Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 35 Whelen power in a 99?

I've got a 30-284 and love that thing too.

I'm with you FB, I just love the 284 case. Best shooting gun I've ever owned is a 6.8-284 with a Savage axis action and a Brux barrel. It'll send a 170g berger eol at ~2950 or a 165g matrix at ~3050 and both are sub .25 moa with h4831. It's the grandfather of all the SAM in my opinion, short fatter cartridges are just more efficient in my opinion. Working on some RL 23 behind the 170g bergers right now and haven't checked with the chrony but should be faster than H4831, but won't give up accuracy for speed. Getting ready to send my reamer of to Brux to get another barrel made and everyday I find myself thinking of something else to do with that cartridge

I think I'd rather spend $1200 on a DOWNPAYMENT on a .284 and keep it that way.....

There is a certain cool factor to the 284 Win. It has a certain sex appeal to it. I get it. I really do.

But it doesn't posses any secret killing power that the 7mm-08, 300 or 308 don't. They all produce the same results.

I've had 2 284's in my career and they were nice rifles, absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they didn't stick to me.

The 284 is a trophy. Albeit a fine trophy, but nevertheless, still a trophy.

The 300 and 308 just kill things near and far. Big things, little things, it really doesn't matter. Simple, rather boring, but effective.

I've done 284 wildcats in 6-284, 25-284, 6.5-294, 30-284, 338-284, and 358-284 on 99C actions.

You run out of magazine length pretty quickly as bullet weight increases. They are OK, but there just isn't enough magazine length to maximize the performance potential when compare to the same cartridge in a long action bolt gun.

Even though Winchester designed the 284 to fit in the short action Models 88 and 100, it has the same case length as the 6.5x55 and nobody ever thinks about the 6.5x55 being a short action case.

I still have 99Cs and 99CDs in 6-284, 25-284, 6.5-284, and 338-284, but I can't remember shooting any of them within the past year.

With factory ammo, the 284 is little more than an expensive to buy and expensive to shoot 308.

I think that the most practical and least expensive way to get close to 35 Whelen performance in a 0.358" bore lever action is to have a Marlin 336 in 35 REM rechambered as a 356 WIN. The combination of 356 WIN and 220 grain Speer Flat Point would be strong bear medicine. I found that bullet to be a little too tough for shooting whitetails, as they provided through/through penetration without appearing to expand very much.

These are my opinions that are based on my actual experience those six 284 wildcat cartridges in the Model 99C/99CD and with the 356 WIN in the Marlin 336.

260, I agree the 284 in a 99 is limited by length as you say, in a bolt action it's a different animal.

Yes, that's true, and launching a 150gr .308 out of a 24" 99 will get me really close to 284 Win ballistics. I think it's more of the panache and limited availability that has me (and everyone else) intrigued with the 284. The .308EG that I got off gunbroker is due to arrive tomorrow, and I have some stock repairing to do on it right away. I can't wait to get it all ready. If I'm only going to be able to have one 99, I think .308 is the one I'll keep (unless I find a smoking deal on a .284)

But honestly, after reading more and more in this forum, I doubt I'll only have one 99.

I had a .284 built on a M1909 Argentine Mauser action. Shot lights out, as they say, but I just couldn't warm up to it so along with a couple hundred other rifles in my life it went the way of the wind. I think it was a ploy by Winchester to simply create something different for rifle loonies to spend their money on way back when. It shines in a long action, but so does the .280, .270, and .30-06 so why bother when the brass isn't as omnipresent as '06 brass is?

i have a couple of bolt rifles in 6mm-284 70 gr. bullet goes 4,000 fps both are very accurate . i cherish my Savage 99`s too much to change the cartridge.

A 358/284 will never be a 35 Whelen, not even close.

What would lead you to make that conclusion?

Good question mitchell , the 284 was a attempt to equal 270 ballistics in a short action which it did well, and the 270 was a necked down 30-06, then we have the 35 Whelen which is nothing more than a necked up 30-06. To complicate things the 358 was a necked up 308 which was a short action (attempt) to match a 30-06 as was the 300 sav. So the 358-308 wouldn't be that good of a attempt at a 35 Whelen, but a 358-284 would be very close. After all the 284 could shove around a bullet as good as a 270, which was a necked down 30-06, which a 35 Whelen is a necked up version. One other thing while the 284 is limited by length in short actions were comparing it to long actions in this case,so the bullet can be teetering on the mouth and not run out of room.

I think the important thing here is the 30-06 was the most sought after round, everybody tried to equal it in short action and everybody tried to hot rod the case for what ever in long action. Until recently with the short action magnums the only round that ever equaled it in short action(not that the 308win or 300sav weren't good attempts) was the 284(better add so I don't get idiot treatment, the 284 was meant to match the 270 in a short action which it does), so it became the wildcatters dream round (like me) to play with. Is the 35 Whelen or the 270 or what ever not equal, not hardly, there close! Is my 6.8-284 equal to a 270 WSM, well hell no, but my shoulder is a lot happier after 100 rounds behind the 6.8-284.

Who's on first?

LOL! Pretty much!

Wait.

What?

You can tell the guys with little or no experience shooting the .284.