Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting "Long-Range" Iowa Deer Cartridges

With the new regs allowing shouldered cartridges over .357" looking like they may stick around for the foreseeable future, I'm considering ways to extend my reach beyond the ol' .45-70 lever gun.

Considering widely-available bullets in a non-super-magnum cartridge, I'm finding that the .366" (9.3mm) and .375" have a pretty significant advantage over the .358" bullets. Though there are boutique makers that can close that gap.

Given that, I'm considering the following cartridges:
9.3x62mm
.375 H&H Mag
.35 Whelen (fast-twist, custom bullets)

What else should I be considering on the new-rifle search?

The 250gr Accubond out of the 9.3X62 would likely be where I started, 'twer I in your situation.

Not sure what kind of deer you're dealing with in Iowa, but I'm pretty sure the 35 Whelen doesn't give up much to the larger bores.

I've got a 22" Remington 700 Classic in 35 Whelen. With the latest data from Speer (https://www.speer.com/reloading/rifle-data.html) I've gotten a 225-grain Sierra Game King just under 2,700 fps. I originally set this rifle up with a 4x scope, but then I made a couple of 1.5 MOA groups with that load and the 4x scope at 200 yards. I see it as an honest 400-yard proposition, even without a fancy barrel or bullets, so I replaced the 4x Leupold with a 3-10 Nightforce SHV. I haven't shot it for groups with the Nightforce yet.

I'm leaving 100-150 fps on the table but this rifle and load are so accurate that I'm not going to mess with them. The 1:16 twist is all wrong on paper, but targets don't lie.


Okie John

Just dealing with the good ol' run-of-the-mill Whitetails here, but hunt several areas where I can see a half mile or more. I don't have any aspirations to put a bullet in a deer at 1,000 yards, but am looking to work up the the 400-600 range.

I'm planning to run a 2.5-8x Leupold with a 14.5moa ZL turret.
.358 200gr bullets at 2600 @ .29 G1 seem to make it just past 500y zero'd at 100y
.366 286gr @ 2400 .332 G1 charts at just shy of 500y
.375 300gr @ 2600 .480 G1 gets 600y

I suppose any of the three should do the job. Why does general internet wisdom say there are no long-range bullets for the .358" bore?

...and I missed your load data that says .358 225gr at 2700 @ .384 G1 should get me out beyond 575.

And you're getting 1.5 moa with a 1:16?

You can do that with a lot less than what is currently being discussed above. Something in 6.5 or 7mm is more than enough to do it nicely. A 300 of any flavor would the max needed for this task if you just want to burn powder. JMHO

Ol

I'm in iowa. Rem 7600 22inch barrel 35 whelen and 750 carbine 35 whelen. Load both 180 barnes 2900 fps. Your mileage may vary

In a 35 Whelen, 200 or 225 Accubonds will stabilize just fine in Remington’s factory twist. With H4895 in a 24” barrel you can safely get 2700fps+ with either bullet.
The Nosler 200 gr AB has G1 of .365, the 225 AB is .430 while the 225 Partition is .421. It’s easy to get 2600 fps with a 250 gr Partition with .446 G1.
Run the numbers on a ballistic program and try targets at 400 and see how they do.

45-70 can lob the out there further than you most likely can.

Is it a 35cal minimum?

Except those 6.5 and 7 or even the 300 are not allowed in the OP's area.

10mm Uber Mashburn

From the 35 Whelen you can get; 3000 fps with 180s, 2900 fps with 200s and 2800 with 225s. My last trip to the range with my 700 Classic that has a 1/16 22 inch barrel I got the following:

CFE223 67.0gr. Barnes 225gr TSX avg velocity of 2780 fps. Sub inch accuracy at 100 yds. There was a lot more room on the throttle with that powder.

Here is a link to a Campfire article on modern loads with the Whelen.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/13617368/1

Yes, I am. 61.4 grains of TAC. Per the Federal Ballistics calculator, it should be going just over 1,800 fps at 400, with 1650 fpe.

I’ve found that with a 1:16 barrel, the faster you push the bullet, the better it shoots. My Ruger M-77 would put three 250-grain Hornadys in 1 MOA but not until you got them up to 2,500 fps. That was considered the top end 25 years ago when I still owned that rifle.

Nowadays, a 1:16 35 Whelen is kinda like a 1:12 30-06.


Okie John

With our 35 caliber rule use a Whelan

If I gun hunt this year it will be with a BLR chambered in .358 Winchester. It may not have the range that you are looking for, but it beats the snot out of a 12 ga. foster style slug and is a fun rifle to carry.

The 35 whelen would probably be the flatest shooting cartridge of practical use for those of us in Iowa. Where I hunt in the hills close to the Mississippi a 35 Remington does equally well, but I did run into a situation where I wished I had the Whelen, but was carrying the Remington when the deer were on the other side of the field.

A 200gr TTSX at 2900fps is the flatest shooting load I've developed for the Whelen, but I haven't used it in the fields yet

I see, I over looked the greater than .357 clause in the original post my apologies.

Given that detail
Gaschekt’s 200 TTSX in the Whalen sounds like it could be a good combo of speed and weight. There should be plenty of energy left at range for the TTSX to expand and do it’s job well. I know the op said no super hot rods but the 358 STA would have some cool factor here too with that 200 grainer in a 14 twist at 3250 or down load to 2950 and keep the 12 twist.

Yeah, the .308 & the Creed are getting kinda dusty since moving back to IA, but the powers that be have decided that we need to use up our lead supply faster -- .357" & up.

If I end up going short action, the Creed will probably get a new barrel in .358 Win or something of that flavor.
- Maybe .375 Raptor?

"Lob" is the key word there. I've read the stories of how they tested them out to 2 miles back in 1879.
With my scope, I run out of dial at 375y & the bullet is approaching subsonic by then.


Yep