Your opinion on the 35 Whelen. Better than 30/06?

[Craigman]

Ill add that, Originally the 35 Whelan was the "poor mans 375HH" still as a wildcat, plentiful 30-06 rifles could be rebarreled to more of as heavy hitter which was desired at the time for some.

If you want a different flavor than 30-06, the Whelan is fine. As said above, how far are you really shooting anyway? I use mine on MI whitetails..."just cause" Hammers em good!

While too much gun IMHO for southern whitetail it's ideal range is probably 300-600lbs, anything under that it can make a mess of them

Oppinions are fine, but I thought we got past this....how will it make a mess?....with this philosophy, a 45/70 would be even worse. Nope

 

[mtrmn]

T. Whelen himself is credited with the phrase: "The 30-06 is never a mistake."

 

[cal30_sniper]

While too much gun IMHO for southern whitetail it's ideal range is probably 300-600lbs, anything under that it can make a mess of them

Oppinions are fine, but I thought we got past this....how will it make a mess?....with this philosophy, a 45/70 would be even worse. Nope

He was saying that the .30-06 is also overkill for Whitetail, as is the .35 Whelen. I agree. The deer that I've seen shot with a .30-06 usually had significant meat damage, certainly more than anything I've ever shot with a 6.5x55 or 7x57. Ditto on 7mm Mags, 300 Mags, etc. They work, but they are all very much overkill. The .45-70 is in a different class, it fires a really big bullet, but not at such a high velocity. It's usually velocity that causes the damage, not weight or caliber. Of course, bullet construction and shot placement also have a lot to do with it.

Cliff Notes: The '06 is overkill for most game smaller than Elk or Moose. So is the .35 Whelen. The .35 works better for bigger stuff, at the cost of more recoil and much less available ammo. The .35 is also incorrectly badged has having a terrible trajectory compared to the '06, which given the information I've already listed, shows this isn't true. With any of the heavier bullets, the .35 actually has a better trajectory.

 

[Kachok]

Oppinions are fine, but I thought we got past this....how will it make a mess?....with this philosophy, a 45/70 would be even worse. Nope

45-70 while powerful is too slow to do the kind of damage I am talking about, did you not see the pictures of the 9.5" exit wound that I posted? I bought the 06 for hog hunting, my brother the 30 cal addict loves that gun and takes it deer hunting, it makes a mess of these little southern whitetail, I mean blowing large chunks off of them, I will take some blame for that seeing as they are my handloads but they were never meant for a deer especially at close range, I have smaller calibers and slower calibers for that. Mind you we are talking 70-140lbs deer, 200+ pounders are rare as frog fangs around here. I threatened to make him some reduced loads if he cannot keep those in the neck or behind the shoulder and out of the tasty bits, putting that bullet into the front shoulder can ruin the whole front half of a deer, and it simply does not take that much to kill them clean, on the up side the only deer that ever moved after being shot was the one he accidentally liver shot and she only made it 20 yards.

 

[Art Eatman]

So once again Art screams out, "DON'T SHOOT BAMBI IN THE EATIN' PART!!!"



Reloading fun/fun/fun with a .30: A double-ought buck and five grains weight of pistol powder = squirrel load.

An 80-grain pistol bullet and around 55 grains of 3031 does horrible thngs to poor, innocent jackrabbits. But do NOT center-punch a buzzard that's directly overhead.

 

[Skyshot]

Having owned both the whelen and the 06 and killed several whitetails with both. I can honestly say that I could not tell much difference in either round on deer. As for meat damage, it was no worse than any other rifle in IMO. I guess it depends on what type of bullet you use. For distance I'll take the 06 and for big stuff the whelen. I loaded some 310 gr. woodleigh solids in the whelen back years ago just for fun. I think that load would just about stop a train. I understand from some old timers that the 310 gr solid was a good cape buffalo load in the whelen back in the days before the .375 restrictions where employed in Africa.

 

[Elkins45]

I like the Whelen because it is more suited for cast bullet loads with heavier bullets, and because larger bores are easier to shoot cast with.

 

[Kachok]

So once again Art screams out, "DON'T SHOOT BAMBI IN THE EATIN' PART!!!"

I don't, and even on the odd shot where I hit something tasty on the way out my 6.5 does not do anything like that, 1.5-2" exit wounds every time and minimal meat damage if I don't strike any heavy bone, in the rare event they do move after the shot they never make it more then a few feet before falling over.....just right, of course a good 243 or 30-30 would probably give me similar results as well.

 

[tactikel]

It's really interesting to read about all of the wildcating going on in the 20's, 30's. the 30-06 was necked down to .22 and up past .35. The ones that shined were from .25 thru .35. IMHO the .338-06 and the .35 Whelen are great for Elk in very heavy cover, Moose, and Great bears. For every thing else the .30 cal does it!

 

[wlewisiii]

So once again Art screams out, "DON'T SHOOT BAMBI IN THE EATIN' PART!!!"



Reloading fun/fun/fun with a .30: A double-ought buck and five grains weight of pistol powder = squirrel load.

An 80-grain pistol bullet and around 55 grains of 3031 does horrible thngs to poor, innocent jackrabbits. But do NOT center-punch a buzzard that's directly overhead.

Got some 90 gr XTPs I plan to load up in a .30-30. I was thinking a light load of IMR-3031? Or would something else work better?

Re the thread topic: I'd like a 9.3 variation over either the .30-06 or the .35 Whelen but I'm funny that way. My main hunting round is 7x57 after all...

 

[Art Eatman]

"Got some 90 gr XTPs I plan to load up in a .30-30."

Try maybe 20 grains of 2400. That's about max with a 150, IIRC, so with a 90 it ought to be a good plinker. Just remember the 40,000 psi limit.

 

[303tom]

Bigger bullet is all..................

 

[Kachok]

Or if you really like big bullets and want something a little different there is a 375-06 (AI) wildcat that goes be a few different names. Supposedly a 250gr bullet at 2400-2600fps just a couple hundred fps behind the H&H and legal for hunting the big stuff in Africa That would be a fun one to play with, no published load data that I am aware of but a few people post their data on forums as a rough guide.

 

[cal30_sniper]

Or if you really like big bullets and want something a little different there is a 375-06 (AI) wildcat that goes be a few different names. Supposedly a 250gr bullet at 2400-2600fps just a couple hundred fps behind the H&H and legal for hunting the big stuff in Africa That would be a fun one to play with, no published load data that I am aware of but a few people post their data on forums as a rough guide.

Isn't that usually referred to as a .375 Whelen or Whelen Improved? I always thought that would be cool. There's also a .400 Whelen, but it's supposed to have some real headspacing issues.

 

[Zeeemu]

So, 30-06 is considered entirely adequate for most North American game. Out of curiosity, how would the Marlin .444 compare for elk or moose?

 

[Kachok]

Isn't that usually referred to as a .375 Whelen or Whelen Improved? I always thought that would be cool. There's also a .400 Whelen, but it's supposed to have some real headspacing issues.

Actualy I think the proper name for it is 375 Hawk/Scovill, but 375-06 is easier.

 

[Dr T]

How about a 300 Whelen? It should be good for almost all NA game...

 

[Agent1209]

I have a TC pro hunter encore with a custom 20" barrel. I love it. I shoot the 200 gr. superformance bullets at about 2750 -2800 fps. I only use it for deer hunting here in South Arkansas. It may be more gun than I need but I love that it is short compact and kills like nothing I've ever seen. I also have a 30-06, 270, 243 and 444 Marlin. The Whelen is my goto gun though. You will be impressed by the horsepower of the non-magnum magnum. And it is the most efficient cartridge there is next to 35 Whelen AI.

 

[Kachok]

How about a 300 Whelen? It should be good for almost all NA game...

Smartass

 

[303tom]

What do you say we just go with a .400 Whelen & go shoot ground hogs..........