Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .35 Whelen out of a shorter barrel?

I agree with everyone’s thoughts.
I have a Remington 7600 Carbine in 35 Whelen. The deer I have taken haven’t noticed a difference.
Good luck and have fun! Tom

I picked up a pristine (less than 5 rounds fired) 7600 from a smoke-eater buddy. He bought it when he moved to NH from CT figuring he’s start hunting again. He never did and the story ends with it in my safe.
I’ve been going back-and-forth about chopping it to match my .35 Remington carbine.
I picked up an.358 BLR here recently and that will now be my ‘rifle’. The Whelen is getting cut!

The 358 Win will get 2750 with 200s and 2400 with 250s in a 22" Ruger Hawkeye. I can do 2600 with 200s in my 20" BLR without pushing it too hard. The biggest difference is with heavier bullets.

Tannhauser, turning that into a Whelen would be a great idea for that rifle, you should easily be able to push 200s or 250s to whatever you need to do with them.

I appreciate all the responses and the enabling in this thread

Is there a consensus on Rate of Twist for the Whelen? 1:14 sounds like the best option for shooting everything from 200 gr up to 250s?

The Barnes 225 is the longest .35 Caliber bullet I've shot and it stabilizes just fine in a 16" twist. But, if you are buying new, it wouldn't hurt to go a bit faster in case you end up living or hunting in a lead free zone. The trend in bullets is that hey are getting longer for weight. I have Whelens with twists from 10" to 16". I think a 14" twist is prudent.

My 20" JES rebore is a 1:14. Shoots the 225 TSX great at about 2600. Going to play with some varying weights this summer and may scope it and get a little more serious about killing some game with it.

My 22” custom barreled A-Bolt has a 1:21 - 1:12 gain twist. Works well with 250 gr. Speer HCs and Hornady ILs.
Tried some 280 gr. Swift A-Frames a few years ago. IIRC, I managed about 2200 fps and got the best accuracy of any load ever in this rifle. (Well under moa). The kicker (literally) is that it beat the snot outta me so I chalked that experiment up to experience and passed on them.🙄

I just mailed JES a couple Springfields to rebore. One of them wears a 19" pitted out original barrel and it's going to become a .338-06. So we will have pretty similar projects, though your Whelen will probably do a little faster for the same bullet weight.
When you start loading for it, be sure to try Power Pro 2000-MR powder. It is a game changer in the Whelen. Speer published data is 2700 FPS with the 250 HotCor and Sierra publishes 2900 FPS with the 225 SGK. Even if you lose 200 FPS from those in the short barrel (which I doubt you will) you're still getting some serious power. My tests in my 23" barreled 35 WAI fully support the Speer and Sierra claims. So I bought a big keg of 2000-MR, and I've been running it in a 24" 338-06 FN Mauser with good results too.
Hornady has just published data for 2000-MR in the 9.3x62, which is what the other Springfield I sent Jesse is going to be, with a 23.5" barrel, so I'm going to be having lots of medium bore fun this year.
I think you are too.
Keep us posted on the project - that's a great looking rifle.
Cheers,
Rex

P.S. in talking to Jesse on the phone, it sounds like his machinery is set up to do a standard twist rate without options to change, and his reamers are standard chambers without custom throating options. I think this is likely part of what allows him to offer superb work for only $250 per rebore, and all indications are his standard twists and chambers are fine - lots of happy customers. My 35 WAI has a 14" twist and stabilizes the old 250 grain Barnes X fine. I've not shot heavier or longer bullets in it. FWIW, his standard twist on the .338 is 10" and 9.3 is 12"
I also went with the standard 3-groove rifling versus paying the extra $25 for 4 or 5 groove after polling the folks over at "ask the Gunwriters" about their results.

280’s at 2200 FPS sounds like a real mule of a kicker. I think I’ll be happy with doumryhing stout but still better mannered in the recoil department.

Rex, thanks for the information. I’m also leaning towards 3-groove after reading through your thread. 1:14, 3-groove .35 Whelen should fo just fine I do believe.

I've had a few 7600s (1:16") that would spin 250gr Speers. 1:14" should be fine but if given the option would go with 1:12" just because.

I spoke with JES yesterday and I’ll be doing a rebore yo .35 Whelen, 1:14 twist and 3 grooves. I’ll be shipping off the rifle next week.

Follow up?

-Jake