[Goatwhiskers]

Thru a convoluted complicated series of events I acquired a NEF .35 Whelen with only 8 shots thru it and a scope for basically nothing. Planned on trading it for a NEF .44 maggie simply because I have everything I need from a previous episode except something to shoot with. Well, the trade fell through and I've been reading up on the Whelen and am kinda surprised at how adaptable the cartridge is. What is you guy's opinion of the Whelen? We don't have any elk in La., but it might be kinda interesting to fool with. Goatwhiskers the Elder

 

[Guidedfishing]

Well Goatwiskers,

You have one of the ultimate multipurpose rounds spawned off the 30-06, I've used this round on Moose, Elk, and a pile of whitetails, With a 220 speer bullet it is pure poison on whitetails. Enjoy,

shoot straight and shoot often
GF

 

[Marshall Stanton]

Goatwhiskers,

I enjoyed our conversation on the phone the other day... thank you.

I LOVE the old .35 Whelen. I've had a few over the years, and have each time regretted letting someone talk me out of each of them. They are perhaps one of the most sadly overlooked cast bullet shooters, shooting bullets from 160g through 280g gas checked cast bullets with excellence. Too, its a very flexibly cartridge, it can be loaded down to target .38 Special levels, or up to run on the heels of a .338 or .375 H&H.

I just recently traded into another Whelen, a NIB stainless Ruger Hawkeye. I haven't taken it out of the box yet, but it will get a set of Ruger iron sights, the barrel-band front sight, and the classic Ruger rear sight before I even mount a scope on it. I'm making a set of QD levers for the Ruger Rings that came with the gun, and it will be fire-lapped before ever seeing a bullet for group.

I'll wager that you'll enjoy that little NEF Whelen far more than you might have imagined. It has been one of the most forgiving calibers for me to develop both light small-game loads and full-snort hunting loads that shoot to the same POA. It's great fun!

Congratulations!

God bless,

 

[Guidedfishing]

Marshall,

I have a M77 MKII and a Hawkeye in .35 whelen, both are sub MOA at 200 yards, Enjoy.

GF

 

[longriflewest]

Not ashamed to say I absolutely love the 35 whelen. It will do for deer with a good trajectory through 200 yards. It is in my opinion the quintessential black bear rifle. I have been shooting Nosler partitions with 5 shot touching holes at 100 yards.

The story of my Whelen is a Cinderella story. It started out as a $350 walmart gun shown below.

I then proceeded to throw everything away except the R700 receiver and firing pin. It has;
- Shilen barrel
- Pacific tool and gauge spiral ground bolt and stainless bottom metal
- Blueprinted action, custom chamber and re-blue
- Jewel trigger
- Mcmillan stock which I glass bedded

Hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine. We were gifted during our black bear hunt last year and this year we plan to go after wild boar!

 

[one punch]

Nice!! Could hunt anything in NA with that set up.

 

[dmsbandit]

The Whelen was and is one of the best cartridges ever developed for killing things big and small. From deer to the largest bears and most African game the Whelen is up to the job. Feed it a good bullet and even 300-400yd shots on elk and moose are easily done.

I would think the thump of the 35 would be very handy in the thick LA woods and keep those deer from getting lost. Feed it a 200gr Hornady RN and you'll be eating backstraps for breakfast.

 

[fremont]

I'm relatively new to the Cult of the 35 Whelen, and glad I joined. Wonderful cartridge. I built an Ackley version on a Zastava mauser action. Cut an A&B barrel down to 22". It loves SGK 225's. Enjoy.

 

[Tnhunter]

I've been hunting with the Whelen since I picked up a new M700 Classic/.35W in 1989 or so. I've owned four different rifles chambered in .35W and it's one of my absolute favorite cartridges. It simply hammers deer-sized game and has recoil, with the Remington factory 200gr load, about like a stout 180gr '06 load from a similar rifle to my shoulder. There are several more powerful loadings available now for the .35 Whelen, including a new Hornady Superformance load with 200gr bullet at 2900 FPS. Go ahead and compare that to a typical Federal or Winchester .338WM 200 or 210gr load.

Here is some very interesting info about the Whelen and some other fine .35s:

http://35cal.com/index.html

 

[fremont]

I only notice appreciable recoil from mine with 250's.

 

[CatskillCrawler]

Nice rig Freemont.

As stated, the 35Whelan is a a very versatile cartridge capable of taking deer to brown bear with ease out to 300yds without exorbitant amounts of recoil or powder.

 

[Darin115]

My buddy built a 35 Whelen on a 98 FN Mauser action. He put a recoil reduction system he made inside the rear of the synthetic stock.

He loads cast bullets, jacketed bullets and pistol bullets in it. My 6 year old shot the loads with pistols bullets. It is a wonderful caliber. He shot 2 deer with it this season. Performed great.

I am thinking about buying it from him. I love the 35 Whelen and never even owned one.
If you are a handloader the possibilities are endless.

Darin

 

[bruceissippi]

The only caveat for this thread is this - I ( and many others ) had to send my Handi back to the factory to have a failure-to-fire condition fixed. They installed a new transfer bar and firing pin so now it goes boom when I pull the trigger instead of click. It was all done at their cost, they even sent me the pre-paid shipping label so I am very happy with the company - now to get things dialed in and loads developed.

 

[dantana]

I just picked up a NIB Remington 750 carbine in 35 whelen and placed a 1.5x6x44 30mm scope on it. This will be my close quarter dee/bear in NC mtns. gun.