This caliber has been around for some years now and I feel that somewhere along the line, it just never got enough backers to really push it towards the publics eye. I know it is a whale of a caliber for big game. Now what are your feelings towards the 35 Whelen as a game getter?

Well....it's going to be my primary rifle on my first African hunt this July....what do you think that says for it???

For the last 4 years my main whitetail gun is a
Rem 7600 pump in 35 whelen. 225 grains at 2600 fps, zero at 50 yards, 1 inch high at 100 and zero again at 150 yards. Best all around Michigan deer rifle I have ever used. Knocks them over every time. Extreamily well balanced in the 7600, light to carry and with a 1.5x6 scope it's the best.

.35 Whelen is my primary and most-hunted-with cartridge (except mine are in Ackley Improved). It really has some knockdown power!
Jerry/AK

Chigger, my huntin partner has used a .35 Whelen Rem. Classic for elk for years and has taken 5 elk with it at ranges out to about 200 yards or so and never had a problem. I've seen it kill elk like the hammer of thor!

I liked it so much i bought a H&R single shot in .35 Whelen but got ta feelin bad cause my son-in-law didn't have a huntin rifle, been borrowin one from me, so i gave it ta him fer X-Mas. I let ya know how it works next year.

Fellar's I remember back some years ago while hunting up in Canada with some fellow Iron Workers, (real rough bunch) who took me under their wing so to speak, (I was a little fellar back then) one of them anyways had a 35 Whelen. He called it the Colonel. I never really knew what he was talking about back in those times. I do remember him smacking a whale of a moose that came trottin up at 3/4 speed right after he blowed that call of his, water was splashing up from the sides of that animal like a like rooster tails from behind my boat.

He let that animal get about 40 yards from him and Boom!!!! Smacked it in the front chest right and proper like. Before I could get my gun up another Boom!!!! Went off and both my ears was ringing from me standing on the other side of the big tree he was hidden behind. Now that animal hit the ground like a ton of bricks dropped off a 5 story building. I was impressed and decided to trade in my 270 on something bigger after that day in the willows.

i think it ranks right up there with the 350 rem mag. and that's a good thing.
woofer

I love my Remington 7600 in 35 Whelen. I will never part with it! It is my primary black bear rifle. I have taken two nice bears with it here in PA, the biggest being a 410 pounder. Both times I took bears I was a driver and the bears were on the move. The fast action combined with a 250 grain bullet did the trick! It has dropped a few whitetails for me as well. I think the 35 Whelen is a great caliber . I will be building a custom whelen on a model 70 classic action this year. I plan on doing the stock work myself. It will be a great project!

The 35 Whelen is one of the best balanced cartridges ever made in the small bore/medium hunting rounds. It will never gain the following of, say, the 30-06, or 30-30, or even the 45-70, and that's too bad, because it is a better, and more useful, cartridge for North America than any of those. The problem was, for some time, the lack of good 35 cal bullets, added to the fact that most other 35s were ill designed in one way or another, and did not tender a great following, so died. All have come, made an initicial flash, the all but died, the 358 NORMA Mag which could push a 275 gr bullet @ 2600 fps, is a good example, a good cartridge that never made the popularity list in the USA. It would do anything a 338 win mag would do, but Americans have always, sooner or later rejected 35 cal cartridges. Too bad that one was a good one!

At this writeing the only one still breathing are the 35 Whl, and the 350 Rem Mag the letter of which will slip back into obscurity, IMO, simply because it is not properly designed, combined with the unpopular 35 cal with Americans.

The 35 Whelen is a preformer, and is easy on the shoulder as well!

I hunted with a fellow who used this caliber for over 30 years. First rifle was reworked 1903A3 Springfield, second was the Remington pump offered in the mid to late 80s. He hunted deep in the woods and I often helped him drag his deer out. I never remember a deer which needed a second shot with good first shot placement. He also had many of them drop at the hit. If I did not shoot the .375H&H, I would definitely own a .35 Whelen.

My feeling about the .35 Whelen is that it's neither fish nor foul, and I'd rather have a .338 Win. Mag. or a .375 H&H for any hunting purpose.

AD

Well, I have three rifles in .35 Whelen and am planning number four. Nuff said? Mostly the new one is to play with a different rifling twist. My Ruger 77 and Remington 700 Classic has a 1 in 16" twist. My custom on an Oberndorf Mauser has a 1 in 14" twist. I've never been able to figure out why Remington and Ruger went that route when the original Whelens were made with a 1 in 12" twist. So the next one will have a 1 in 12" twist.
As to whether or not the .35 Whelen is neither fish nor foul? If you ain't tried it, don't knock it.
Paul B.

The 35 Whelen is my 'go to' rifle for elk, deer and hogs so far. It does all I've asked it to do and done it's jobs above any expectations I've had. No it is not a miricle round, but for the practical world i hunt in it suits me best. Ample trajectory, hard hitting, decent/good selection of bullets, fun/easy for me to reload, and a joy to shoot.

Yes I've shot deer with 338 win mag and other various mags. They do their jobs fine, but for me I just prefer the 35 whelen. If I were to hunt elk or bigger game than whitetails more often I might or might not want something different. However I don't see me changing my outlook anytime soon and I hope to go after more bigger game in the future with my 35 whelen.

Before I just moved up here to Alaska I decided to get a rifle that I could use as a general big game rifle. I have used a .243 winchester for about 99% of my deer hunting back in michigan for the last several years. I did a little reading and thinking and decided that either a 338/06 or a 35 whelen would be good candidates for my purpose. I went with the 35 whelen because I found a Ruger 77 for a pretty good price and topped it with a 3-9x40 burris scope. I had a little trouble with the rifle but after a trip back to ruger and a lot of fiddling around I have two loads worked up for it that will cover 90% of all big game hunting needs. The first load is a 250gr Hornady RN at 2425fps that shoots nice clover leaf groups at 100 yards. The second load was the sierra gameking 225gr SBT at 2620fps that will shoot 1"-1.25" at 100 yards. The really great thing about these two loads is that with the 250s sighted dead on at 100 yards the 225s are exactly 3" high. I can use the 250s for moose and bears in heavy cover and the 225gr for deer, carabou, or elk out to 300+ yards using the same zero. It might not be as snazy as a 338 RUM but it will do anything I will ever need a rifle to do.