Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles What are your favorite powders for .35 Whelen

I've loaded 250 gr. Barnes X for Rem. classic, 225 gr. Nosler Part. for Tikka T3 rebore, 225 gr. TSX for Encore and 200 gr. Horn. SP in half a dozen Encores. The constant in all of the loads has been RL15.

Sierra 225gr. Game Kings with IMR 4064 get the job done in my Whelen, no need for anything fancier/more expensive. Save the 250gr. for big game, elk, moose, bears, 200 & 225gr. work just fine on whitetails in my nearly 30 yrs. experience with the Whelen.

I started with AA 2015br and Barnes 250X, H322/200x and 200 TTSX, R15 & Magnum primer with Nosler 250PT, same with 310 Woodleigh. But this was in an Ackley Improved, so used 4064, 3031, 4895 and Varget in a Mod 750 standard Whelen. All these powders did well in the 9.3x62 I loaded a lot for also. Varget/4320 are about the same, as is H414 & Varget. These newer powders really make the Ackley version "absolutely un-needed", unless one just likes the "look" of the round ( that's me!)

7600 pump

IMR-3031,IMR 4320 and RL-15.

There are others that work but i use these more often.

I've used a number of powders through the years. IMR 4320 and IMR 4064 have worked well with 200-225 grain bullets. I hunted with W748 and got great accuracy for several seasons, but velocity was always mediocre 2650fps with 225s. Varget is allegedly a great powder for it, but it never proved as accurate as W748 and only slightly more velocity in my rifles. Reloader 15 has served for a long while as my preferred choice, but in the past 2-3 years I've started using 8208 with 200 grain bullets and CFE 223 with 250s with excellent success. So right now I'm using 8208 with 200s, RL 15 with 225s and CFE 223 with 250s.

Nice shootin’, Fotis.

Did you use magnum primers with that CFE223 load?

I’ve gotten great velocity every time I’ve tried that powder, but I’ve not yet unlocked the accuracy of it.

FC

I used my 35 Whelen 7600 for years with 200 grain Rem Corelokts and H4895. It made a very accurate load without a whole lot of damage to the shoulder. Whitetails died.

That is some fine shooting! It’s funny how some folks say those pump rifles can’t be accurate

This is particularly interesting to me, as I already have 5 pounds of CFE 223, as I use it almost exclusively in my .308 loads.

Old standby RL-15 for 2600 fps with 250's, new Alliant Power Pro 2000-MR for 2700 fps with 250gr Partitions, only fired a couple but showed great promise off the bags, when I get the rest of my old ammo fired, all loads will be with it, what an efficient hammer on the '06 sized case.

Glad somebody finally got to PP 2000-MR.
I agree with everything that's been said about RE-15 and Varget. They are great in the Whelen. But 2000-MR is "greater", by about 100FPS, meters great, and accurate as heck.
A lot of folks scoffed at the data published by Speer and Sierra using it in the Whelen but I decided to test it and I am convinced.
You'll enjoy reading this Tannhauser:
Shooters Forum thread on 35W and 2000-MR
You have to wade through a couple pages of scoffing before you get to the actual testing.
Attached are a couple examples.
Looking forward to your 35 Whelen Carbine build and I think you are doing a great job preparing for it.
Rex

Brian Pearce wrote an article on loads for the 35 Whelen in Handloader magazine. It is worth reading and has loads that are considerably faster than found in current loading manuals. It is the April 2014 issue #289.

Thanks Rex. That’s a very interesting read on Shooters Forum. I’m going to give some 2000-MR a try when I start working up loads.

In my day job I’m an aerospace engineer, so I really appreciate your thorough documentation and attention to detail when relating your results.

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try to round up a back issue.

I tested some 2000-MR loads in my Whelen today as well, and got very similar results with that same load of 69.0gr of 2000-MR and the 225gr SGK - 2835 fps (at 21 feet) and very low ES. I ran up to 72gr (which added another 100 fps) but that 69.0gr load seemed so good I may just stick with that. It's ~250 fps faster than my previously preferred load with RL-15 that I've used for 15-20 years. (To be fair, my RL-15 hunting load uses the 225gr Partition, but it and the 225 SGK seem to give very similar results.)

For reference, my digital Sierra load data shows a max of 71.7gr of 2000-MR for the 225gr SGK. My rifle has an AI chamber which doesn't add a whole lot of capacity, but I think makes 72gr plenty safe, and I saw no signs of excess pressure. To be honest, I figure 72gr is max for me just because of case capacity - the powder charge is within 1/4" of the case mouth, and this powder didn't seem willing to compress very much; at 71gr the OAL ended up about .005" longer, and at 72gr it was .015" longer.

I'm glad we have this great selection of powders these days; some of them really change what a cartridge is capable of. LeverRevolution is another powder that fits that category; I don't know how it'd do in the Whelen but I've been considering it and may have to experiment.

I've traditionally used Re-15 in my Improved (shoots lights out with 225 SGKs) but moved to Varget when using 225 ABs. Better MV and accuracy has been top-notch.

I used Reloader 15 and Barnes 225 TSX bullets for elk. Amazing accuracy in my 700 Classic.

Dennis.

And, for those powder hoarders like me, Re-12 has real potential in lighter 35 Whelen bullets, e.g., 225 and less. I only shot it with 225 SGKs, but it was lights out. Have less than 2 lbs. left now so I really selectively mete it out, e.g., tried some in 7-30 Waters and it was just okay.

Been loading for Whelens for around 35 years. It has almost been difficult to find a powder or bullet that it would not shoot pretty well. Remarkably UNfinicky.
I have used most of the stuff mentioned so far, but I can't seem stop trying new stuff.
As far as powders, I have recently been using Varget, 8208, and PP2000MR, all with great satisfaction in accuracy and velocity.
Since Bivwak/SPS cam into my life, I have settled on Partitions, either weight working well, tho my go to seems to be the 250 gr.
As I have mentioned before, I suspect a case full of nitrated horse manure would likely produce an acceptable load in the Whelen.

Yup +1 to that; I've seen the same in my Whelen and other 35 calibers too for that matter (notably 35 Rem and a smaller 35 wildcat). My Whelen has been so tolerant of different loads, shooting reasonably well with everything, that load development with it now is mostly just obtaining the velocity I want and verifying zero.

That 2000-MR powder sure seems to be promising. A relatively mild charge in mine is still 250+ fps faster than my older load, and very consistent too. I'll be interested to see how the same load acts in the summer.