But then, If I ever go to Africa, I know I’m set.

Very good explanation!

. Lol! Thanks,