Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 35whelen in Africa?

I'm getting my 35whelen ready for my Oct. Musk Ox hunt, 225gr TSX at 2575fps and was wondering how it would work for Africa. Say plains game in Namibia with Eland on the wish list. Anyone used the whelen in Africa?

Nope.... but theres no reason in the world why you could not use it on eland or Kudo.

I would think it work out very well on eland
Since alot of the folks are using there 300 win mags on them theres no reason your 35 wont work

Used one with Federal 225 grain Trophy bonded bearclaws to wack a 58" kudu, zebra and others.

GREAT africa round!

How about a .358 Win? It should work just about as well, with a shorter range limit. Would that limit be too short to make it an effective choice? I have a .358 Win, but not a .35 Whelen.

I have both. They are like the 308 and 30-06, to me.

The 358 is plenty.

Use good bullets, that's all.

Everybody tends to think of the big guys like eland and zebra when thinking of plains game, but remember that there's the wee guys, too. Duiker, steenbok, klipspringer, dik-dik, and so on. They really look fine as whole body mounts, and that's another place where the Whelen shines. I got removable scope mounts for mine and a second scope. One scope is for the 'standard' loads (250 gr bullet at 2600fps), and the other is for my dik-dik load.

I loaded down some solids to about 2000fps and used them for the little chappies. A .358 hole in, a .358 hole out, and the taxidermist doesn't need to be a magician to make fine whole body mounts.

The 225gr TSX should be a great performer. My Whelen has a one in 14" twist rate and i would like to try the 270gr North Fork bullet. This bullet was made specifically for tough African plains game.While velocity would probably be in the 2,300fps range this would mimick the 9.3X62 and should be good out to 250yds or so.The Whelen was originally intended for bullets of 275grs and with the heavier bullets it should penetrate like crazy.Another good heavy weight is the 280gr Swift A-Frame, but that TSX should get the job done on any PG so its just a matter of preference and whats more accurate. If i ever get over to Africa, hopefully soon, that will be my go to rifle.

Used a 350 rem mag on impala warthog, gemsbok, and Kudu worked like a charm I used 250's.

liled

The 35 Whelen is a very fine general plains game caliber. I've just returned from RSA and this has been my third trip with my 35 Whelen. During the previous 2 hunts my bullet was the 225 grain Barnes X, and this trip I used the 225 gr. Barnes TSX. With this bullet/caliber combo, I have taken many speices of plains game from blesbok to zebra. And many in between, including eland, kudu, gemsbok, bushbuck, a bunch of impala, red hartebeest, blue wildebeest, waterbuck, warthog and others. Up to 300 yards, I believe it to be near perfect.

On this past trip two situations showed me how awesome this caliber/bullet is. Fisrt a warthog was hit a little far back as it trotted in front of us, we caught up to it about 100-125 yards later and as it was was heading directly away I shot it. The bullet went into the left ham, and stopped in the skull, a perfect 4 petal mushroomed TSX was recovered.

The second was a follow up on an eland that went down at the shot but was still struggling to regain his feet, went down on one knee and from 25 yards put the shot into the brisket, the bullet was recovered in the left ham after going through 4.5 - 5 feet in eland. And the first shot, it went through a small tree before hitting the eland in the neck completely penetrating the neck and continuing on through another small tree behind the eland.

Yup, I like this caliber.

BigBullet

Big Bullet: Can you share your TSX load please? it sounds like a winner! orge

Hello Jorge,

I got my bushbuck!

Anyway, I load 62.0 grains of Reloader 15 with the Barnes 225 gr TSX. You will find this load to be above maximum in most reloading manuals(so please use caution), but it is completely safe in my two 35 Whelens. In my 22" barreled 1903 Springfield, this load gets 2650 fps, and in the new Rem 700 CDL with a 24" barrel I get 2725 fps. This load is also fairly compressed, which is ok with me, but some may have a problem with it. I use R-P brass and have been using the same brass now for a number of years, without any problems with primer pockets or split necks.



The pictures are of the bullet recovered from the warthog skull.

BigBullet

Yes that is a bit warm, but hey, it works for you and that's what counts. I suspect the TSX's advertised ability to reduce pressure could have something to do with it. So, are you going to tell me about your bushbuck or leave us hanging?! jorge

You might like to take a look at this article. It's about a hunt in Zimbabwe using a 35 Whelen.

Titled; The .35 Whelen in Zimbabwe

The hunter uses his Whelen on a few small antelopes and a couple of large cats.

He seemed happy and impressed with the results.

Here's the link...

http://www.african-hunter.com/35_whelen_in_zim.htm

Hope you enjoy...

Lowtech

Its good to see so much support for the Whelan. A criticism we African PH's have of many American hunters is that they place too much emphasis on velocity and energy and not enough on penetration and momentum.

Julian,

Where are you from and where do you hunt?

Yes, you are right that there has been a craze for higher velocity. Its been going on for many years though. I recently returned from RSA where my hunting partner used a 300 Weatherby. The first thing that you realize about using these higher velocity rounds is that the bullets must be of sturdy construction. He is not a reloader and picked up factory Weatherby ammo where I suggested he find ammo with 180 Noslers Partitions but he only found 180 grain soft points (according to the box). I suspect that these bullets were standard Hornandys. He shot a blesbok at near 200 yards and the ram dropped on the spot. Upon further inspection there was no exit wound and when the animal was skinned, there were nothing but pieces of that bullet left. He also shot a jackal with this rifle and nearly cut it in half!

After that he used a 7mm Rem Mag with 160 grain Barnes TSX and downed his blue wildebeest and kudu very nicely. Those bullets fully penetrated.

I like the 300 Weatherby caliber, as it seems a very good round for plains game, but the right bullets must be used. So I don't codemn calibers as much as I do the choice bullet for the caliber.

For me, I'll stick to my 35 Whelen.

BigBullet

Here's what Jack O'Connor had to say:

"The popularityof the .35 Whelen was given a bad jolt when Winchester brought out the new Model 70 in .375 magnum caliber in 1937. At that time a Model 70 in any caliber, including .375, cost about $60. Here was a sound, accurate, good-looking rifle on a strong action for less than half of what a custom-made .35 Whelen would cost. The appearance of the .338 Winchester in 1958 was the final blow for the .35 Whelen since the .338 is a better cartridge and any Mauser-type action long enough for the .30/06 can be adapted to it."

The emphasis being, "the .338 is a BETTER CARTRIDGE". O'Connor was a very astute man, and he was absolutely, 100% correct with those observations. The 338 Win. Mag. is better in every way. The 35s give up too much sectional density to the 338s, and the 35 Whelen gives up too much case capacity to the 338 Win. Mag. as well.

Personally, I wouldn't take the 35 Whelen to Africa or anywhere else. Besides the performance issues, there are logistical issues, including the fact that it's highly unlikely that you'd find a single round of 35 Whelen ammo in all of Africa in an emergency. On the other hand, I've been in two African camps that had spare 338 Win. Mag. (and 300 Win. Mag., 375 H&H, 30-06, and 458 Win. Mag.) ammo available.

Commonality is a good thing, especially when you're hunting 10,000 miles from home........

AD

Alan,

Well, Jack O'Connor was a pretty knowagable guy about hunting rifles, no doubt. I have read most, if not all his stuff and to a large degree agree with him on whats makes proper hunting equipment.

And the 338 Win Mag is a more powerful cartridge as well. Shoots flatter and probably has a better selection of bullets to reload from. Along with the potential for finding ammo continents away. I agree with all that.

What I do have a problem with is "better". The 35 Whelen is more then adequate (with the proper bullets) in penetration, I have recovered but two bullets out of maybe 17 head of African game taken thus far with the caliber. One 40 yards past a waterbuck and the bullet from the skull of a warthog. Penetration on plains game is not an issue.

The first year I hunted in Africa I used a 338 Win Mag, and had many problems, poor bullet construction and shooting that needed improvement. I shot a kudu and the 225 grain Hornandy bullet was in pieces and lacked penetration. Since then I have taken the 35 Whelen loaded with Barnes bullets and am much happier. I have taken as backup to the 35, my 338 WM, 375 H&H and 30-06 in consecutive years, just in case of the ammo getting lost thing, but have not had any reason to pull them out of the case. Though I did shoot a blesbok with the 375 just for the heck of it.

My load, sighted 2.5" high at 100 yards is 10" low at 300, only about 2" inches different then the 338 WM with the same wieght bullets. I can live with that. Is the 338 WM better?...I don't know and have always found comparisons too subjective, what I do beleive though, through esperience, is that the 35 Whelen is more then adequate for African plains game within 300 yards.

BigBullet

"the .338 is a BETTER CARTRIDGE" better than what and better for what? If there were some ballistic benchmark of 'better' and it was the sole criterion, then there'd be only one cartridge with one bullet, and everybody would clearly see its superiority and all the others would end up as historical footnotes.

How about better hunters, more able to use whatever cartridge they've chosen? in a way, that somewhat more describes African plains game hunting than does concentrating on the cartridge. Most, but certainly not all, I admit, of the African plains game are habitat specialists with a high degree of territoriality, especially seasonal territoriality. If you find an animal that you want, but can't make the stalk that will allow you to properly place your bullet, you can most often pull back and give it another try on another day. As long as that animal isn't badly spooked, he's not going to leave his territory. Under African hutning conditions, the Whelen shines.

I disagree. No cartridge has inherently better sectional density than any other. Its just a formula based on bullet weight and diameter. A heavier bullet in the bigger diameter can match the sectional density of the smaller. The case capactity is only too small if you think the extra velocity is needed or an advantage. With that logic the 300 ultra mag with heavy bullets should be a "BETTER CARTRIDGE" than the .338 Win Mag. Faster and better sect density, right? I think there is something to be said for bullet diameter and big bullets traveling at reasonable velocities...

Allen is just a big supporter of the .338 Win Mag and doesn't see much use for cartridges such as the .338-06, .35 Whelen and the 9.3x62 (the various medium bores using basically a standard .30-06 size case). He's posted about this on other forums as well. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The .338 Win Mag is more powerful (at least on paper) and is a more sensible choice for a shooter/hunter that doesn't handload. Better selection of factory chambered rifles, also. Still, I don't think that makes the .338 Win Mag "better" than the non-magnum medium bores. Different strokes for different folks.

I just recently had a great run with my 9.3x62 in South Africa. Two Kudu, a Gemsbok and a few Impala and Warthog fell to it. All one shot kills and complete penetration (which I prefer) on all of them. The hunting was in bushveld with fairly close shooting (50 to 150 yards) which is normal for the bushveld. That is the type of terrain where the 9.3x62 really shines. I would imagine that the .35 Whelen would serve just a well on plains game in the bush.

Still, I have nothing against the medium bore magnums as I also own a .338 Win Mag (currently being built) and a .375 H&H. Both are great cartridges.

My two cents....
-Bob F. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />