Anyone hunt whitetails with .35 Whelen? What is your preferred load?

Lot of folks run them around here in single shots for primitive weapon season. Popular load seems to be 59-60gr RL15 under a 225 Sierra GK or NAB.

Contact Shaman. He and Steelhead have run the Whelen at whitetails.

they WAYYYYYY over penetrate

I've used both the 225 Sierras and Nosler Partitions at 2600 fps and blood trails look like someone put them down with a garden hose. The 200 gr. Hornady SP does the same at just over 2600 fps.

I shot two mule deer bucks with mine. One with 225 Sierra at about 250 yards and the other with 250 Speer GS at 100 yds. Both pretty much went straight down. very little meat damage too. I load 250 Speer hot core for everything.

Don't overlook the Speer 220 grain. It has killed lots of deer for me out of a 350 rem mag. Can't go wrong with the Sierra 225 either.

I've used Remington factory 200's and 250's. Either will work, but I recommend the 200's. I've shot 2 bucks head on while still hunting, one in the chest and one in the neck. Neither took a step. In both cases I recovered the 200 bullet in the rear ham on the opposite side. I don't think the factory Rem 200's are loaded very hot so that might be why they penetrate so far...but it's deer, with a 200 grain bullet you only need so much.

I've shot several broadside, shoulders drop them immediately with either bullet. Heart/lung shots with the 200's work well. The only 250 I put through the lungs was a long run...blood trail Ray Charles could follow, but it was still a long trail.

My days of slaying deer with the Whelen are over but have used Sierra, Accubond, Ballistic Tip & TSX - all 225's with various charges of R15. Never caught one.

Not a 35W. But I use a 338-06 works about the same.

Slenk,

I have a .338-284, thinking about using it on WT's.

What bullet(s) do you prefer?

DF

225 NPT deer or elk don't matter works perfect and doesn't blow the crap out of your eating. Magnum Man

Hi guys!
35 Whelen? I love it. I love my Rem 7600 too. I call it the Whelenizer. However, I load mine down to milder levels using H4895 and a 200 Grain Rem SPCL. It ends up being more like a 358 WIN , and the recoil is like a full-house 30-06.

One thing to remember: my Whelenizer does not kill deer any deader than a 30-06. Sometimes I get DRT. Sometimes they run a bit. I was expecting something more I guess. I usually pull the Whelenizer out late season for freezer filling duty. In the past 10 years, it has accounted for more dead deer than any of my other rifles. I've shot deer out past 150 yards with it. I've shot at deer that stuck their heads in the blind. It's all good-- loud, but good.

The rounds are considerably more expensive to load than 30-06. So I have tagged the Whelenizer as my first rifle for use with cast bullets. I have a 200 grain RCBS mould, and I may or may not get to the project before this deer season. When it's done, I'll have 35 REM-ish performance. With whitetal, that's probably all I need.

Here's a bunch of stuff I've written about the 35 Whelen since 2005.
The shaman and the 35 Whelen

Nice web site and great photos.

DF

Dirtfarmer
used to hunt with a feller that had a 338-284 he liked 180gr NABs real well. killed a lot of Deer and Elk with it.
I use 225 NABs in the 338-06 works on most anything I've shot.

A 225 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw will go lengthwise through a deer taking out the near side shoulder and exiting the back hip. You aren't likely to have penetration issues.

I load a speer 250 grain over 53 grains of imr 4320, and a fed 215 primer, in my rem 7600 slide action, for everything, because it did and does a very effective job and produced ans still does produce consistent small groups and consistent results from deer too elk, and for the first few years I took a bit of good Natured kidding, about that load being over kill or not good for long range , but as it consistently proved effective it won converts and now theres 3 guys in our elk camp regularly carrying 35 whelens and using those hand loads

Always heard the .35 was the preferred food for an amish machinegun.

My .338-284 really likes the 180 NAB, so that may be the one to use.

Alpha Arms Alaskan, factory chambering.

DF

Yes. 53.5 grains of IMR 4064 with a 250 grain Nosler Partition 0.035" off the lands.

Thanks!

There really isn't a thing as overkill or overpenetration, but honestly, if there was, the 35 Whelen on whitetail deer would qualify in my book. Back when I was just getting into hunting, my buddies opined that 30-06 was the ideal North American round, except for dangerous game. If big bear was on the menu, then 35 Whelen would take care of them.

That's pretty much how I see my Whelenizer. I don't regret my 'Campfire friends talking KYHillChick into buying it for me as a Saint Hubert's Day present. It's cool that everyone on the neighboring ridges knows when I shoot a deer; it has a distinctive report. I keep a loaded round of 35 Whelen by my chair in the family room; I find it calming to look at and rub. It gets a lot of work when the Bengals fall behind in the 4th Quarter.

As a whitetail round? For the work I do in the woods, a 300 Savage is probably ideal. For the longer shots, I have good luck with an '06. 35-Whelen is probably going to be my high-water mark.

I have used the .35 Whelen a fair amount for whitetails. I like the 225 gr. Sierra the best. Over about 58 gr. of RL-15

+1 on the Sierra 225gr. it worked well for me too. It is the most accurate in my Whelen, gonna try the Nosler polymer tip on deer as it gives good accuracy as well. I've been shooting both bullets over IMR4064, gonna try RL-15 as I understand it works well in the Whelen with these bullets too.

I still prefer a 223 over the Whelen for deer.

For several years I used the 35 Whelen for hunting whitetail deer. I settled on an "all around" load using the Speer 250 grain Hot Core bullet. It was accurate and worked well. While I initially made this load up to hunt elk, I didn't get a shot while in Colorado,so I used them for deer.

shot a very nice buck at 90 yards - he ran 60 yards - head first into a GIANT chestnut tree. The 225 grain Sierra shut his brain down so fast that he didn't know he was dead on impact.

Terry

I used a Whelen for 8 years moose hunting in Alberta. Used 270 grain bullets, bitterroot bonded cores, the first one to bond its jackets to the core. Shot my share of moose, couple of elk, white tails and mulies and a black bear.
All within 100 yards, did a fine job on everything.
Sold it when I ran out of bitter root bullets, since there were no good tough bullets out there at that time. This was pre Nosler partition era.
within 200 yards you can not go wrong with a Whelen.
I would not choose it as a primary deer rifle. It will do, but IMO there are better deer rounds out there with much lower recoil.

I load for 5 Whelens used in Miss. The guys started off just using them for primitive season. Now they tend to use them in regular rifle season just because they like them.

My load is Rem. brass, Win. LRP, 58 gr. RL15 and the Hornady 200 gr. SP. That load is running between 2600-2700 fps. It's accurate and hammers the snot out of deer and hogs. We haven't recovered a bullet yet and it leaves very good blood trails. Shots taken have been from about 20 yards to a little over 300 yards.

I previously had a bunch of Encore barrels. I've found with the Whelen I didn't need them so they are gone.

I have not tried the 200 gr. bullets on any game but have been meaning to get around to it sometime.

youth, wasted money, mo power and a 30 or bigger caliber for WT deer or age, wisdom, skill, and a .223 both kill the same out to 250 yards.

250gr Hot-cor over 59gr R-15.......