Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .35 whelen handloads

Anyone have any experience handloading whelen with rl 15 or n140? I was mostly looking to load 250 gr cause my rifle is not drilled and tapped and really seems to like 250 gr factory loads. I've noticed that most manuals put the max load for RL 15 at 54 grs with 250 gr and OACL ranging from 3.25-3.330. My rifle groups Nosler custom 250 gr partitions going 2550 fps less than an inch at 100 yds. Id like to get close to 2500 fps, but whatever my rifle ends up liking is fine with me. I have speer hot cors in 250 gr n plan on trying hornady rn and loading some partitions. I know there are some lighter premium bullets like accubonds and tsx but since im just shooting a peep sight n my gun likes 250s so far, I think ill stick to heavies. Please Share any loads you have though. I may find a reason to onedsy load 225s. I love this rifle so much but don't get a lot because of ammo cost.

That's all I shoot out of my Whelen. I actually run RL15, RP cases, CCI250 primers and 250 Speer's or 250 PT's. Both shoot to the same POI out as far as I have stretched it (400 yards). Awesome combo. Accuracy is very good with that combo and I haven't had any issues getting 2600 with my loads.

RL15 works really well with 225 AB's as well. Runs a bit over 2700 with them, with ease. I am shooting out of a 24" barrel as well.

IMR4064 worked really well with 200 grain Hornady's as well. Pretty quick too..














[img]http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww233/beretzs/RELOADING%20TARGETS/DSC_2738.jpg[/img]

I haven't found any good reason to try much else than RL15 for 225's and 250's though.

beretz, that is one fine shooting rifle!

Don't tell anyone, but it's my only Remington.. It is a great shooting CDL. Rifle has always shot darned well. Great rifle to carry into elk country as well. Pretty light and carries the mail.

I also only own one Remington - a 700 Classic 35 Whelen I bought used last year. I started loading for it with 250's and 4064, RL-15 and Varget. Results were good, but when I tried the 225 TSX w/ RL-15, I stopped there and haven't loaded anything else since. I haven't shot any critters with it yet, but will hopefully remedy that this year.

Seems to be a great combo.. I took a good bull elk with that exact combo, 225 TSX and RL15. Most dramatic kill I have had..

Awesome shooting rifle right there. Seems to be a theme amongst Whelen shooters!

Good to know. For whatever reason up here the whelen craze has slowed down considerably so perhaps one of these (Remington whelens) can be picked up pretty reasonably (cheaper than a rebarrel, for sure). Call me old-fashioned (just not late for dinner!) but I kind of like the idea of a big hole for any tracking. For me, a whelen is on the edge of manageable recoil with 250s, but a Bansner would tame that considerably.

RL-15 for me.

Currently loading 52.6 grs under Hornady 250's for avg 2339 fps. 22" 1-12 twist pac-nor barrel.

Plenty for a Georgia whitetail I'm sure, may find out this year!

Mike

The Whelen craze may have died down but we like it.
Have two in the family...my custom on a Pre'64 Model 70 and Eric's left hand Ruger with King barrel....

Nice rifles Rembo.

It's hard to argue with a good 35 cal!

Thanks guys. So far I have tried 51, 52 and 53 gr of rl15 over 250 gr speer. Those are some tight groups you guys got too. I would love a rem 700. My rifle wears a redfield aperture sight and isnt dtilled and tapped yet. I would like a rifle I could scope too. My rifle handles so nice and is so easy to carry though. I need to get it out on an elk hunt. I had a cow tag this last month but got bronchitis and missed the whole hunt

Very nice rifles. Love that Pre64. That is a great looking rifle, as is the Ruger.

Good luck, most rifles seem to really take off with RL15 and 250's.

Been shooting the Whelen for years and RL 15 is all I use for 200-250 grain bullets.

Rembo, certainly a couple of nice looking rigs!

I use varget and any 250 in my old, beat up, 35 Whelen (more beat up after this year's hunts. My default position is, more and more often, prone, on my face , with the rifle beneath me). For years I used 3031 but switched to Varget about ten years ago. GD

Try putting that powder UNDER the 250 Speer, it will shoot even better!!!

Both mine like RL15 under pretty much any bullet.

My Whelen only shoots 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" three shot groups at 100 yards with the 225 gr TSX over 60 grs of RL15 for 2700 fps. No idea what it does beyond on paper.

Wow, that is a great looking rifle! Way to go! That's what the Whelen was made for right there!

Hey, the Whelen Craze just hit here in PA!

I had a Model 70 Classic rebored by JES from 30-06 to 35W.

Here's the last 200 yard target I shot:



That's 58.0gr IMR4320 with a 250gr Speer HotCor. The barrel has exactly 50 rounds through it since the rebore work was done, and the McMillan stock still needs to be bedded, so I think it's doing pretty well! That group measured right about 2.5" center-to-center, and speeds should be right around 2550 or so.

Here's the rifle (on the left):



It's a real sweetheart, and may be one of my favorites, as a lot of my hunting around home is in thick woodlots where long shooting isn't typical. Shots from 0-200 or so are very common. I'm really pleased so far with the Whelen...hoping to put some Speers into some whitetails here soon and see how it does!

My Whelen is a rebarreled Ruger 77 that was my first rifle. Since I left the lead free zones all it gets are the 250gr Hornady over 57grs of Varget, 2550fps. The 225 TSX at 2700 was pretty impressive and I admit being tempted by the 200 TTSX at over 2800fps