The 35 Whelen was very viable for nearly a century with conventional powders and bullets. Traditional data tops out ~2,400 fps with a 250-grain bullet. That's plenty of punch and reach for the biggest North American game, which is the reason the 35 Whelen exists.
The latest Speer data (
https://www.speer.com/reloading/rifle-data.html) has it running with the 338 WM in a modern action. And that’s a good way to think of it: the ballistics of 338 WM factory ammo in a 30-06 case.
Modern powders speed up the Whelen with traditional bullet weights, and Speer data pushes 250-grain bullets to 2,700 fps. Trajectory is a bit flatter but recoil is much heavier, especially in an 8-pound rifle, so you have to ask yourself what more speed gets you on the game for which the 35 Whelen is intended.
220-grain bullets beat 2,800 fps, but recoil is about the same. The 225 Sierra Game King shot well in my Remington 700 Classic at 2,700 fps, but recoil was still fast and sharp even though I left over 100 fps on the table and cut bullet weight by 10%.
As with the 338 WM, modern bullets are the real game changer in the Whelen. 200 grains is probably the sweet spot. The BC isn’t fashionable, but I wouldn’t pick a 35 Whelen if a lot of long-range shooting was in the cards. I'd use cup-and-core designs around 2,700 fps for deer and hogs, and Barnes TTSXs for heavier game. This leaves ~200 fps on the table, but it's a meaningful increase in frontal area and enough BC for anything but very long shots in windy country.
A light 35 Whelen has the same drawbacks as a light 338 WM. My 700 weighed eight pounds with a 4x Leupold. It was at least a pound too light. A Nightforce 3-10x42 SHV in steel rings slowed it down enough that I could make some good long-range groups, but I was still at the limit of my ability to shoot it well. At that point, the rifle weighed well over nine pounds and it took longer to get good hits on the close, fast targets where the Whelen excels, so that wasn't really an answer.
Ruger made several 35 Whelen variants of the Model 77. I owned an early one in the boat-paddle stock for a while. It was even lighter than the Remington, the recoil pad was hard and very narrow, and the stock was a bit too long for me with no way to shorten it. It was accurate but I sold it.
For a custom rifle, I’d start with a commercial large-ring 98 Mauser. Yes, it has the lock time of a doorknob, but the 35 Whelen isn’t a sniping cartridge. I’d ask the smith to make it slightly muzzle heavy with a 22” barrel and a finished weight around nine pounds scoped. I probably wouldn’t use bullets heavier than 225 grains. There’s a lot of online bitching about the 1:16 twist in Remington and Ruger factory rifles, but both of mine were accurate. That said, I might go 1:14 on a custom to help preserve resale value. I’d also request a stock built to handle recoil, and I’d want a modern recoil pad.
Unlike the 338 WM, the Whelen is great with reduced loads, typically 158-grain pistol bullets over a shotgun powder like Unique or 2400. I settled ~15 grains of Unique with Hornady XTP flat points. Velocity was ~1,500 fps, recoil and blast were extremely light, and accuracy was superb. POI was dead on at ~50 yards using my big-game zero but dropped 15-18" at 100. Small game is the traditional use for 35 Whelen loads, but those are full-house 357 Magnum revolver ballistics so I’d have no qualms using them on deer or hogs within the limits of the load’s trajectory.
All told, my inclination is to fun the 35 Whelen about halfway between the traditional limits and the modern potential, then keep it within ~250 yards on big game. Other shooters may be able to push it farther, but I can't.
True in my experience. A rifle that will hold five 30-06 cartridges will hold five 35 Whelen cartridges. The Ruger M-77 and the Remington 700 hold four each, and an unaltered M-17 Remington holds six.
Okie John
Originally Posted by GJM
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