How many people have a 35 whelen?

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I see it raised a bit about I wonder how many people own and use the 35 whelen.
How bout we find out as well as what is your favourite load and why you like the whelen.
Every one knows I'm a Whelen lunatic and get a lot of pleasure loading for it. I'm still working on loads for the 275 and 310 grainers but will get there
Bob

 

[Joker12]

I don't have a whelen but I do have a 9.3x62. Not much difference between them, both very effective. Rick Taylor

 

[mdwest]

I built one for my wife maybe 4 years ago when she started talking about hunting larger sized game like eland and nilgai that I thought her favorite.308 probably wasn’t enough for…

I watched it do awesome work on everything from impala to eland last week (first time actually using it on a hunt.. all previous use has been on the range)… so now I’m planning on building one for myself as well..

Already sourced a nice barrel from another AH member earlier this week.. now I just need an action.. and I’ll be well on my way to putting a second .35 Whelen in the safe

As far as favorite loads.. I’m not sure we have one yet.. I initially bought several boxes of ammo from the nosler custom shop when they put the 200gr accubond ammo on a good sale.. it’s soft on recoil, shoots 1” groups at 100 and was pretty cheap when I bought it (I think about $35 a box)… I also bought a few boxes of inexpensive Remington corelokt 200gr and that shot really well also…And we have a few boxes of Barnes vortx 180gr in the ammo locker.. but haven’t fired any of it yet to know what I think..

Prepping for our 2020 Africa hunt I started hand loading for it.. but components have been hard to come by.. I did manage to find 100 Barnes ttsx in 200gr.. so that’s what I used to work up a load… shooting the 200gr Barnes pill over a fairly mild load of imr 4064 I’ve been able to get groups just under 1” at 100 at 2700fps… so that’s what we took to Africa… while everyone seems to favor 225 and 250gr in the Whelen, I’ve gotta say the 200gr didn’t leave much to be desired.. it did everything we asked of it and more..

If/when I can get my hands on some 250 gr ttsx and some a-frames I plan on giving both of those a whirl.. but for now I’d have no problem taking the Whelen out for nilgai or brown bear with the 200gr ttsx… it was that impressive against the eland…

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I don't have a whelen but I do have a 9.3x62. Not much difference between them, both very effective. Rick Taylor

@Joker12
I like your choice mate but sorry even tho it's a metric Whelen it doesn't count.
Bob.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I built one for my wife maybe 4 years ago when she started talking about hunting larger sized game like eland and nilgai that I thought her favorite.308 probably wasn’t enough for…

I watched it do awesome work on everything from impala to eland last week (first time actually using it on a hunt.. all previous use has been on the range)… so now I’m planning on building one for myself as well..

Already sourced a nice barrel from another AH member earlier this week.. now I just need an action.. and I’ll be well on my way to putting a second .35 Whelen in the safe

As far as favorite loads.. I’m not sure we have one yet.. I initially bought several boxes of ammo from the nosler custom shop when they put the 200gr accubond ammo on a good sale.. it’s soft on recoil, shoots 1” groups at 100 and was pretty cheap when I bought it (I think about $35 a box)… I also bought a few boxes of inexpensive Remington corelokt 200gr and that shot really well also…And we have a few boxes of Barnes vortx 180gr in the ammo locker.. but haven’t fired any of it yet to know what I think..

Prepping for our 2020 Africa hunt I started hand loading for it.. but components have been hard to come by.. I did manage to find 100 Barnes ttsx in 200gr.. so that’s what I used to work up a load… shooting the 200gr Barnes pill over a fairly mild load of imr 4064 I’ve been able to get groups just under 1” at 100 at 2700fps… so that’s what we took to Africa… while everyone seems to favor 225 and 250gr in the Whelen, I’ve gotta say the 200gr didn’t leave much to be desired.. it did everything we asked of it and more..

If/when I can get my hands on some 250 gr ttsx and some a-frames I plan on giving both of those a whirl.. but for now I’d have no problem taking the Whelen out for nilgai or brown bear with the 200gr ttsx… it was that impressive against the eland…

@mdwest
Once you use one and load it properly you are hooked never to look at a 300 or 338 in the same way again as you have both in one round, longish range to 400 yards and plenty of thump up to 2,000fpe at the same range.
No need to go the AI path it's a bit better than the standard but it's not worth the effort.
Bob

 

[CoElkHunter]

@mdwest
Once you use one and load it properly you are hooked never to look at a 300 or 338 in the same way again as you have both in one round, longish range to 400 yards and plenty of thump up to 2,000fpe at the same range.
No need to go the AI path it's a bit better than the standard but it's not worth the effort.
Bob

Bob,
I was looking at my .338WM last night the same way I always do? So? Ha! Ha!
CEH
Great thread by the way!

 

[ChrisG]

I have a .358 Winchester. Can we count that as a baby whelen?

 

[Rem700stw]

I have a Remington 700 Classic in 35 Whelen. I have so far only shot paper with factory ammo. It is in the queue for load development and a hunt.

 

[HuntingGold]

As we know, my 35 Whelen is in it's build stage... Still waiting on the stock build.

 

[Gemsbok45]

Rem700stw I was working for Remington when 35 Whelen came out in the classic. It was billed as a hard hitting caliber with limitations on range. Does that fit what you do with it Bob? Heavy bullet for Big game out to 250 yards.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

I have a 358 Norma Mag and love it! If I didn’t already have a 35 I would definitely have a 35 Whelen!

 

[Tgood1]

Remington 7600 pump, hornady superformance, absolutely love it

 

[TNDave]

I have a 35 Whelen built on an earlier Remington 700 action, 25” PacNor barrel, Timney trigger and HS precision stock. My favorite load is 225 grain Northforks, problem is I only have about 75-80 left. I hunted with it in RSA this past May/June and took Kudu, Bushbuck, Zebra and Impala in Limpopo area. My other 4 animals, 3 Springbuck and Blesbuck were taken with 257 Weatherby in Free States. Really like my Whelen, of everything I have it is probably my favorite.

 

[Rob404]

Heres Mine

I had a Ruger spotted while scrounging the Cabelas website but was told there was a hold on it. I Waited a few days and was informed it had been sold, Crap I said, then the guy told me the guy swapped a old Remington for it. I inquired as to the condition of the Remington and was told the Metal was like new but the stock had a lot of dents and scratches. It was winter in Minnesota so I figured I had nothing better to do anyway why not spend it re finishing the stock. It took a while but after many coats of Tru Oil I came up with a nice satin finish that showed off the late 80s grain.The scope is a old school 3x15 Nikon Monarch 5 with ED Glass
My pet load with the Whelen is 54Gs of IMR4064 pushing a 220G Sierra

 

[Ragman]

The .35 Whelen is very rare around these parts. In my whole hunting life I have only known 3 people who had them and that was back in the 90s. Two of them were and outfitter that I guided for and his son. They each had them in Remington 7600s. And the other one belonged to a U.S. gun writer (Bryce Towsley) that I guided. His was a Remington 700. Haven’t seen one since!
I just checked my local gunshop’s website listings and they don’t have one in stock. Seems like for some reason the .35 Whelen just hasn’t caught on around here. Don’t know why. I guess the young hunters are just hung up on speed these days.

 

[MS 9x56]

For deer I like the Hornady Superperformance but for hogs I load up 250 grain round nose on top of a snootful of 4895. Never found a 35 I didn’t like. Bob has enlightened me to try the cfe223 and if I can get my hands on some I intend to try loading some of these 275 grain round noses for use on bear.

 

[John J]

I know where there is a Nosler rifle in 35 W for $1600 NIB. Had a hard time with the price, but I look at it every time. I may try to haggle a bit and see what they say. It has been in the shop for a few years. All this talk, I need one...my son does too.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bob,
I was looking at my .338WM last night the same way I always do? So? Ha! Ha!
CEH
Great thread by the way!

@CoElkHunter
What with tears in your eyes and a handkerchief in your hand wishing it was a 35 Whelen.
Ha ha ha ha ha
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Rem700stw I was working for Remington when 35 Whelen came out in the classic. It was billed as a hard hitting caliber with limitations on range. Does that fit what you do with it Bob? Heavy bullet for Big game out to 250 yards.

@Gemsbok45
Yes it does hit hard but I don't understand limitations on range. Out to 400 yards with a good 225gn it shoots flatter than the 308 or the 6.5 manbun.
Bob

 

[Spooksar]

I own 2 a custom BSA and a Remington 700, always wanted one but when Remington brought it out I was raising 2 young kids. I ended up with a BSA that was left in the case after a friend’s basement flooded so I had it made into a 35 Whelen and about 5 years ago I came across a Remington 700 that was in pristine shape so I bought it.