I recently acquired a Remington 700 Mountain rifle in .35 Whelen. You don't hear much about this caliber, but something tells me I have a diamond here. This rifle will mainly be used for deer, bear, & hog hunting.
I'm interested in your opinions, thoughts, and stories regarding the .35 Whelen.
Thanks,
WC

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

The Whelen is a great large game cartridge.Kicks big on both ends.My dad has a Remington 7600 in 35 and has killed a couple elk with it.He says it really puts the smackdown on them with 250 gr bullets and doesnt tear up alot of meat.If you reload,reloader 15 is about the best powder to use.IMR 4064 works well too.

It's definitely a stomper! Overkill for deer,imo.

.35 Whelen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

One of my hunting buddies has a Thompson Center Contender in .35 Whalen and he loves to shoot hogs with it. He has also killed deer and wild turkeys with that powerful round. Sounds like you have a great hunting rifle for heavy timber... good luck hunting with it!

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

Great all around North American game cartridge. Always wanted one.

I never owned one but a good friend of mine used one for several years with good success. He killed quite a few elk, large mule deer and one very big black bear with it. He swore by it. I shot it a few times and didn't find it particularly punishing. I always thought of it as kind of a poor-man's 375 H&H.

^^^^ What Bobby said. Great round but a bit heavy for our "southern" deer IMO.

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

Good cartridge for western US. My brother used his in Africa for plains game. A bit light for grizzly defense but OK for hunting grizz.

When I was guiding, I only saw one hog shot but it dropped it very well. A little lighter than 338 mag (what I use for elk). I have a 348 Win and a 350 Rem, which are both pretty close. They are used for camp rifles.

Have a T/C Encore rifle in .35 Whelen. Excellent performer on deer, that's all I've taken with it (and one coyote). Got it due to moving in the near future to black bear country and figured something a bit beefier wouldn't hurt.
I think of it as a ''.30-06 +P"

Good luck!

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

I only know the round by internet research and reputation but the OPs gun must be a rare specimen! Nice find! And in a Mountain Rifle config ! Probably very rare and great elk medicine.

I don't hear much about these oldies and I'm glad when somebody brings them into discussion. Who knows? I may end up with one myself.

I don't hear much about these oldies and I'm glad when somebody brings them into discussion. Who knows? I may end up with one myself.

It's nice when a big cartridge doesn't have to be 'belted' to be worthwhile.

I have owned an old 1909 Argentine Mauser, re-chambered and re-bored to 35 Whelen for years. It is an excellent big game round. Great for deer using a 180 - 200 grain bullet. Good for just about any big game with Nosler PT's. Recoil can be a little heavy with heavy bullets and hot loads, but not as sharp as say, a .338 mag.

Nice thing about .35 rifles is their ability to handle cast lead bullets for practice, as well as hunting. You can also use .357 handgun bullets for high velocity varmint loads, with explosive results. The 35 Whelen, and its little brother, the .358 Winchester are my two favorite big game calibers. Pictured is my Mauser in 35 Whelen, and my Browning BLR in .358 Win.

Larry

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A fantastic caliber, as are every other one stuffed into a 30-06 case. The mtn rifle being fairly light, I would definitely go for an aftermarket recoil pad like kickeez, or a similar brand for app 40-50$ and not a hard DIY job. Watch a U-tube video on how to first & be sure to tape the stock well. Depending on your size & lop (length of pull) the stock may need to be cut down, if so, it might be well worth the 40-50$ more to have a smith do it for you. Your shoulder will thank you & it will be $ well spent. It should be a fantastic hunting rig for just about any game in any place in the US & not bad to lug around. A bit heavy for antelope/most whitetails/smaller hogs probably, but great for larger ones, bear, elk, moose, caribou, congrats & enjoy.

It is a great caliber for the Rocky Mountains. The 200 gr bullet shoots well in mine.

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Front sight and squeeze

The .35 Whelen is very capable. I use its short-magnum brother, the .350 Remington Magnum. The .350 is almost a ballistic twin, giving only about 50fps more at a given bullet weight. The 250 grain Nosler Partitions make very short work of elk. For deer? Use 200 grain bullets.

Does overkill make them "overdead"?

We picked up a super nice used Browning BLR in .358 Win at an auction in north central Missouri back in 1986.......... We were the only bidder on it too...........

It remains in our safe & has a solid offer from a lodge bro for it......... It went to Kodiak Island as a back up rifle/ wounded bear follow up rifle with a couple of the guys one year........ Without a scope, that nice lil lever gun is very fast handling & has way faster repeat shots than any bolt action rifle could ever be.............and if following/tracking a big bear through the alders..... both of those qualities are a must............It remains to be the minimum caliber for the big bears & big moose.

Browning now makes a BLR in .35 Whelan, and can be had as a takedown rifle with a pistol grip too............and Leupold makes a couple of the little variable 1.5 scopes, that have very generous eye relief ranges, some with the new lighted recticles to go on one.

If I were younger & in a lot better health........... that rifle would be on my must own list.............

My lady is here with my breakfast, life is good...............

I have two .35Whelens. One is a left hand Sako AV that was rebarreled. The other is a stock 7600. While Ihave carried both afield over the years, the only thing I have taken is a coupleofhead shot grouse with the Sako...someday, something bigger!

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Don't know, don't care.

I have a Griffin & Howe, custom pre-64 Model 70 in .35 Whelen I am about to list For Sale…
A very fine and accurate custom rifle.

A fine cartridge for North American game. It was a wildcat for a long time, as I recall. I'm thinking Remington only started making factory ammo for and chambering rifles for it in the late 70s, or so. Am I right about that guys?

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I just picked up a 358 Win, the Whelen little bro. Where the Whelen is a 30-06 necked up to .358, the 358 is a necked up 308. My 358 is a rebored 308 savage 99E. It is all I want to shoot in the light weight lever gun.

Charlie

A great caliber that can be loaded from "mild to wild" depending on your game choice.

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NULLI SECUNDUS

Nice find! You can take anything in North America with it.

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Even older, even crankier....

The current issue of Handloader Magazine has an article on the 35 Whelen if anyone is interested. Their write ups are normally pretty good.

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Proud anachronism

I have a Remington CDL in .35 Whelen with a 24" barrel. It pushes the 225 gr Sierra Gameking at about 2725fps with RL 15. I load from the older manuals because Alliant has become 'lawyer sensitive' in the last year or so, and dropped their recommended loads to 30-30 levels for the Whelen. My 250 Speers clock about 2675fps, and have around 4000ftPs of energy. I have killed around 35 Kansas Whitetail deer with it and the Sierra Gameking. It is accurate at 700 meters as shot on the range at Ft. Riley, and will shoot as flat as a 30-06 to around 600yds with the Sierras and 700 with the Speers. The Sierra bullets are the most accurate, averaging about .6 in at 100yds in the CDL due to the slow twist. The Speer 250s go into about 1". It is not over kill for deer, and you don't blood trail a good hit with it more than about 10 feet. I dropped a running mature 5X5 buck on Ft. Riley at less than 30yds with it, and he went down so fast I thought I'd missed him. Exit wounds tend to be baseball sized with the Sierras. The 250 gr Speers are too heavy for Whitetails in my opinion They should be great for elk, though. Do get a good recoil pad. It kicks as hard as a Weatherby .300. B.C. for the Sierra is .380 or so, which matches the 180gr corelokt psp Remington .308, which is good in a 30-06 for about 500 to 600 for deer. The B.C. for the Speer used to be listed as .442, now is listed as .420, I believe. My Sierra handloads generate around 3600-3700 ftlbs 10 ft from the muzzle. I use a Chrony chronagraph to calculate muzzle velocity. Oh, and when you get your deer with it, there is almost no bloodshot meat. You can eat to the hole. I love not blood trailing deer. But use the thinner jacketed Sierra Gameking for Whitetail.

No, but it kills another deer in the next county.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

A little more information: The .35 Whelen was chambered by Mr. Howe of Griffin and Howe fame, when he worked for Townsend Whelen at the Springfield Armory in 1922. He named it in honor of Col. Whelen. It was made a factory round by Remington, and is now loaded by several ammunition makers in 200, 225 and 250gr. Nosler loads its 225gr ammunition to 2750fps nominal from a 24" barrel. Their 250gr. is loaded to about 2550, 2575fps. I use it as the go-to deer rifle for Whitetail in Kansas because it lays them down right where I hit them. It is not a brush caliber. It will perform on a par with the .30-06 when handloaded to .30-06 pressures, and shoot flat to 270yds when zeroed for 200yds with either the Sierra Gameking or the Speer HotCore 250gr spitzer. I load the Sierra to around 2725fps. If you want more info on the Whelen, go to Whelen's Northwoods Trails and read his material. The Alliant powder manual has changed their loadings for the Whelen, revising it downward drastically with RL 15, but the load data is the same for all other cartridges, so I have to think this is lawyer driven due to the number of old, pre wwII mausers and 1903's out there. The brass and the actions on any modern rifle will handle the round at .30-06 pressures, which push the Speer 250 at considerably higher velocities than the newest data from Alliant. I get about 2675fps from their origional max, which has chamber pressures on the conservative side for .30-06 ammo. The 225gr Sierra is noticably hotter and shows low pressure signs with rounded primers at my load levels. The round matches .30-06 trajectory with both my loads out to 600-700yds. This round is a killer for Whitetails with the Sierra boattail 225gr bullet and 60gr of RL15 at any distance to 600yds. Especially when coupled with a Remington CDL and a Shepherd P2 scope. Try it. The deer is DRT if you get a chest shot anywhere at any distance to 500yds.

Several yrs ago I had a MkX Mauser action built up as a .35 Whelen Ackley Improved with a 14" twist barrel. The 250gr. Speer spitzer over 54 gr. IMR 3031 runs about 2550, will print cloverleafs at 100 yds. and doesn't kick any worse than a .375 H&H Model 70. Easy to load for, powerful and accurate; what more could a guy ask for?

Larry

The .35 about equals the old .350 Rigby Magnum, although not interchangeable. It did well on most thin-skinned African game. I think the .375 about killed it off, because the .375 is more potent and meets legal requirements to be used on heavy game. I think that either or both Kenya and Tanganyika (today's Tanzania) used to insist on a minimum of .40 caliber for elephant and maybe rhino.

Factory ammo is less common in most places than is .375 H&H Magnum, which has a power edge, too. And you can find a Model 70 in .375 more easily than locating a .35 Whelen.

That aside, I don't doubt for a second that a .35 is excellent medicine for most game. But you won't find it legal in Africa for some game that has to be taken with a .375 or more for legal reasons. But it is hotter than a 9.3X62mm. Not more than a 9.3X64mm, though.

Don't know about ammo availability in the Western states where it's most useful, or in Alaska or in Canada.

The small shoulder is marginal for headspacing issues, but seems enough. Not so for the .40 Whelen.

I think a nice .35 Whelen is a fine rifle for heavier N. American game, although I'd prefer a .375 H&H for the larger bears. I don't think it's needed for caribou, though. I saw a caribou put down RIGHT THEN with a .303 on TV this week. And I wouldn't be amazed if that hunter was using MK VII ball ammo, not even soft point hunting ammo. I've talked with men who found the .270 and the .30-06 entirely ample for caribou. BUT, a caribou hunter may also encounter grizzlies that might indeed benefit from a hit with a .35 Whelen. You always need to reflect on which animal you may encounter may need the most killing and choose rifles accordingly. Even if you don't care to shoot a bear, you may have to.

The president of Fallkniven knives in Sweden (Peter Hjortberger) told me that he happily shoots moose with his 6.5X55mm, but when bears began to appear where he hunts, he bought a 9.3X62mm.

T-Star: During my tour of duty in Alaska I took four caribou with the 30-06. My weapon was a Remington 760 pump; the carbine version with an 18 inch barrel, which meant some velocity loss. It had a Weaver K 2.5 scope. They, too, went down 'right there'. One I shot going away; the bullet went through a rear ham (lots of meat loss there), clipped a couple of ribs and wound up under the collarbone; plenty of penetration. It was loaded with a Speer sp bullet and I don't have the data on the powder type and charge. I had a spare magazine loaded with 220s in case I encounterred a bear (I never did).

The 35 is a fine round for any North American big game.

It's not a beginner's cartridge!

You need to have some experience to be sure you aren't overly impressed by a little recoil: not all are.

Trap and skeet shooters shoot hundreds of rounds in a match with similar levels of recoil, so it isn't prohibitive. But because practice with rifles tends to be at stationary targets without time limits, rifle recoil tends to be more noticeable than comparable recoil in a shotgun.

If you're hunting white tails, most hogs in the hemisphere or anything smaller, you don't need it.

If you're hunting anything larger it will do the trick nicely.

If I had to pick just one center fire rifle it would be (in decending order):

30-06, 308, 270 win, 350 Rem mag, 35 Whelen.

Any of these will do everything any hunter needs.

Hmpf! First time I've encountered a man who handloads for a slide-action rifle. I knew that you had one.

Why did you chose a slide action with a short barrel? Just curious.

I chose the short barrel because sometimes the brush up there is umbelievably thick. Think alder thicket. I didn't even want a 22 inch barrel. I haven't regretted the choice of barrel length since. The action choice was between the Remington 742 semi auto or the 760 pump for a brush gun. I was familiar with the pump as I have my great-grandfather's Colt Lightning rifle in 38-40, and like to shoot it. Bu the strongest point for the pump was that it would cycle with light cast bullet handloads and the semi wouldn't. I got a Lyman 4 cavity mould, about 180 gr, gas checked, I forget the number. At that time 30-06 GI brass was cheap and I could even use fired blanks which I wouldn't use for full pressure loads. I made a lot of them, and did a lot of cheap snapshooting practice. It sure helped. I finally got a small base die for loading the 760 and that helped extraction a lot.

When I was growing up, my dad had a 760 pump (early version) which we hand loaded for with a lee handloading set. The one dieset does it all, which is still around. It was slow, but it worked just fine. You had to use a hammer (Rubber mallet) to seat the primer and size the brass. My brothers and I used it to hunt jackrabbits on the farm in the '60's. Of course, we started with .22 long rifles, but we graduated to the '06 and a Winchester 1894. It was good practice for deer hunting. I wanted a 35 Whelen in the 760 with 22" barrel, but they quit making them before I could buy one. The origional .400 Whelen which is mentioned in this blog was a true dangerous game bullet, and when Col. Whelen designed it with Mr. Howe's help, he actually straightened the case somewhat, to allow it to headspace better. Most of the later .400's have kept the '06 taper, which is where the headspace beef comes from. Look at the 411 Hawk and you'll see a modern example of this round done right. The only real difference between it and the Whelen in .411 cal (called a .400) is that the shoulder is blown forward in the Hawk. The taper of the case is about the same. The case is more straight walled than the '06 parent cartridge. I guess you could say the .400 Whelen was an Ackley Improved befor Ackley. It is a very capable dangerous game cartridge in the Hawk.

I forgot to add: E. R. Shaw is building custom rifles in .35 Whelen or 35 Whelen Ackley Improved with barrel lengths from around 18 in. to 26 inches and your choice of stocks, barrel contours, stainless or blued and fluted (two types) or non fluted, starting around $800.00. They are using the Savage action with accutrigger. So if you want a modern .35 Whelen (or any other caliber) at a reasonable price, check out E.R. Shaw's web site. I'm thinking Ackley Improved with a 26" barrel for those Loooonnng shots. Barrel twist is either 1 in 12 or 1 in 14. I will go with the 1 in 14, as it will stabilize up to 325gr bullets. Now we're in to close cover Brown Bear loads (in a shorter barrel).