Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 35 whelan or .338 ?

35 whelan or.338 mag for elk and moose . what does every body out there like and why?

The Whelen, hands down. While not as capable at extreme long ranges, these are huge targets, commonly shot at quite close range. <P>Either will do the job beautifully, but the Whelen will do it with a lot less powder, recoil and noise.<BR>art

My .35 with 22" barrel and factory Federal 225g TBBC bullets clock at 2650fps...very close to .338 mag performance...with the benefit of a big fat pill.<P>My opinion would be the .35 Whelen for anything inside of 300 yards. If shots will be greater than 300 go with a .338 mag or .338 RUM.

The 35 whelen is a killer on the receiving end but not on the shooting end. I agree with Spike under 300 yards there is nothing better. I am currently loading 250 grain Hornady interlocks in my whelen. If you want more power you could allways make your whelen an AI. tom

Weatherby- CP's post on page 2 showed that Davidson's had some Ruger M77MKII in .35 Whelen. But they have the old synthetic stocks on them. <BR> <A HREF="http://www.galleryofguns.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.galleryofguns.com</A> <P> I wonder how the Weatherby .338 A-square is selling?<BR> <A HREF="http://weatherby.com/rifles/lw_ultralightweight.shtml" TARGET=_blank>http://weatherby.com/rifles/lw_ultralightweight.shtml</A> <P>Both sound like nice guns. Bob

I've heard really good things about the .35 Whelen Brown Improved. Its similar to the Ackley Improved except the shoulder is moved forward making a shorter neck and adding some case capacity. Can't fireform factory ammo in it though like you can with the Ackley Improved.

Chock up another one for the 35 whelen, mines the ackley varient. My plan on going with the ackley was to get std whelen velocities at reduced pressure, but the gun only shoots at top levels, which in my gun is a 250 gr a-frame @ 2700 fps. Hmmm, that combination sounds kinda familiar. [img]images/icons/tongue.gif" border="0[/img] <P>One nice feature of the 35 is that you can shoot pistol bullets, and a huge selection of cast bullets for plinking, practice, small game, you name it. Lots of folks poo poo this, but, they've never had a gun that can do it. I gurantee, everybody that shoots my 180 gr 800 fps cast loads always has a big grin on their face. I'm planning on getting a new mold to drop some 230 and 280 gr loads, to see what this thing will do w/ cast bullets.<P>I'd actually say, go with the std chambers, I don't think the effort of making the improved cases is worth it, the std will push 250's @ 2500 fps with modern powders, which will do all the killing you possible can with the round, more speed just adds a little bit of range.

Well guys, at least for me and my type of hunting in Alaska, the .338 Magnum is the way to go. Not that there is anything wrong with the .35 Whelen, because it is a great cartridge like lots of other cartridges. <P>Yes, there are a few .35 Whelen around here and even a few .375 H&H, but the fact is that the .30-06, the .300 Magnum, and the .338 Magnum may well be the most popular cartridges in Alaska. I imagine the .35 Whelen is very popular in the Lower-48, and in no way am I trying to down play this cartridge. That's why I said "For me and my type of hunting in Alaska..."<P>Both the .338 Magnum, and the .375 H&H are perfect for Alaska.

Pumpgun what's the going rate on 7600's in .35 Whelen these days? I saw a nice one not to long ago and was unsure of the going rate.<P>Mike

For a handloader, its easy to down load a .338 mag. to Whelen ballistics or lower, but there is no safe way to load a Whelen up to a full power .338

ROR, I am not sure what the current rate is but the last one I saw was around $500. tom

I would stay away from the A-Square flavors, since the gov't drove him out of business??

Thanks Tom- That's about what this one was.....Too Bad I didn't have the money on me at the time....I may have to go on a little vacation :-)<P>Mike

Steve: The .338-06 A-Square is the standard .338-06. The .338-06 has been around for a long time, and A-Square (before they went out of business) made the specifications official.<P>There are other versions of the .338-06, but I believe the "A-Square" version is the only one that adheres to SAAMI specifications. That's all there is to it.

And the winner is!....<P>The 9.3x62mm!!! Yea!<P>Oh wait, shoot, that wasn't one of the choices. [img]images/icons/frown.gif" border="0[/img]<P>Now I gotta go back and rethink this thing....<P> [img]images/icons/wink.gif" border="0[/img]

Well...The way I see it, the question should have been "Which one for elk, the .338-06 or the .35 Whelen?"<P>One can't ballistically compare the .35 Whelen to the .338 Magnum without noticing there is a significant difference between the two. However, when one compares the .338-06 and the .35 Whelen, then there is lots of room for arguments, because both are ballistically very close.<P>That said, I imagine you can find the answers with elk hunters in the Lower-48. What cartridges are the must popular with elk hunters down there?<P>Most of the rifles I see around the firing ranges are the .30-06, .300 Magnum, and the .338 magnum. Every now and then I see something else, but not too often.

If the truth were known, most elk in the lower 48 likely get shot with .270's and '06's. The poor unknowing hunters keep killing elk with them, blissfully unaware of the inadequacy of their armament. I do shoot elk and other large critters with a standard .35 Whelen, and I like it quite a lot. I'm chronographing 2550 with 250 Speer Grand Slams -- good trajectory out to 300 yeards or so, and that's plenty far enough. The Whelen is a great all-around cartridge, and when I go to Alaska for a couple of months (tomorrow) it's going with me.

Muledeer: There is nothing wrong with the .35 Whelen nor the .338 Magnum, except that both are ballistically very different from each other. The .35 Whelen is ballistically close to the .338-06, and both should be outstanding all purpose hunting cartridges. What I mean to say in my previous post is that the question should have been in relation to the .35 Whelen and the .338-06.<P>Some people here use the .35 Whelen and the .338-06, but it seems that most hunters (in Alaska) use the .30-06, .300 magnum, and the .338 Magnum more than any other cartridge. I don't really know what is used in the Lower-48, since I have never hunted elk. I have been in Alaska for over 21 years, and for the past seven I have used a .338 Magnum to hunt moose. My handloads with 250-grain NOS bullets develop around 2,720 fps, but I just got a box of Federal HE with 250-grain bullets, and three shots produced an average of nearly 2,800 fps. I was impressed to say the least, so there is a good chance I will use this ammo for moose just to see how they work.<P>It is my opinion that cartridges with factory ammo that can be found in any of the local stores will always be more popular in Alaska. Ammo for the .30-06, .300 magnum, and the .338 magnum can be found anywhere here, and very often on sale. The cheapest ammo is the one for the .30-06, then it goes up in price to around $20.00 or $30.00 for premium ammo for the .300 and the .338, and up around $40.00 for the .375 H&H, and then even higher for Weatherby ammo for the .340 and others.

[img]images/icons/tongue.gif" border="0[/img] An opportunity for one of my favorite rants! When Remington standardized the Whelen, they half-crippled it with a 1-16 twist rate. Bullets heavier than about 250 grains don't seem to stabilize well, though a 275 grain roundnose might be short enough to work.<P>Why is that an issue, given that a good 250 grain is potent medicine? Look on either side of the Whelen at the 338-06 and the 9.3x62. You get 250 grains in .338 (sectional density .313) and 286 grains in 9.3 (SD .305). It takes a 275 grain .358 bullet (SD .306) to play in that sandlot, and Remington discouraged the use of such heavies by their too-slow twist. Look at Nosler - they make a .338/250 Partition, a 9.3/286 Partition, but the heaviest .358 Partition is 250.<P>I noted in the latest Speer book that the Winchesters used for .358/.356 testing had 1-12 twists. I sure wish other makers had done that. Then that big 280 grain Swift A-Frame could put the Whelen in the same league as the .338's and .366's. And, that league is "general African use", for which the oh-so-similar 9.3x62 is famed.<P>There, thanks for letting me rant one more time!

I agree with Ray. If you are gonna go for elk, take the .300mag or the .338mag. I hunt elk and use the 30/06 and .270. The .35 is a good cartridge for moose because they are normally taken at a closer range. For elk I think the .300mag might be a little better than the .338mag.