I am thinking of bringing my .35 Whelen for plains game in 08 but i want to use heavy for caliber bullets, ie: 270gr North Fork, 275gr Hawk, 280gr Swift A-Frame.

I have a one in 14" twist rate so it should stabilize this weight range.Has anyone here used any of these heavier weight bullets in a Whelen on plains game? These weights are what the Whelen was originally intended to use and i agree, it puts the 35 so close to the 9.3 that it would just be splitting hairs.

Who here has some real world experiences with this kind of combo?

I would rate those bullets in the following order, going from soft to harder;
270 Hawk with the .035 jkt
270 North Fork
280 Swift A Frame

I'm going to follow this thread closely, as those are my hopes as well. My 1:14 Shilen barrel and 270 Northforks get along well and produce good hunting accuracy. No plains game yet, but two hogs in the 250-300 lb range have been taken cleanly.

Where are you planning on hunting?

fgulla,

I realize you want to use heavier bullets and that is fine. I have a 1:14 twist 22" Shilen barrel as well on my Springfield 1903. I have taken this 35 Whelen for plains game now on three safaris. And it works to perfection, I could not be happier with the results. This rifle has accounted for the full range of game from impala to eland and a lot of stuff in between.

Now, I have only used 225 grain Barnes X or TSX bullets. And in probibly 20 head of game recovered just 2 bullets, the rest all exited. To me, the heavier bullets are not required. These loads sighted in 2.5" high at 100 yards are 12" low at 300.

But, I have shot the 275 Hornandy RN and 300 grain Barnes Origionals at the range and they do shoot well enough though they will have a shorter effective range and most of the time while plains game hunting, you never quite know the range at which you will get a shot at your quarry.

FYI, for the heavier bullets, I have found IMR-4350 to give the best results of accuracy and velocity.

60.0 IMR 4350 275 gr RN @ 2230 fps
58.0 IMR 4350 300 gr RN @ 2165 fps

Good luck,
BigBullet

I have never personally used a .35W but it would be a very good PG choice, even with 'normal' 250gr bullets. The .338-06 and .338 Sabi are well respected with 250gr bullets right up to Eland, no sweat.

Read what Taylor, and other hunters in SR Truesdale's book "THE RIFLE Its Development for Big Game Hunting" have to say about the 400/350
[.350 Rigby]. 310grain bullet, velocity 2150 fps, ME 3190.

The Whelen with heavy bullets can duplicate the 400/350.

BigBullet, have you worked with Reloader 15? I've got a Remington CDL in 35 whelen, I LOVE THIS RIFLE and todate I've taken 3 animals on 2 hunts with it. I've been loading 225gr TSXs with 4064, while the accuracy has been good the velocity isn't much more than 2500fps. Thought I'd try some reloader 15 this spring and see if I could get it up to 2600fps or so.

I have used the 35 Whelen for a lot of Plains game from Steenbok to Giraffe using the following bullets;

310 Woodleigh for
Giraffe (heart shot)

250 Rhino Bullets for
Eland, Kudu, Bushbuck, Bushpig, Impala, Warthog, Duiker, Steenbok, Ostrich, Baboon, Jackal

200 Rhino Bullets for
Kudu, Nyala, Blue Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Impala, Warthog, Blesbock

No problems with any of the bullets.

Hey Mark,

Not to hijack this thread, but yes, Reloader 15 is the best powder, IMO, for the 225 grain TSX (or any other bullet I have tried in the 225-250 grain weight range). You should easily attain 2600 fps and in my CDL I get closer to 2700 (actually 2690 fps chronograph 15' from rifle)with the 24" barrel, plus with the CDL since it is fairly long throated you can seat the bullets out and stuff more powder into the case.

BigBullet

guys thanks for the replies, i have thought about using the 225gr TSX and i know that it would work just fine. I think that i am going to go with the 270gr North Fork if it shoots well. It has a .301 S.D. and should retain around 95% and up in weight, how could i lose?