I have one of the Ruger MKII Whelens and I was wondering if anyone had some good loads for whitetailed deer?

Thanks!

No sugesstions, but I was wondering if you shot the gun yet? How does it shoot?

Was thinking about one.

The .35 Whelen is not particularly fun to work up loads for. It took a long time before I got to these combinations.

All things considered, unless you need a commercialized round, go with the .338-06.
More, and better, bullets are available.

That said, these loads worked well in my Browning A-Bolt .35 Whelen. Use them at your own risk; it's best to reduce these loads 5%-10% to start. All brass was R-P .35 Whelen, and all primers were Fed 210:

H335/52.5
Sierra 225gr Spire Point Boat-tail (1-1.5MOA)

H335/52.0
Sierra 225gr Spire Point Boat-tail sub-MOA ******* consistently the best load in terms of accuracy and performance on buck deer

IMR4064/53.0
Sierra 225gr Spire Point Boat-tail (sub-MOA)

IMR4064/56.0
Barnes 200gr 'X'* (MOA) (must be seated at least .050" off the lands!!!)

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

[This message has been edited by GeorgeS (edited 08-20-2001).]

GeorgeS I was curious to why you said it was not fun?

Bill the rifle shoots great. I broke it in with Remington factory ammo, 200 grain core-locks which shot really well. The gun did have pretty stout recoil so I took it to an exceptional gunsmith here and he installed a Vais muzzle brake onto it for me. He also reblued and repolished the barrel. The gun is a dream to shoot now and my wife who is small framed can shoot it off the bench comfortably. I could probably just shoot the factory ammo this year but what fun is that

Sniper,
My A-Bolt had too thin a barrel to shoot well without quite a bit of upward pressure at the fore-end tip. The barrel also heated up waaay too quickly (I usually wait one minute between shots at the range).
No other rifle gave me as much grief at the loading bench as that one did. It was too picky in terms of bullet used, and there weren't all that many good spirepoints around at the time.
I tried the Sierra 225gr. GameKing as a last resort, and found the winner.
It was easy to carry, at 7.5lbs. with a Burris Signature 2x-8x scope, but I'm glad to be rid of it.
More than likely, the gun was the problem, not the round. However, I only know (or have heard of) one other person who has had an easy time of making their .35 Whelen shoot well).
Thankfully, I have enough rifles NOT to have to deal with a .35 caliber problem child at this time.

George
P.S. If you think recoil was stout with 200gr. bullets, you should have tried the 250gr. bullets!

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

George,

Does this Abolt of yours have an aftermarket bbl, I never saw a factory abolt in 35 whelen?

Thanks

Bill

Bill,

No, it was the factory barrel; it was an '06 originally. I had it rebored and rechambered by LaBounty.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Handloader magazine/Finn Aagaard had these loads for the 35- 200gr XMR2015-54.0 gr
225gr RL 15 61.0 gr
250gr RL 15 59.5 gr
all were MAX loads.GOOD Shooting

I've never found the recoil of the .35 Whelen to be that bad. My custom Mauser weighs 7.0 pounds amd my Ruger 77, which has been restocked with a Ramline synthetic stock weighs maybe a half pound more.
I have a small supply of Remington's 250 gr. spitzer loads left. I have maybe four boxes more with the 200 gr. loads. Seems like my local gun shops just refuse to even carry .35 Whelen ammo, and most won't even order it for me. Thank God I reload.
I have an E-mail pen pal that uses the Whelen on moose with the 250 gr. Speer spitzer hot core. He says that bullet smashed both shoulders on a big Canadian moose and that is the only bullet he'll use.
Anyway, I too like the .35 Whelen.
Paul B.

I saw that Nosler has a 225 Ballistic Tip designed for the Whelen. Wonder how well this would perform on deer?

Paul,
I didn't think the Whelen was all that bad, even with the 250gr. bullets. However, there was a BIG difference in recoil between the 200gr. and 250gr. bullets.

Sniper,
The BTs in the .30 and up calibers seem to be much 'harder' than they used to be six years ago. I'd go for the shoulders on white-tails, mule deer, blacktails, and Coues
deer.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

My Whelen is the Ack. Imp. version. I've taken two deer with the 225 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips, and they did a fine job.

FWIW, my limited tests have shown the 200 gr. Rem. PSPCL to be a bit "softer" than the 200 gr. Hornady Spire Points.

For whitetails, I think I'd stick with the 225 BT or the 200 gr. Rem. PSPCL. They'll open up well.

My gun has a Shilen #4 contour barrel and Brown Precision stock on a tang safety Ruger 77 action. Not too heavy, not too light, and balances well. So far, no loads have been disappointing in the accuracy dept., but I still haven't found anything that'll shoot 1/2" - yet!

As to recoil, the 250's do in fact produce more recoil than the lighter bullets. The minimum drop at comb and heel of the Brown Precision stock, and perhaps the flex of the synthetic stock, plus a good recoil pad allow me to shoot quite a few rounds before it starts to become less than pleasant. I shot 40 rds. one day, bench testing, and letting the gun recoil smartly due to a very soft grip on it for the tests. At round #37, I started to find the prospect of pulling the trigger something to consider, but no flinches were revealed at the target. With a good, solid hunting grip on it, there'd be much less recoil effect.

I've been able to get 2660 fps. in the Imp. chamber without anything remotely resembling pressure signs. That's right on the heels of the .338 Winchester, AND with a bigger diameter bullet. At a recent shoot, I was able to ring the 400 yd. gong consistently after only one sighter for drop, and this was with factory .35's, not the Imp.'s. I'd left my reloads at home! I didn't expect this. The 400 yd. plate was 16". All rifles are individuals. I just got lucky on this one.

In the Imp. chamber, I've found good results using IMR-4895, VV N-540 & 550, Varget and R-15. Ironically, 4320, the classic Whelen powder, produced miserable results, giving over 120 fps. vel. variation with Nosler 250 Partitions! Don't have a clue why. Groups @ 100 weren't that bad, but there's no way I'd want to hunt with a load producing that kind of variation.

Aren't rifles and loading funny??? If I were starting loading for a Whelen, std. or Imp., I'd probably start with R-15 and Varget.

Thanks for all the replies. I went ahead and ordered 100 of the 225gr Ballistic Tips. Just waiting on the mail now!

Sniper,
I have been shooting and hunting with a 35Whelen for about 6 years. I have just recently begun to reload and have not started on the Whelen yet as I have been loading for my big bores. I got some loaded ammo with the Nosler BT and shot a deer with them last year. I hit the shoulder and the bullet blew up. No exit but everything was shredded insided the chest cavity. It was a 2 hopper kill. I tried these because I am thinking about taking it to Africa next summer and use it for Leopard and needed a soft bullet. The factory Federal premium 225 gr TBBC is the most accurate ammo I have shot in this rifle. The bullets are too hard for deer but I have taken 2 Kudu with them and they performed flawlessly. They also work very good on head shots on hogs. The rifle I have is a Remington Classic and is very light in the recoil department, quite a step down from a .338win.
Ralph

Ralph,

You say the BT's blew up on a whitetail? How far away, and what's your muzzle velocity? Just curious, was that deer-zilla sized whitetail or what?

I've just about got myself convinced to build a 35 Whelen next, when my 257 Ackley is finished. I was thinking of the BT for a mule deer bullet, and the partition or TBBC for elk and black bear. I DO still want to try those GS bullets, man they sound great! Now you have me wondering...I was planning on standard Whelen chamber, is yours standard or Ackley?

Was thinking Mauser action, Douglas #3 barrel cut to 22 inches, low mount var-x III in say 2-7 or 2-8 small objective scope, strickly a no frills working rifle, mostly for heavy brush and timber. How is your rig decked out?

I hunt elk with my T/C Encore 15" 35 Whelen handgun with a Leopold 2x scope. My load is a Hornady 250gr. round nose with 49.0grs. of IMR 3031 and a Fed. Gold Match large rifle primer and Rem. cases. I chronographed it at 2100fps. I am getting 5-shots in one ragged hole at 50yds. off the bench. Recoil is rather stiff being in a 15" handgun,but manageable.I shot a cow elk with it 3yrs. ago at 80yds. She went down like a freight train hit her. Mark

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BigBores,
It was a 140lb liveweight Okeefenokee 8pt whitetail. Range was 75yds. I was more interested in hide damage as I was thinking of them for Leopard but their was nothing edible on the right front shoulder. I've seen this happen with BT's on these size whitetails shot on the shoulder with 30.06 and .270win at our camp in SE Georgia. They may blow up but it kills them quick. I sure wouldn't shoot a bear with them or even a large hog unless I had a broadside shot.
Ralph

BigBores
They were loaded to 2550fps out of a 22" barrel Rem 700 Classic.
Ralph

Hey Sniper, If you are still open to suggestions, I can tell you from a lot of first-hand experience that the 200gr Hornady PSP (PN #3510) is one tough, well made, outstanding Whitetail Deer/Black Bear Smasher.

I've used it at the "same velocities" you can get in your 35Whe, however mine were shot in a 350RemMag. And used a bunch of them in 358Wins too. But, I've no argument at all with the folks recommending the 225-250gr bullets.

If you decide to try the 200gr Hornady PSP route, rather than avoiding the shoulder, I'd STRONGLY recommend you include "at least" one shoulder (both if possible) to get drop-in-the-tracks performance. If you go just behind the shoulders with this bullet, the Deer will typically run off a short distance, but provide "two" blood trails that Ray Charles could follow.

If you like the "Explosive Preformance" of the Nosler B-Tips typical with the 6mm and 7mms, I used to be able to get that with the 35cal 200gr Sierra RN (PN #2800) at half the cost of the B-Tips. Haven't used it in awhile, and I'm not sure if they "toughened it up" when they did the rest of them or not.

I've not bought any 35cal B-Tips, so I've no experience with them. Sounds like Ralph experienced what I've seen in the smaller caliber B-Tips.

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Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core

[This message has been edited by Hot Core (edited 08-24-2001).]

I am going to hopefully do some testing with the ballistic tips tomorrow. If they shoot well I am going to give them a go. If not then I'll try the 200 grain Hornady's next.