Heavy Bullets in the 35 Whelen

[Boone66]

@MS 9x56
People want them nice fancy high BC bullets to shoot game in the next county nowadays.
Me I'll stick to shooting animals at 299 yds or less. Those big round noses hit noticeably harder than the pointy plastic tipped things and I would have no problems if pushed to take the odd 300yard shot with one.
Bob

Or at least the 250gr Speer hot core, as the round noses are unumtanium anymore around here.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Or at least the 250gr Speer hot core, as the round noses are unumtanium anymore around here.

@Boone66
That's why I stocked up when I found them
We are fortunate as Woodleigh 35 cal projectiles are now available again.
I'm really looking forward to trying the 225gn round nose in the Whelen after seeing what the Hornady round nose did in Namibia.
Bob

 

[WinsAz]

Had bought a 35 Whelen from @Robmill70 a while back. Grandson decided to test the loads. 250g Norma Oryx at around 2554fps. Was the sweet spot for accuracy, and can't complain about the results.

 

[MS 9x56]

Had bought a 35 Whelen from @Robmill70 a while back. Grandson decided to test the loads. 250g Norma Oryx at around 2554fps. Was the sweet spot for accuracy, and can't complain about the results.

View attachment 651184

I love those 250 grain oryx and at lower velocities the Alaskans when I can find them.

 

[D.M.V]

Wow I just checked. I have two boxes of the vintage Hornady RN bullets. Didn't realize they were scarce. I'll have to save them now.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I love those 250 grain oryx and at lower velocities the Alaskans when I can find them.

@MS 9x56
A 250gn at 2,700fps is great fun as well. Hits harder and your hat still stays on your heed.
Bob

 

[WinsAz]

@MS 9x56
A 250gn at 2,700fps is great fun as well. Hits harder and your hat still stays on your heed.
Bob

Definitely have room to grow this load. I haven't measured case capacity yet, but have been loading on Norma brass. Seems I'm getting lower pressures than with R-P brass in the same given loads. I just stopped once I had nice cloverleafs going. Ran out of time before the late elk hunt, but more load testing soon. Ended up taking my bull with the same load. Big holes and no fragments to be found. Deadly wound channels.

 

[MS 9x56]

@MS 9x56
A 250gn at 2,700fps is great fun as well. Hits harder and your hat still stays on your heed.
Bob

I use that load on your recommendation with cfe223 powder.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Definitely have room to grow this load. I haven't measured case capacity yet, but have been loading on Norma brass. Seems I'm getting lower pressures than with R-P brass in the same given loads. I just stopped once I had nice cloverleafs going. Ran out of time before the late elk hunt, but more load testing soon. Ended up taking my bull with the same load. Big holes and no fragments to be found. Deadly wound channels.

@WinsAz
Get son CFE223 and stoke it up using Speers load data. With the 250gn Hornady round nose mine cuts clover leafs at 2690fps. Other loads are well under the inch.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I use that load on your recommendation with cfe223 powder.

@MS 9x56
I bet it puts a smile on your face every time you pull the trigger. You would notice a big difference in on game performance compared to the slower loads.
A properly loaded Whelen is fun to hunt with and you wonder why people still want to strangle it with lesser loads, like Remington loads.
Properly loaded it has that WOW factor in performance.
Bob

 

[MS 9x56]

 

[cajunchefray]

Had bought a 35 Whelen from @Robmill70 a while back. Grandson decided to test the loads. 250g Norma Oryx at around 2554fps. Was the sweet spot for accuracy, and can't complain about the results.

View attachment 651184

Nice! Your grandson is on his way as a hunter. The look on his face tells the story. Probably will keep a .35 Whelen in the gun safe.

 

[cajunchefray]

Wow I just checked. I have two boxes of the vintage Hornady RN bullets. Didn't realize they were scarce. I'll have to save them now.

Yes, I’m hoarding my 250 grain RN for hunting, use the 250 grain Hornady spitzer for practice. POI is close enough for practice.

 

[WinsAz]

Nice! Your grandson is on his way as a hunter. The look on his face tells the story. Probably will keep a .35 Whelen in the gun safe.

May not get my Whelen back! He's now 3 for 3 on bull elk at 12 years old. I dread the day he doesn't draw a tag!

 

[WinsAz]

@WinsAz
Get son CFE223 and stoke it up using Speers load data. With the 250gn Hornady round nose mine cuts clover leafs at 2690fps. Other loads are well under the inch.
Bob

Soon as I can find some CFE locally I intend to try it. This Oryx load is over a healthy dose of 8208XBR. Not the fastest, but damn accurate. Shoots 5 round cloverleafs all day. But I'm always up for trying new loads.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Nice! Your grandson is on his way as a hunter. The look on his face tells the story. Probably will keep a .35 Whelen in the gun safe.

@cajunchefray
You better keep a 35 Whelen mate or you will be sorry.
When I get to see you ( hopefully late fall next year) I will force feed you Vegemite until you say uncle
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Bob

 

[Rule 303]

I find the 250gr Speer hotcore is really all you need, I have yet to recover one.

They are what I use in my Whelen. No pig has every complained about them. Bought a few box's when Woodleigh had their fire as I didn't know if they would come back.

The one I do miss is the old Speer 250 grain Grand Slam. My Whelen had 5 of those into sub 1/2 MOA.

 

[MS 9x56]

Soon as I can find some CFE locally I intend to try it. This Oryx load is over a healthy dose of 8208XBR. Not the fastest, but damn accurate. Shoots 5 round cloverleafs all day. But I'm always up for trying new loads.

You will find the 35 calibers to be very accurate with most powders. They do their job with size and weight rather than speed. This results in less meat lost to bloodshot. Within 300 yards bullet drop is within most hunters ability to keep in the kill zone. The one thing they do require is proper shooting form to manage recoil. Too many shooters (note I differentiate from hunters) do not use proper shooting form.

 

[Huvius]

Wow I just checked. I have two boxes of the vintage Hornady RN bullets. Didn't realize they were scarce. I'll have to save them now.

Just saw a rather vintage box of Barnes 300gr at my LGS - The Gun Room in Lakewood, CO
Thought I should grab them but really don't have a need for them so if anyone wants them, there they are.

 

[mgstucson]

I found the solution to the projectilus unobtanium problem. I swage my own bullets at home. I can make cup and core bullets, bonded core bullets, partition bullets bonded, unbonded or combination bonded/unbonded, FMJ, just about anything you can imagine you can make. All bullets below are 358 bullets of various weights. I can make any bullet weight I desire accurate to about 0.1 of a grain, in whatever point form I desire.



Below:
L to R
6s spitzer point, 4s spitzer point, 6s flat point.
(for each pair, left bullet uses a spent brass cartridge case as bullet jacket, either 9mm case or 223 case used for 358 jackets. right bullet is made with a commercial bullet jacket 90% copper, 10% zinc, often referred to in the industry as "guilding metal." I can also swage my own jackets from solid copper tubing.)

Below:
Elliptical round nose, open tips and soft points. The 2 on the far right are dual diameter bullets made for single shot rifles where the long bullets cause the loaded cartridge to exceed chamber length. The tip is sized to ride on top of rifling. while the bearing surface is full bore diameter. All these bullets are made with fired brass cartridge cases as jackets.

Below:
Soft point and open tip, true round nose. All made with brass cartridge cases for jackets