35 Whelen

[Flfiremedic]

Went crazy on Gunbroker.com a couple of months ago...the one I really wanted just came in. Remy 700 CDL 35 Whelen. Love the looks and feel. Will be a month or so till I get it scoped-Zeiss Conquest 3x9, and will wring it out then. Any advice or 35 Whelen stories out there? Best all around factory load for it?

 

[Hokkmike]

I've got a friend who is a Whelen nut. He has a few watered down loads for plinking. I'll try to get his recipes.

 

[esmith]

That combination you just bought is what i have sort of wanted for a long time. That would be my hunting rifle. Right now im just buying milsurp stuff before its gone, or priced even higher. Its an awesome cartridge.

 

[TehK1w1]

I'm running Federal Premiums in mine-225gr trophy bonded bear claw@2600FPS M.V.
They make a 250gr load as well, I believe.

 

[T.R.]

I had a Browning BLR in 30-06 re-barreled for 9.3mm cartridge which is slightly larger than 35 Whelen. At the time, I thought this was the better of the two cartridges.

I shot a medium sized (approx. 650 lbs) bull elk in NE Wyoming with this rifle. Distance was about 150 yards with broadside presentation. It took two shots to down the bull, same as my .308 carbine or Dad's antique 300 Savage. Yet these 30 caliber cartridges have much less recoil and shorter, too. I sold the BLR for slight profit and never looked back.

The medium bores are appealing to many hunters. Yet they've never made it big in the sales end of the rifle business.

I reached the conclusion that elk don't react to a well placed shot like most other animals and it's best to keep shooting into the chest until the animal topples.

TR

 

[S DAY]

Another whelen nut

I have 2 guns in 35 whelen a ruger 77 bolt and a new remington 750.
I have shot many big critters with the ruger 5 maine black bears and 3 moose and none of the could swallow what the 35 can deliver...as i have seen anything in north america would fall to my whelens.

 

[S DAY]

My new remington 35 carbine is sweet can't wait to put something in it's peep sites.. plz if any other hunters have whelen stories to share i would be very interested.

 

[Smokey Joe]

.35 Whelen and better...

Well, as long as you brought it up, are there any shooters out there of the .35 Whelen Ackley Improved? I understand that this is one of the most efficient cartridges there is in terms of getting fps into a given size bullet, from a given amount of powder.

Am thinking of getting into the .35 Whelen AI myself. Won a custom bbl chambered to my specs and installed on my action and accurized, and am not sure what cartridge to specify.

 

[S DAY]

hi smokey joe
i have a a 35 whelen ack.improved in ruger 77 ...made all the diff in reloading it.gave me about 80 to 100 fps faster. the rcbs dies were expensive...this gun with a leupold 3 x 9 is a 1 holer.

 

[critter]

I have a couple of .35's. Both were picked up at gun shows as 'already bubbed' M98 Mausers and simply rebarreled to .35 Whelen. I really like them-they seem to be quite the game thumper.

The M98's require no other mods (bolt face, action rails, etc) other than a new tube to convert them. Both of mine work perfectly and shoot well. Interestingly, one prefers 225 gr slugs and the other 250's.

Fun guns too. Light loads made with .357 pistol bullets can be used by anybody of small stature (as in kids) to train them or for fun, low recoil practice. The .357 hollowpoints are also quite 'explosive' on vermin.

 

[iamkris]

I really want to get a 1895 Winchester in .30-06 and have it rebarreled to .35 Whelen. That and a rear tang sight would be the bee's knees.

Maybe a forward mounted scope for longer shots. Anyone know of a no-gunsmithing mount that replaces the rear sight on the Winchester 95?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

As a general rule, AI cartridges don't give you a lot more velocity (unless you load them to higher pressure.) The AI merely changes the shoulder angle, which gives little increase in volume (although some folks say it makes for better headspacing.)

The general rule is that it takes a 4% increase in case capacity to get a 1% increase in velocity (at the same pressures.)

My Whelen is a Brown-Whelen -- which pushes the shoulder way forward, as well as sharpening the angle. It does produce higher velocities -- but at the price of having to load special fire-forming charges to form the cases.

 

[Smokey Joe]

MMMMMmmmmmmhmmmmm....

Vern--I don't have any data on the .35 Whelen AI beyond Cartridges of the World mentioning it. And even less data on the .35 Brown-Whelen, which you have mentioned before I believe.

Read a magazine article on .35 Whelen AI (Handloader magazine I think) some time ago, but of course did not save it. But I remember that article calling it such an efficient cartridge.

Anyhow, there is no rush; I will have to do more homework on this before making a decision. Thx for yr input.

I have a Savage .300 WSM--was I to wildcat that rifle it'd become a .35 Sambar fer sure (just the .300 WSM necked up to .35) but I'm very happy with that rifle as a .300 WSM.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The .35 Whelen works through the magic of expansion ratios.

Given two identical rifles, one in .30-06 and one in .35 Whelen, the gas driving the bullet will expand faster in the Whelen (more volume in the larger bore) and pressure will drop faster. This means the Whelen can burn more powder than the '06, and more powder means more energy. So the Whelen can drive a heavy .35 caliber bullet about as fast as the '06 can drive a lighter bullet. That makes it efficient.

If the .35 Whelen has a fault, it's that the case doesn't have enough capacity to use all the bore volume. Solutions to that are to go to a smaller bore (.338-06) or increase case capacity. The .35 B-W gets as much case capacity as is is possible from the basic '06 case.

 

[eldon519]

The 700 CDL in .35 Whelen is a good, accurate rifle. My only complaints are with the R3 recoil pad they put on them. For one, it is way too soft for a rifle of this recoil level. It compresses quite a bit, but you can more or less feel it "bottom out" and still punch you pretty hard. It also has a strange habit of adhering to the foam found in many gun cases, gun safes, etc.

 

[paintballdude902]

anyone used one for brown bear/griz?

 

[S DAY]

Recoil a problem

I have a 35 whelen AI and i honestly think it is fairly tame but did a few things to help.... I got it magna ported and also put on a pacmeyer decelerator 1'' pad . Hope this helps.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Bigfoot Wallace, my custom '03 Springfield in .35 Brown-Whelen is a half pound or more heavier than I'd like -- when carrying it uphill -- but the extra weight, the design of the stock, and the buttpad do a lot to tame the recoil.