Anyone loading for the .35 Whelen? Small hog taken with it in pictures

[Gun 4 Fun]

There was a thread recently in the lounge about the .35 Whelen, but the handload info was left out since that isn't the correct forum for it. I thought that maybe we could get it going in this forum.

If you load for the .35 Whelen, please feel free to post your favorite loads, and any hunting experiences that you have had with it. Pics are a plus.

My first .35 Whelen was a Remington 760 in .35 Remington that I had a gunsmith friend rechamber to .35 Whelen. Since I am a bolt gun fan, I bought the first Remington 700 in .35 Whelen I could find after Remington announced them back in 1988. It was a 700 Classic that I used for several years. I have since replaced it with a 700 CDL, which is an even nicer/lighter rifle, and this one is extremely accurate.

I have hunted several different animals with the ones I have owned. It is a very effective killer on almost any animal in the country. It is a deer/bear/hog gun supreme.

I have had very good luck with Sierra 225 grain BT pushed to 2700 fps by 56 grains of AA 2015BR for lighter game. This load is a max load in my rifles and may not be safe in anyone else's rifle. Mine have all had .300" freebore so I was able to work up to this load safely in my rifles. If you try this load, start well below and work up watching for pressure signs. I have pretty much settled on the much newer 225 Nosler Accubond pushed to the same speed for my hunting with the .35 now. This powder is about my favorite for use in the Whelen. It gives very good velocities, and accuracy in all of the rifles I have tried it in.
It meters well too. I used Rem cases, Fed 210 primers, and seat to the same length as factory 250 round nose loads to start, then work up and down to find the "sweet spot for my rifle.

Since I hunt with both handguns and rifles in quite a few diffferent calibers, I admit that I haven't taken anything with that bullet yet, but I hope to fix that soon.

I have shot lots of hogs, but below is a picture of the biggest hog I have taken. I shot him with my 700 Classic a few years ago. It weighed in around 475 lbs. One 225 Sierra BT through the short ribs angled forwards to the opposite shoulder at about 80 yards did the trick. I followed that one up though with a 250 Speer GS at 2550 fps through the opposite side to make sure he stayed in place until we could get to him.

To give you an indication of how large he really was, in this shot I am kneeling right behind him, and I am 6'.

Hanging up on the game pole-

 

[flat top]

Holy s---!!!!! That is one BIG hog!!!!! Good Job!!!!! Hogs that big are unheard of in these parts...Southern Missouri has a growing population, but, I have not come across anything "that" big!!!!..............The 35 Whelan is a great cartridge...right on the heels of the 338 Win Mag with handloads, and, it has taken everything that North America has to offer. I have always wanted a Whelan, and found a Remington 700 in that caliber for sale recently...I tried to buy it, but the owner wouldnt bend (and, I cant blame him)... wanted his asking price, so, I lost out...maybe someday! Well, G4F congrats again on that "beauty"...now "that" is a trophy hog!!!!!

 

[Shuz]

I've been shooting the .35 Whelen for many years now, and all with cast boolits. So far Lyman's 358009@281g has accounted for 2 bull moose and one bull elk. Penetration is phenominal. Velocity is 2150fps(chrono'd) and accuracy is inch to inch and one half at 100 yds. This Whelen is a custom Rem 700 with a 1:12 twist Douglass bbl.

I recently acquired another .35 Whelen, which I believe to be a Rem 700 Classic model. I haven't measured it, but I understand the factory .35 Whelen's have a 1:16 twist. I shot it yesterday with 17g of Unique and an RCBS .35-200 FP and got five shots in 1.1 inches at 100yds. Velocity was around 1650 fps. I intend to use this Whelen for CBA match shooting. Looks like it shows some promise.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

Yea, I love the old .35. It shoots much flatter than it's given credit for too, especially with modern aerodynamic bullets like the Ballistic Tip/Accubond. Actual tests not taken from reloading manuals or magazine articles will prove that out too. It will hang right in there with a good 180 grain bullet from the .30/06 out to 300 yards or a bit more, and it punches a much bigger hole through whatever it hits. The great thing about the .35 is that recoil isn't much more than the .30/06 either.

For animals like the one above or any black bear, it can't really be beat. It just plain works.

Shuz-
You are correct on the twist rate for the factory guns being 1-16".
I haven't found any bullets that that rate doesn't stabilize yet, and I've tried them all the way up to the old Barnes round nose 300 grainer's, and they were definately long bullets.

 

[Marksman]

I have been a long time fan of the .35 Whelen, my Whelen is a pre-64 Winchester M/70 rebored/rechambered by Randall Redman. It has a Griffin & Howe Double Lever Mount with a Leupold 2-7X. In developing an accurate load for it I shot every 200-225 gr. bullet available, the .225gr. Sierra BT gave the best accuracy. IMR 4064 was the powder I selected based upon extensive reading and research. I took a very nice Kentucky 8pt. during the '08 season, I was very pleased with my load's performance.

 

[Cocked & Locked]

The pic below shows my 700 classic .35 Whelen with some Nosler Ballistic Tip 225 grain ammo I loaded. Those shot well.

I now load Barnes 225 grain TSX bullets in it. I found out right away that those Barnes bullets really are tricky to load for to find the right combination...but I did find it for my rifle. I reduced the powder charge in small increments from what worked well with the Nosler bullets. I also found the Barnes recommended load range on their web site was not best for my gun.

With the Barnes 225 grain TSX in my Remington 700 Classic I use 55.0 grains of IMR4064. 3.374" OAL gives me the best groups of 3/4" - 1" at 100 yards off a bench rest of course.

I shot two whitetail deer with the handloaded Barnes bullets this year. One deer went 10-15' and the other was DRT. Bullet in and out just like I like it...blood spray out the exit of about four feet. Both were shot just behind the shoulder. Massive internal organ damage but all the meat was fine.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

C&L-

I was hoping that you would see this thread. I know that you are a fan from the lounge thread. My second Whelen was just like yours above. I could reach some pretty impressive speeds with it with no problems of any kind. It is the one I am holding in the pictures above.

I now have the CDL that I bought from Cabela's about 6 months before Remington announced they were going to make CDL's in that caliber. They told me that due to them selling so many Remingtons, they were given a few of them to sell ahead of the announcement, and mine is one of those. It has a 24" barrel vs. the 22" on my Classic, but weighs the exact same which isn't much at 7 lbs 10 oz including the rings, bases and 3x9 Leupold scope.
how about some of the pictures that you posted in the other thread?

 

[Paul5388]

I'm getting old and weeniefied, so I don't especially like to shoot 250 gr bullets any more.

My 1917 Enfield with a Lichner barrel is fairly heavy, especially with the old El Paso Weaver V7.

I've never shot a factory load out of it, but I did buy some factory brass a couple of years ago.

Not too good of a picture, but the best I have right now.

It's too much gun for this part of the world, but it was originally built for a bear gun in the 1960s.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

Hi Paul,

That looks like a fine old gun.

It's not always necessary to run full power loads down the tube as you well know, plus the .35 can be downloaded with pistol and cast bullets to approximate the .358 Win, .356 win, .35 Rem, or even the .357-either rifle or pistol.

What are your normal loads for your gun? I am always interested in reading others load recipies. I may just find one or two that sound like a lot of fun to try. I have loaded a ton of different loads for this round, but posted one of my favorites.

RL-15 is another great powder for the Whelen round BTW.

Marksman-

How about a pic or two of that converted pre '64?

 

[681ismyfavorite]

nice hog!

all the ones ive taken are black (razerbacks) or "reds" (some kind of russian breed?)

but the biggest was 356lbs. (if i remeber correctly). i do head shots with a 30-06 so i dont ruin any meat.

 

[Cocked & Locked]

...how about some of the pictures that you posted in the other thread?

I could do that I guess but the pics would not be .35 Whelen specific. If memory is right, that thread got on a skew about rifles in general. Those pics I posted were Remington 700's .300 Win. Mag & .270 plus my .30-40 Krag.

That's a very nice looking Pinto Pig by the way!

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

Thanks, he was good eating too

I thought that one of thos ehogs on your 4 wheeler were taken with your classic. It must be my memory. It sucks getting old.

Any pictures you have with animals taken with your Whelen(s) are invitited here. It is a great round that doesn't get near the recognition that it deserves.

 

[Last of the Mohicans]

Well...no wild hogs up here, but I do have two .35 Whelens. One is a run of the mill 7600, the other is a left hand Sako AV. I load 250 grain Hornady RNs over a max charge of RL-15.

 

[Paul5388]

Since I don't have a real good selection for a cast bullet in stock, I haven't done much in that regard. I have some gas checked bullets sent to me by an Okie (.35 Wailer on handloads.com, I think he just picked up a .35 Whelen Handi rifle that should be interesting) that I haven't done justice by.

I normally load 200 gr Hornady SP with 53.0 gr of IMR 3031. 25 years ago, I could shoot that load into 3/4" at 100 yards, but I don't know if I can do it now.

#1 son shot one of our small deer with it a few years ago and said it flipped the deer and ruined the meat in the whole front section.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

I've shot our Mich deer with the 200 grain Hornady spire point at just a fraction over 2800 fps, and I can say that it is a DRT load. I didn't notice that it ruined any more meat than my 25/06 or 7MM mags do though. I think it really matters where you hit them. Large shoulder bones etc. Hit like that, the big heavy slugs do really shred the meat, but tight behind the shoulder shots seem to work great.

I bet that a CPBC 200 grain WFN GC would be great at about 2000-2100 fps, and be gentle on the shoulder at the same time.

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

I am posting this picture for Marksman.

This is a nice deer, and a cool picture! The old .35 is just a darn good round, plain and simple.

 

[flat top]

I am really enjoying this thread!!! Keep em' coming!

 

[special44]

Anyone loading for the .35 Whelen

I have an older Ruger M77 .35 Whelen with the tang safety. I've killed 71 head of deer using a 225 gr. Nosler Partition over 53.5 grs. IMR #4064, with a CCI Lg. Rifle primer. This combination has proved accurate and quite deadly. The Sierra 225 gr. SP is also accurate, but I prefer the Nosler. The load was originally worked up to be a "do everything" load and I'm confident anything in North America can be taken with it. Of the above 71 kills, all were one shot, and the animals dropped in their tracks. Most were shot in the head or neck to reduce meat spoilage. I did shoot one animal through both shoulders, which ruined them, so I learned from that mistake. The Nosler does not expand in soft neck tissue, but breaks the neck very well.

 

[ElToro]

FS- Remington 700 CDL 35 Whelen - Calguns.net

heres a 700 CDL for sale. $500 with 2 boxes ammo.. heck, that $80 right there.

 

[flat top]

ElToro.....its sold....darn it!!!!