Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 35 Whelen with modern powder and bullets...?

Got a long winded spiel so here it goes.
My affair with the .35BW dates back quite a few years,before factory .35 Whelen brass was made, had to use .30-06 brass neck up to about .40 cal. create false shoulder and fireform.First rifle was a commercial FN 98 that was originally a .270,screwed on a Brownells threade short chambered barrel in .35 cal. I don't remember if it was a 12 or 14 twist.This was a good combination and fed very well with no work to the rails,it has become my all-time favorite caliber.Have worked primarily with 250 gr. bullet but have shot 225's as well 275 and 300 gr. Hawks.Initially left the barrel at 26" but later cut it to 22",this lost about 100 fps velocity.I then went on an involved quest to get 2700fps with the 250 gr. bullets,as you'll see.
Powders tried were IMR 3031,4320,4064,4007,4451,4350.RL 12,15,16,17,19.VV 140,540,550,560.Hodgdon 380,4350,Varget,Superformance,BLC-2,414.BG4351.Norma 202,204.Winchester 748,760.AA 2520,Big Game. The newer powders that are really supposed to be the ticket such as 8208,100V,2000Mr were tried.All this in a maniacal effort to get to the magical 2700 fps 250 gr. bullet load.H4350 got to 2620fps but that has been tops.
My load development process consists of increasing one grain at a time till I get unmistakable high pressure indication back off 3 grains, then chronograph.If velocity is good then test for accurracy.I'm no big stickler for accuracy,if it shoots into an inch and a half good.
As you can see this barrel digested quite a few rounds and you must include fireform loads.I was always looking to simplify the fireform process and wound up trying a fast pistol powder with some kind of filler.This method seemed to work but actually resulted in a ringed chamber and made extraction difficult so this led to scrapping this barrel and going to plan B.
Next up was a push feed WIN. 70 in .243,not a big trick to remove the magazine spacer and rebarrel in .35 BW with a Lilja SS tube which was finished at 23" length,also believe this was a 12 twist.
Oddly enough,and I do mean oddly,only shot one big game animal with the first rifle and that was a Dall Sheep! Weird ha!
As a supposedly hairy chested hunter were you ever chided for not having a go at sheep hunting? I was pretty sure I wasn't a sheep hunter and set out to prove it.
Business obligations had interfered with a try at sheep so I contacted Rod Hardy in the Yukon and told him if he ever had an open warm fall to give me a call and one year he did.Met up with Rod in Whitehorse and off we went in the SuperCub to a remote spot that had sheep close by.Only thing is the rams had moved a couple mountains over but off we went.Blundered into a bunch of rams down low,looked them over and found a suitable ram and proceeded to shoot over him.Took another couple days but did manage to collect a nice ram.I used the 225 gr. Barnes X loaded to 2700 fps on that go around because grizzly was on the wanted list,didn't see one.
What a hell of an adventure it has all been and I'm sure I've left out quite a bit of stuff! Hope I haven't bored you too bad!

FWIW my rifle is a paddle stock ruger and the 250 loaded hot is plenty snorty on the way back.

Damn I’m gonna find some mr2000, 250’s would be a hammer

I’ll be runnin Hornady 250 interlocks, whatcha thinkin bertz?

#hurtlocker 😂😂

Ya mines noticeably lighter than my 338 as well, love it, great packin gun.
quick image upload

She’s a peach

I read this thread a week or two ago so I went and picked up some PP Varmint and MR2000.

I could get the 200 TSX going about 2950 with a book max charge of Varmint from my 20" Whelen but accuracy was better between 2815-2850.

With the 250 Speer a max load of MR2000 got me 2629 with no obvious pressure signs and tested at 90+ degrees.

Shot the the 250 for accuracy this morning and it looks like upper end is where my rifle likes to be. Hoping to confirm accuracy tomorrow. If it works out accuracy wise a 250 speer at 2600+ from a 20" Whelen can do a lot of work from up close to quite a ways out. Pretty interesting and curbs my interest in adding a .358 Norma. FWIW my rifle is a paddle stock ruger and the 250 loaded hot is plenty snorty on the way back.

I read this thread a week or two ago so I went and picked up some PP Varmint and MR2000.

I could get the 200 TSX going about 2950 with a book max charge of Varmint from my 20" Whelen but accuracy was better between 2815-2850.

Trex, 220 was 2975?

MedRiver,
I never found a published load for the 200 TTSX (or any 200 grain bullet) with Varmint, so I interpolated between Speer's Varmint maxes for the 180 and the 220 to estimate what max would be for the 200, then worked up to confirm it with two separate bullets. I got about 2975 (in 23" barrel) which comports with your 2950 from the 20".
Would you please share the source of your book max for the 200 TTSX with Varmint - I'd like to see how close I got with my estimates.

Thanks,
Rex