Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 300 Win vs 35 Whelen?

Well if you are shooting at 300 yards or less then a 308 has more advantages than both.

Range estimation under field conditions can get a bit iffy. The .300's forte is its ability to propel heavy low drag projectiles quickly to hopefully keep the POI close to the POA. The price is recoil, noise and reduced barrel life. The .308 is accurate, easy to load and quite mild but as the distance stretches you can see a difference.

Good reply

I'll go out on a limb and say, that's a CROCK! Remember, a .308 is everything a .30-06 is and LESS! With 150s and maybe 165s the difference is very small to the pont that it's unimportant. But with heavy for caliber bullets the .30-06 is better than a .308 everyday of the week.

On whitetails, both choices are not optimal

We had one guy in camp that hunted with a 300 Win Mag.

I've got a Rem 7600 in 35 Whelen.

The longest shot to date at our camp is 250+ yards. The vast majority have been in the 80-and-under range.

Neither 300 Win Mag or 35 Whelen did any better than 30-06 with 150-165 grain bullets. However, both brought deer down.

In one instance we saw a whitetail blown in half by a 300 Win Mag. Yikes.

My "Whelenizer" accounted for a bunch of deer before being retired in favor of a new 30-06.


The conclusion from our deer camp is that both chamberings are not the best idea for whitetails at fairly close ranges.

Also, as the bullet weight increases.

Shaman you ever try the 225 gr NPT at 2550 -2600 fps in your Whelen? Never used a load that did so well and ruined so little meat, it definitely makes the Whelen a heavy hitter. MB

My current experiment is the 180 grain Speer in the Whelenizer. I figure if I've got to resort to premium bullets on a whitetail, I'm doing something wrong.

Meat damage has never been a big deal with us. The most we ever blow up is rib meat.

I've killed mulies with both at about the same distance of 150 yds. Whelen was a 250 Speer at 2500 fps and the 300 was a 180 Partition at 3000 fps. The 250 Speer acted like a hand grenade in the body and my guide said he'd never seen more damage to an animal. Took one step. 300 zipped thru with a perfect 1" hole thru both lungs and it did the usual 100 yd death sprint. I went back to my 270.

Shaman. You keep your eye on the SPS WEBSITE until they show some 225 gr NPT's then it's the damn Speers that are expensive. You know I wouldn't bs you. MB

Thanks for the tip. I see them listed but out of stock. I'll keep watch.

Just like Bartman, I also have a M70 Super Grade in 300 Win Mag and a Rem 700 BDL in 35 Whelen. I've used the Whelen with 200 gr Rem Core-lokts to take a couple whitetails, and 3 caribou. All died right where they were hit. Meat damage was no more than the .280, .308 or 30-06 which I've used on other whitetails. I also used the Whelen on a moose hunt in NB using Federal Premium ammo with 225 gr. Trophy Bonded Bear Claws. It too didn't take another step. My 300 Win Mag is from the estate of a dear friend who used it to take his bull moose on our trip together to NB. He used Federal Premium 200gr TBBC and his moose also died on the spot.

I've not hunted with the .300 Win Mag because I've not hunted anything bigger than whitetails since I've had it. Where I live and hunt the .300 WM has no advantage over my other deer rifles. For me, the biggest downside to my .300 WM is that the rifle is just too heavy and too long. The Whelen with it's 22" barrel is much handier.

Given my hunting is inside 300 yards I cannot imagine using the 300 and a minty LH M70 in such a caliber sits right in my closet. My buddy has a M70 Super Grade he had rebarelled in 35 Whelen. It came out way too heavy and he never takes it out. Too bad because it's very accurate with 250s.

That being said, a medium bore with a heavy bullet at moderate velocity is a highly dependable weapon. The same can be said of the 300 provided someone has the opportunity to exploit its capabilities.

Bluefish, if you load a 165 gr spire pt at 3000 fps in a 300 Win mag is accurate and less recoil, resembles a hot 30-06 load in performance and recoil which allows you to enjoy using the gun more often. MB

I like them both, used the 250X and later the 200X for 20 yrs in a 35 Whelen Ackley. I also used the 180 XBT/300WM and up to 350yds, no difference. Past that the 300WM is a bit easier "for me" to hit with. Recoil? about the same to me too. However, I was really humming that Ackley, so quit it ( I have one good eye left, no use gambling with it, ha) I have circled back around to the 300WM but really like the new Barnes 175 LRX. I feel its a good compromise and I can safely get 3080 average with my choice load. I'm also one of those that feel a 30-06/200gr load is every bit as good as my Whelen was...so its a toss up.

But that makes my point for me; why not shoot a 30 06 or a 270 or a 7x57 at that point? I view the 300 as a long range rifle. At the distances I shoot I do not see a real need for it.

A 200 gr 358 is NOT the same as a 308 200 grain.

Always hard to beat the larger diameter bullet. Can't go wrong with either.

I don't know much about 300 Win Mag, but I do know that it can contribute to alcoholism. Years ago, I had a co-worker I'd not met before come up from Georgia. It turned out we were both deer hunters. I had recently nailed a couple of really nice bucks. He'd recently bought a new 300 Win Mag for hunting at his club. We had plenty to talk about.

The one thing I found odd was his assertion that 300 Win Mag had become necessary for the swamps. He was shooting them at such close ranges, he'd had to by the 300 Win Mag to successfully drop them, otherwise, he'd lose them in the swamp. I tried to question the idea, but. . . well, I wasn't going to be impolite.

Later, his boss and I were talking. He asked me what I thought of him. I replied that he seemed competent and nice and it had been good to fellow deer hunter. My boss laughed.

"He hasn't shot a deer in years," he replied. "He bought that 300 Win Mag of his a while back and it kicked too hard for him, so he now just sits around the clubhouse and drinks. He's still on his first box of ammunition with it."

So my admonition to y'all is that 300 Win Mag may contribute to excessive drinking. Just saying.