Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Anyone hunt with Contender in 35 Remington?

I sold my big boomer Encore last week and want to backfill with a contender boomer. I sold my 358 JDJ to finance the 350 and my uncle won't sell it back........bastige!

Can't blame him, it shot nice little one ragged hole groups with 225 Noslers.

I'm looking at getting another 358 JDJ or Bellm and have a lead on a 375 JDJ. After looking at my load data for my JDJ and Bellm data, a plain jane 35 Rem may be the answer. I've carried my big boomers bear hunting and can see a use for East TN pigs. I like a 220/225 grain bullet for those purposes from a pistol.

What loads/bullets/velocities are you guys getting from the plain jane 35?

FWIW, you may want to look VERY closely at a .357 Maximum barrel, too. Assuming you're running 14" or less, the Max gets you REALLY close to all those, with less powder, recoil, and blast.

Will do.

I have on in a 14" and have killed several deer and 2 blk bears with it using 180gr Speer FN/32.0 gr IMR3031 (bang flop)

Head over to specialty pistols and you'll get a wealth of information on the .35 Rem. and The .357 Max. I have never personally hunted with the .35 Remington in a pistol format, but from what I've heard it is a sledgehammer on deer and bear.

Thanks to both of you!

I have hunted quite a lot with contenders in .35remington, and the .35rimmed (same thing but rimmed case, made from .303 or 30/40 brass). i also shoot several .357max's, a 357bain & davis, a .358superbower, and a .358jdj.

my .35remmy is a 21" carbine now, sold my pistol, since it didnt make sense for me to have virtually identical guns. my pistol is in .35rimmed , a 14" bullberry custom.

If you plan on shooting 180's/200's the .35 will do all you'd ever want out of a handgun for deer/hogs. with barrel lengths of 14" or so, and bullets over 200 grains, it will beat the .357max by a tad, 100-150fps tops, BUT at the expense of more recoil & twice the powder consumption. if you want a short barrel, say 10-12" i would recommend sticking with the max or the .357bain&davis. The max with 180's is a killer.

if you go with heavies, 225gr or so, the .35 will beat out the max... i've never personally seen a need for 250's in the .35rem, as those are designed for more speed, and i only use those in my .358jdj & even then only if i'm hunting big stuff.

only caution i'd mention is that the .35 has a pretty lousy shoulder for headspacing...one of my stainless frames will not fire any factory loads when used with my carbine barrel. i've had 3 or 4 .35remmy barrels & none of the rest have had issues. but i've heard others mention it.

most good .35 bullets designed for lever guns in the 180/200 grain weight range do just fine. the Hornady 180SSP, which i think they dropped, is superb. The remington bulk 200 is great at pistol speeds, and is going to be my main .35bullet when i finish off my remmy 150's & hornady 180SSP's.

the remington 150 factory loads shot great in every TC i've tried them in. never tried factory 200's.

here's a useful article on .35remmy bullet performance...although this was intended for carbines, it gives you some good ideas as to what .35 bullets work at assorted speeds. 14" pistol speeds are going to give 90% or so of what carbine speeds are, depending on the loads.

http://www.suitorsgarage.com/gunstuff/35remington/35rempart2.html

and as mentioned, stop by Specialty Pistols & say hi.

Regards;
Gerald

Back in 1973 when I had been using the Contender for deer and hogs for only three years the .30 Herrett and the .357 Herrett were the newest thing out. The .30 Herrett would work for deer and other big game with the Speer 130 grain hollow point out of the 10 inch barrel, which was the only length out then. A few months after the .30 Herrett made it debut the .357 Herrett came out. I used it for about 10 years with Speer's 180 gr flat point. Out of about 25 deer shot with the 180 gr ft pt, I only had one that ran 40 to 45 yards most were a few steps from where I shot them or bang flops. Now with the 14 inch barrels you would not have to drive them so hard to get a good velocity. My choice would be the Speer 180 gr ft pt followed closely by the 220 gr ft pt. Not a fancy bullet, but a very effective one. I think the .35 Remington loaded with the same would work very well for you.
Good shooting,
Marcus.

re - thank you for the post.

I've been using a Contender/Encore for ~ 10 years and have killed a few deer with them. My standard Contender is a 308 Bellm shooting a 150 Bal Tip. I switched to a 30-06 Encore using the ame bullet ~ 5 yrs ago and ordered a 350 Rem Mag pistol barrel from FoxRidge. I discovered that I wasn't overly consistent with the Encore because they feel too big in my hand. I could never get the hang of that feel and size of the gun from field positions.

I've gone back to the contendr and want a larger hammer than my 308 Bellm - hence why I'm looking at the 35 rem. If the 35 rem doesn't quite cut it, I'll have it bored to Bellm/JDJ. I had a 358 JDJ prior to my 350 Rem Mag experience. I affectionately called it the "bolt breaker." I literally broke several grip bolts with that thing. It was accurate as all get out but recoil was a bit brisk.........

I'm hoping the 35 rem will give me the power I want w/o all the friggin recoil of a Bellm/JDJ. If not, Bellm/JDJ here I come.

I had found the article you posted and read it last night. I'm thinking the 180 Speer is the ticket for what I have in mind (pigs, bears, deer).

Thanks again.

Marcus - Thanks for the heads up on the 180 Speer. Judging from my reading and experience of a few guys I've chatted with, the speer comes highly recomended for the 35.

Have any expereince with anything bigger than deer using the 35?

I have gone thru a number of big handguns and have come to using a 14 inch 35 Remington for all my pistol hunting. Bigger than deer in Texas means feral hogs. I use a top load of IMR 4198 and either a 200 grain Remington RNCL or the RCBS 200 gr. cast flat nose. I don't see how you need any more gun for hogs though the biggest I have taken is around 275 pounds, still waiting to recover a bullet.

Good info.

I discovered feral pigs last year in TN - it was a hoot. They have killed a few giant hogs in TN but I've never seen one more than ~ 250 lbs. These damn things are in the mountains and in the clearcuts. Shots are fairly short but lighter is better when climbing the E. TN cliffs............

bwinters,
Two years ago I got to try out a 180 gr Speer on a 550 pound boar hog. We had just disk up one of my food plots and sowed winter peas, oats, wheat, and rape. I went back the next day to take a look at my handy work and found a boar intent on rooting up the whole end of one shooting lane. I had brought my Contender with the ten inch .357 Herrett barrel and two power Leupold EER scope in hopes that I might see something, I was pleased to say the least. I got out an extra cartridge and was holding it in my lips, I put the cross hairs behind his shoulders and fired. He started kind of a wind up and spun around three or four times before he fell over, by the time he fell over I had already loaded another round. I watched him about five more minutes, then I went back to my truck and got my four wheeler and rode out to where he was. He was stone dead, the bullet had taken out a chunk of his heart and stopped just under the skin on the opposite side. The bullet had expanded to about fifty caliber. Good bullet performance!
I wish I could tell you I tried it out on an elk, but that is not the case.
Good shooting,
Marcus.

Good info.

I found a 35 Rem barrel and expect to pick it up next weekend - loading to occur shortly after. To me, if it works on a 500 lb piggie it should work fine for a blackbear. It might bounce off an elk