Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Let's Talk 35 Whelen, Who Loves Them?

I'd take a 180gr Barnes TTSX all day long and twice on Sunday over a 250gr Cor-lokt

theres about 16 solid and consistent long term members and an additional 6-10 guys that seem to come and go, as members in my elk hunt club.
two of the most popular cartridges in my hunting club are the 358 win (mostly in browning BLRs) and the 35 whelen in remington 7600 and several bolt actions) by far the 250 grain speer
the 358 win in the blr pushes that 250 grain speer bullet to about 2300fps
the whelen pushes that 250 grain speer bullet to about 2500fps





either and both have an enviable record of a long list of very dead elk and mule deer, so much in fact that several of each rifle in those calibers have been purchased due too the consistent successful results.
I purchased both my 7600 remington and my browning BLR after years of watching both convincingly fill tags.
those two are almost the standard most of the guys use to judge other rifles.

Had a Ruger No. 1A in the Whelen. Quite accurate but I never warmed up to that particular rifle (and I really like No.1s).

One problem was the skinny barrel. When I put irons on it with full bore 250 br loads that thing kicked! Off the bench it was absolutely no fun and probably the 'fastest' recoiling rifle I ever shot. Ended up selling it on here.

If they had spec'd it with the 'S' medium contour I probably would've kept it. My 1-S in 9.3 balances and feels much better...

Took the Whelen on a combo hunt one year but got zip so I only killed paper and steel with mine.

Nevertheless, a cool cartridge if you dig it...

Been carrying one in cdl for a few years now and is very accurate with very reasonable recoil. Some posted that faster killed better and several other cartridges were better for deer such as the the 30-06. Although I would never discount the '06, a Whelen pushing the same bullet faster certainly wouldn't bounce off game.

I must have missed the memo.

225's:

Nice bear, sir

+1, great post. I found it also stacks up pretty closely to a 165gr 308.

Now that's a nice bear! Care to share details?

Here's a little bear that tangled with a 200 grain bullet from a Whelen.

That is a beauty!

He's been whelen'd!

I'd probably love the Whelen, if I hadn't discovered the .358 first.

For deer, having used a host of other bullets in the past, that's undoubtedly the bullet I'd select.

Compare and contrast the terminal performance of a .30-06 vs. 35 whelen, both equipped with a 180 gr. TTSX. Would it be equal?
Same bullet weight, different caliber.
Basically the same cartridge, I guess.
Someone enlighten me please.

The whelen (or338-06) should start any 180 faster than the '06 can, just due to larger bores being more efficient on the same case. How that translates at 3-400, with bc disparity, I dont know....probably not much. I know the .358 w/180s, can be right there with the '06 180 loads I've known.

I shot a cow caribou at 325yds with a 180 Speer semispitzer started at 2800fps. Bullet completely went to pieces, never found a fragment bigger than a pencil lead, but the cow went down like I'd jerked the rug out from under her. The 200 TSX works great for caribou and I'm sure it would work just fine for anything else in North America, my rifle launches them at 2700fps and I haven't caught one yet.

I save the 180s for using in my 35 rem super14 TC barrel these days and haven't used a 200 in a while. My gun shoots about 6 different 250s into small groups with no POI shift so I use them. I like the way the 250s perform and I have 7 30/06s for launching 180s YMMV.

I would not try to quantify the terminal differences between a 30/06 and a 35 Whelen on deer. As was said in the beginning, there are better choices for deer than the 35 Whelen. However, if I was going to pursue deer with a Whelen the 180 TTSX would be tops in my opinion/experience. The Whelen is a "big" game cartridge and deer are not "big" game.....

I have two rifles chambered in the Colonel's 35...and I have found I get better (smaller) groups with the 225gr pills.
I have taken it on 3 bear hunts,,,but so far the bears heard I was carrying the Whelen and stayed away from the bait.
However, on paper the rifles shoot great.

Don't leave me hanging! Tell us why? I was just at Sportsman's Warehouse and they had two box of Hornady brass in 358 Winchester for $30 each. I couldn't in good conscious just leave them on the shelf. So now I am eyeballing a rifle in 358 Winchester too. It really is a sickness these damn .35's.

If you own a Whelen, I think it's required by law to own a .358 too.

I loved my old 350 Rem Mag.
Would love to have a 358 STA