Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 35 Whelen- FInally found the right combo.

I have been trying to find a really great combo for a while and I think I may have got it. For years I have shot Varget and either 200 or 250 gr bullets. The results were pretty good, right at MOA. About a year ago I found someone who had an abundance of 225gr. Nosler Ballistic tips. I figured I would give them a try. A 60 grain charge of Varget had me still at MOA, which for a 7 1/2 lb. hunting rifle is good as far as I am concerned.

Well I was reading through the ole' fire here and someone had suggested RL-15 as a good alternative to Varget. I happened to have a few pounds lying around. I loaded up starting at 57.0 and in half grain increments up to 59.5 gr. which is 1/2 gr. over book max. Maybe I was having a good shooting day but wow I am impressed. The scope is just a standard Leupold Vari-x II 3x9.
57.0 gr got me to MOA. 1" at 100 yds.
But here are the 3 round 59.0 and 59.5 groups. I think I found it!

you may also be holding a winning lotto ticket in your pocket. now go hunting.

Looks good, I need to get out and shoot my Whelen one of these days!

Looks like you found a great load, I really liked the 225 gr Ballistic Tip it was a good bullet.

Why did Nosler introduce that bullet , and then , almost immediately take it off the market ? I would love to have some for my .358 Win. !

Those shoot well in my Whelen also. That said, it's the only BT that I used that didn't expand, but it was shot through the ribs of a 125 pound whitetail.

RE-15 is skookum in the 35 Whelen.

Sounds like a good starting point for the one I just picked up from Mistem

Wish I could get my wheelen to do that

It is an excellent powder for the Whelen, both of mine were Remington's. One was a CDL, the other a Classic. I never got my hands on BT's but 225 gr TSX's, 250 gr Grand Slams, 250 gr Hornady's SP & RN and 225 gr Nosler PT's all shot 1" or under in the CDL. The Classic was showing the same when my brother got it in a trade. Most loads came together at the upper end of the data from Alliant. The data they show now is quite a bit lower.

FWIW Both rifles had long throats and mag boxes to handle same.

Good powder for the Whelen and the .350 RM. I imagine TAC would work well too since it does well in my .350

I am amazed at how long the mag box is for such a long throat in the 700. But I can load them into the lands and still fit hem in the box if I needed to.

very nice set of groups, I have 2 Whelens and I wish they shot like that.

if you need temp insensitive try AR Comp.. its supposed to be RL 15 with a different coating applied...

I may be wishing, but so far it has been even more accurate than RL 15 in the cartridges I have tried it in, especially the 22.250, 223 and 243...

but it is certainly had to improve on the OPs target results.

Thanks, I am a looney and love to tinker. I will get some AR comp and give it a try too!

Hmmm. Veddy interesting.

Maybe 375 H&H powder too. I'll look into that!

Is the AR Comp temperature sensitive?

I've used Re 15 in my Whelens and 338-06s for 15 years with great results. The more recent Re 15 is certainly less temp sensitive than previous lots. Never worried too much about it, but I did have to adjust POI up at least 3" from front range to mountain level for elk seasons. Recent lots exhibit less variance and it would be nice to find a powder with accuracy of Re 15 and stable POI.

Yeah buddy, just about the same load as you, 61 grains of RL15 though. Runs right at 2730 in my CDL.



It is a very good shooting combo. Need to try it out on elk though. It has to be excellent.

Nice going. I am going to chrony my load later this week and see where I am at.