Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 350 Rem Mag vs. 35 Whelen

I've owned a 350 Rem Mag in 600 (with two different barrels) for close to 50 years. I bought another 350 Rem Magnum in a near-new 700 Classic much later. (I have always wanted a 35 Whelen.) I have often heard that the 35 and the 350 are ballistic twins and that the maximum loads in one would be very close to the maximum loads in the other. I recently bought a 35 Whelen Brown Whelen and after having some feeding issues, I had the barrel (unknown manufacturer) cut back and re-chambered for a 35 Whelen. The new chamber is a minimum chamber with a short throat.

I have some favorite loads for the 600 Remington 350 RM:

Hornady 250 9 1/2M IMR4320 56 gr - 3 shot @ 108 yards - 0.35 MOA
Speer 250 9 1/2M IMR4320 56 gr - 5 shot @ 108 yards - 0.66 MOA
Hornady 250 9 1/2M H4895 55 gr - 5 shot @ 108 yards - 0.62 MOA*
Hornady 250 9 1/2M H4895 53 gr - 5 shot @ 108 yards - 0.71 MOA

I shot several groups of each of these loads and they all were similar size. Though I didn't feel the need for a lighter bullet in the 350, I tried a couple different 225 grain bullets with no where near the accuracy of the 250's. (4 MOA and greater for some - I had similar luck with round nosed 250 grain bullets.)

I didn't measure the grains of water in the 350 and the 35 but I got these off WEB Sites and the Nosler manual:

http://kwk.us/cases.html (These must be to the mouth of the case)

.35 Whelen 71
.350 Rem Mag 73

http://www.bbt.scot/ballistics/case_capacities.htm
35 Whelen 59.5
350 Rem Mag 61.7

From the Nosler manual

62.2 grains of water for 35 Whelen
62.6 grains of water for the 350 Rem Mag

My brass that I'll be using is Rem for the 350 RM and Nosler for the 35 W.

I looked at loads in "Pet Loads", Hodgdon, Load Data -- several sources. Even though the 350 Rem Mag has a little bit more case capacity according to each source, the 35 Whelen had heavier powder charges in every source I found - interesting. I suspect it must be due to the bullets being seated deeper in the 350. I also looked at the Gack book, but no 350 Mag loads there.

Since I have a custom tight chamber in my 35 Whelen, I will be using a chronograph for reaching top loads. I'll be trying 200 thru 250 grain bullets.(I have 200 grain Hornady SP, 225 grain Sierra SPBT, 225 Nosler Partition and 250 grain Hornady SP on hand plus round nose bullets which is reserved for a 35 Remington.)

Nosler manual with 26" barrel - top velocity is approximate:
for 200 grain = 2,900 fps
for 225 grain = 2,800 fps
for 250 grain = 2,600 fps

My 35 Whelen has a 21.5" barrel - so I think maybe 150 fps less than that will be maximum that I'll attempt with my 35 Whelen - I believe with a 35 caliber bore the pressure would likely be dropping off fairly quickly and the last few inches of the 26" barrel won't produce that much more velocity SWAG.

I'm not interested in shooting this rifle more than 350 yards. Actually 200 yards will likely all the farthest I'll shoot at game with it - it isn't a 300 Weatherby.

Thanks for the loads. At the moment I have no Whelen any more. Be Well, RZ.

The Whelen will be a better choice for the heavier bullets you prefer. Though noone can argue with the performance that you're getting from the 350. If i were doing that well with a 350 RM I'd hardly feel the need for a Whelen. The 350RM has a Saami OAL max length of 2.80" so the 250gr Hornady round nose would need to be seated below the cannilure to hold to this length. Interestingly an older Hornady manual has a Max OAL of 2.93" for the 350rm which would then work for the Hornady bullets. If the longer OAL works in the model 600 then power to you

Following and looking forward to your results

Working up my first Whelen loads right now myself.

So far I am very happy with the results with just making barrel break in loads, if it gets even better as I progress into hunting loads I will be really happy..

I haven't been able to get any 225 Barnes TSX yet which would be my first choice, I did get some 225 Accubond in hand and they have a good rep so I am going to try them out for accuracy as soon as I finish Fireforming Factory new brass..

Making 35 Whelen brass out of 30-06 brass, I thought, would be a piece of cake - not so. The base of the neck on some re-sized 30-06 brass has a knob or an extra thickness which causes pressures to sky-rocket. I'll make it work, but it isn't as easy as I've seen in print. The RCBS dies, I have, has a expander that will expand the 30-06 brass in one pass to 35. I'm retired and I have time, but my method causes usage of primers, bullets and powder. Then there's the mismarked base of the case and the need for the inside reamer and the tempering of the brass. By the time I spend money of the extra components etc. the 35 Whelen brass price looks pretty good. If I had to do it over again, I'd pass on the re-sized 30-06 brass.

Bugger, I had that problem resizing 308 Norma brass to 358 Winchester. Had to turn down the necks in order to chamber them. No problems with Lapua brass though.

i rebarreled a Savage action with a contour #4 ,24 inch, chambered in a 350 Rem.mag., i get 2850 fps , i get nice rounded 3/4 inch ,5 shot groups at 100 yds. with 225 gr. bullet and yes it has recoil . have not killed anything with this rifle yet.

Dug up this thread just looking for 35 Whelen posts. I’m running a Whelen I had built last year on a Ruger M77 Hawkeye with a Shilen barrel. Im getting 2650 easy with 250’s and RL15. No excessive pressure and true chrony speed. Average is just over 2650 and close to 2675. 2000MR gets me 2700 plus. Just under 24” barrel. Not sure if a Remington 700 SA has a generous mag box like the standard length action but a 350 Remington Mag with enough room should do the same as I’m getting. Recoil in my Whelen is there but not anything more than a stoutly loaded 06. In fact I’ve owned more obnoxious 06’s.

I always thought a Remington 700 Classic in 350RM would be cool to hunt with.

The 350RM & 35 Whelen are near ballistic twins

The case capacities are near identical. Got a wildcat .30x.350 Rem Mag that I use 30-06 load data for in my 600 Rem.
George

My 350 Remington Magnum with 24" bbl is one of the 500 Rem 700BDL's that was made between 1969-1972. Mine was made in Feb 1969. I changed the original stock which had butt ugly fluer-de-lis checkering to a nice mid 70's stock

Here's a few of my best loads


225g Sierra & 57gns IMR4895......................2705 fps
225g Nosler Partition & 59gns IMR4320.......2701 fps
200gn HP & 58gns H4895.............................2762 fps
200gn Hp & 56gns RL10X.............................2851 fps

Nice looking rig, Dingo!

For forming 35 Whelen brass I like to start with 280 Rem cases.
All of the 280 cases I used were once-fired and all formed perfectly in one pass with no losses.
The 280 has the shoulder a little farther forward than the .35 so just size them to fit the chamber with no worries about headspace.

My Model 600 shoots adequate groups with several 225 and 250 grain bullets but is at its best with 250 Partitions.
8208XBR is my favorite powder but Benchmark, Varget and 4166 also work well.

Cheers,
Walt

Good call on using 280 cases. Except I have those for my 280. I always ensure I spin the expander back up into the die a ways so I get good support and the rod doesn’t flex as much. I have had a couple necks wander expanding 06’ cases.

Can any of you 350 mag owners tell me if the magazine box on your rifles allow for seating of a 250 grainier with out eating up case capacity? And, have you ever formed cases from another case (say a 338WM) and is it a PITA?

The 250's aren't bad since they are fairly short Brinky. I could use them in my 2.8 M600, but I use the 180 TTSX instead, since I would rather keep speeds a touch higher.

I never had any issues using 30-06 brass to make Whelen cases out of.