35 Whelen or 300 Win??

[Deepfork]

I like the .35 Whelen (a lot) but I wouldn’t take mine on a trip overseas or anywhere far from home base. The reason is ammo. The Whelen does best with hand loads. This can be said of most cartridges but is especially true of the Whelen. Factory ammo for the Whelen is very under powered, potentially difficult to find in many places, and very over priced when it is available. In addition to this, my rifle (and many others) may occasionally misfire with factory ammo. I wouldn’t want my expensive hunt to be compromised if my hand loaded ammo were to go missing or get damaged somewhere along the way. The .300 Winchester Magnum is potent and ubiquitous, so you wouldn’t have to worry so much about sourcing ammo in a far off land, and because factory ammo controls headspace from the belt there will be little concern regarding reliable function if you have to buy or borrow foreign ammo on the far side of the world. My vote in this instance goes to the .300 Winchester Magnum.

The "what if my ammo gets lost" justification for not traveling with a Whelen or some other cartridges has never made sense to me, its too easy to mitigate the issue. I travel with two rifles, different calibers. 50rd boxes of ammo with 1/2 and 1/2 of each cartridge are packed in two different bags. If some how all of my ammo is lost and the rifles made it I would still be able to find ammo for my 338WM.

Also, for me my ammo is just as important as my rifle. I spend a LOT of time and effort working up loads for all of my rifles. If I don't have one or the other I may as well shoot a loaner.

 

[coreydb]

Take them both; one as primary, one as back up. Both extremely effective on PG. Your PH will get you within 250 yds +/- of your animals anyway.

 

[BFaucett]

I like the .35 Whelen (a lot) but I wouldn’t take mine on a trip overseas or anywhere far from home base. The reason is ammo. The Whelen does best with hand loads. This can be said of most cartridges but is especially true of the Whelen. Factory ammo for the Whelen is very under powered, potentially difficult to find in many places, and very over priced when it is available. In addition to this, my rifle (and many others) may occasionally misfire with factory ammo. I wouldn’t want my expensive hunt to be compromised if my hand loaded ammo were to go missing or get damaged somewhere along the way. The .300 Winchester Magnum is potent and ubiquitous, so you wouldn’t have to worry so much about sourcing ammo in a far off land, and because factory ammo controls headspace from the belt there will be little concern regarding reliable function if you have to buy or borrow foreign ammo on the far side of the world. My vote in this instance goes to the .300 Winchester Magnum.

IMO, it's not anymore difficult or inconvenient to take two rifles as compared to one. I took two rifles (in one case) on my third and last trip to South Africa back in 2005. (Plains game only.) If taking two rifles, then take one rifle chambered for a commonly available cartridge and use it in case your ammo is lost in transit (and the rifles aren't).

Also, it never hurts to have a backup rifle in case something happens to one of the rifles that makes it unusable. Plus, I think it's fun to be able to use two of your rifles in Africa instead of just one. More memories...

For plains game, I think a .30-06 is always a good choice as a second or backup rifle. I'd imagine that .300 Win Mag ammo would be available in places like South Africa and Namibia. (On my last trip, I took rifles chambered in 8x57JS and 9.3x62. My ammo and luggage arrived safely.)

Factory ammo for the .35 Whelen is very underpowered? Let's compare it with three classic British cartridges that were used in Africa.

.318 Westley Richards (.330")
250 gr at 2400 fps (Kynoch / ICI 1936 catalog, 28" barrel)

.333 Jeffery (rimless, .333")
250 gr at 2500 fps (Kynoch / ICI 1936 catalog, 28" barrel)

.350 Rigby (rimless, .358")
225 gr at 2625 fps (Kynoch / ICI 1936 catalog, 24" barrel)

.35 Whelen (.358")
225 gr at 2700 fps (Nosler Ammo, AccuBond)
250 gr at 2550 fps (Nosler Ammo, Partition)
250 gr at 2400 fps (original Remington ballistics)

Just my ramblings... Cheers! Bob F.

Edit to add:
Regarding taking two rifles, I see members Deepfork and coreydb beat me to it while I was composing my post.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

IMO, it's not anymore difficult or inconvenient to take two rifles as compared to one. I took two rifles (in one case) on my third and last trip to South Africa back in 2005. (Plains game only.) If taking two rifles, then take one rifle chambered for a commonly available cartridge and use it in case your ammo is lost in transit (and the rifles aren't).

Also, it never hurts to have a backup rifle in case something happens to one of the rifles that makes it unusable. Plus, I think it's fun to be able to use two of your rifles in Africa instead of just one. More memories...

For plains game, I think a .30-06 is always a good choice as a second or backup rifle. I'd imagine that .300 Win Mag ammo would be available in places like South Africa and Namibia. (On my last trip, I took rifles chambered in 8x57JS and 9.3x62. My ammo and luggage arrived safely.)

Factory ammo for the .35 Whelen is very underpowered? Let's compare it with three classic British cartridges that were used in Africa.

.318 Westley Richards (.330")
250 gr at 2400 fps (Kynoch / ICI 1936 catalog, 28" barrel)

.333 Jeffery (rimless, .333")
250 gr at 2500 fps (Kynoch / ICI 1936 catalog, 28" barrel)

.350 Rigby (rimless, .358")
225 gr at 2625 fps (Kynoch / ICI 1936 catalog, 24" barrel)

.35 Whelen (.358")
225 gr at 2700 fps (Nosler Ammo, AccuBond)
250 gr at 2550 fps (Nosler Ammo, Partition)
250 gr at 2400 fps (original Remington ballistics)

Just my ramblings... Cheers! Bob F.

Edit to add:
Regarding taking two rifles, I see members Deepfork and coreydb beat me to it while I was composing my post.

@BFaucett
Factory Whelen ammo may be underpowered by hand loading standards but it will still knock the snot out of any plains game including eland.
Bob

 

[jimbo1972]

I would take both. If I was forced to take only on one I would take 300 Win Mag with 200 Grain Terminal Acsent Ammunition. I was in the Eastern Cape last July and took 15 animals from 15 yards to 420 yards. They ranged from a Duiker to a huge Waterbuck and Blue Wildebeest. Never felt like I needed more gun. Here's the video from that hunt.

 

[Philip Glass]

Wanted to get the groups thoughts. I am considering taking either my 35 Whelen or 300 Win mag to Namibia in August. I shoot both equally well. Both are Winchester Model 70s.

I would be using it on PG, to include zebra, roan, blue wildebeest, red heartabeast, etc….

I shoot factory loaded ammo. 200 grain TBBCs in the 300 Win and 225 grain TBBCs in the 35 Whelen. The 300 Win has a distance advantage for sure the 35 Whelen has a bit more authority/wallop for closer in shots. 300 Win ammo would certainly be easier to find over there if mine doesn’t show up.

I know there isn’t a wrong answer but I am going back and forth on which one to take and I need to decide pretty soon so I can get my paperwork in order and practice with the one I am taking. What say the AH collective braintrust?

In Namibia you can have some very long shots. I would be prepared for 300yd shots and would practice much further. This makes the choice quite obvious. 180g TTSX in your .300 will serve you well.
Can we please stop talking about ammo not showing up? Uggg
Have an awesome time in Namibia!