I found a Remington CDL in 35 whelen in store about an hour form here and I'm going to look at it today. I plan to mainly shoot 225gr bullets in it so how concerned should I be about Remingtons 1:16 twist? How well will 250gr bullets, if I ever want to use them, work with that twist?

You should be fine with 225's. In my Ruger, 250's shot better the faster I pushed them. I used a 4x scope with a duplex reticle and got down to about 1 MOA, but my benchrest technique is not so great and I think a better shooter could have gotten smaller groups with a stronger scope.

Don't get in a hurry on the r. Rrrr. Remmington. I'll see if I can find a Ruger around here for you.


Okie John

Mark, if the heaviest bullet you plan on using will be 250 gr., then the 1 in 16" should work just fine. My Remington Classic chambered to the Whelen will usually stay in 1.0 to 1.25" if I do my part and that's good enough for anything I'd use a Whelen on. I haven't trie 225 gr. bullets, prefering the 250s, but one of these days I'm going to see wher the 200s hit when sighted in for 250 gr. bullets. My reasoning is, I also have a Ruger 77 RL in .35 Whelen and when I shot up some 200 gr. loads for practice and to get the brass for the heavier bullets, the groups seemed to be hitting in the same place as the 250s. So, I mixed up some 200s and 250s in the magazine and shot a five shot group that was 1.5" from the mixed bullet weights. My custom Mauser with 1 in 14" twist won't do that, although groups run in the one inch range.
Paul B.

My Ruger M77 MkII in .35 Whelen (Davidson's special run a couple of years ago) shot 225 gr and 250 gr bullets very well with the industry standard 1-16" twist. IMHO, the need for a faster twist than 1-16" may come into play with bullets heavier than 250 grs but I never tried them.

-Bob F.

I have a friend here locally that has a 1-16" twist... 250's keyhole past 200 yards. Go figure. My 350 RM has a 1-12 twist which makes more sense, to me, than a 1-16"... the point of the 35's, in my mind, is 250 grain bullets.

Nice rifle, huh? I bought one last year as a special-edition-from-Grice-Wholesale and have gotten excellent accuracy with 225 gr. NBT's and RL-15 as well as the 200 gr. Remington factory loads. Every combination of powder weight and primer shot accurately (I used both magnum and standard types from Remington, CCI, and Federal). Not surprisingly, the BT worked nicely on a PA whitetail this past fall.

I've got a box of 250 gr. Partitions that I need to get loaded and try out, but it'll probably be after turkey season. I'll post results.

I haven't tried the 225 gr. Partitions but have some on-hand for a 350 Rem Mag and I guess they're a possibility. But if I can get 2500 fps and good accuracy from the 250's I'll stick with them for anything other than whitetails.


Go on, buy it! -WSJ

I have owned 2 Remington 35 Whelen's (Classic & a BDL) and both shot 250's very well. I dumped those and kept my original tang Ruger 77 and a pre-war J.P. Sauer Sporter which both also have the 1:16 twist. They both shoot 250's just fine too. In fact, in 10 days I will be taking the Ruger out after black bear here using the 250 gr Speer. I, too, would search out one of the Davidsons Ruger's or pick up a used M70 or FN Sporter in 270 or 30-06 and send it out for a rebore. Cosy would be around $250 for the rebore. This is what I did with my Sauer which was a shot out 30-06. I also own other rebores and they are all shooters.

What would you think of a whelen with a 1:18.75 twist rate. Im thinking of rechambering a NEF 357mag barrel to a 35whelen. Is this a waste of effort. Total expenses should be about $130 or so.

Mark,

Why don't you buy one of my JC Higgins FN 98's, it's a 30-06, you can re-barrel to 35 Whelen or 9.3x62. You'll have a much nicer rifle, and not alot in it.

I personally think a Ruger in 35 Whelen is the way to go.

quote:

Originally posted by bajabill:
What would you think of a whelen with a 1:18.75 twist rate. Im thinking of rechambering a NEF 357mag barrel to a 35whelen. Is this a waste of effort. Total expenses should be about $130 or so.

I would think you've just thrown $130 down the crapper. Consider this, some of us feel the 1 in 16" twist is too slow. Personally, I feel it is way too slow. You might, and this is a wild ass guess at best, get away with 180 and 200 gr. bullets tops, but for anyhing heavier? No way!
Again, this is just my personal opinion, but IIRC, the .35 Whelen was designed to make a relatively inexpensive big bore round for those who could not afford the then extremely expensive .375 H&H magnum for serious big game. The preferred bullets were 250 and 270 gr in weight. Thus, Whelen and Howe went with a 1 in 12" twist. That will work with the lighter bullets just fine.
Hornady used to make a neat 275 gr. round nose bullet for the Whelen, but they dropped them from the line in 1967. I contacted them to see if they'd make a special run of these bullets considering all the interest in the Whelen since Remington brought it out as a legitimate round, but they damn well were not interested. Probably just as well and I doubt a 1 in 16" twist will stabilize that heavy a bullet much past 100 yards anyway. Still, I do have a few, and if I was facing a pissed off grizzly or lion, I do believe I'd like my magazine stoked with those mean looking 275 gr. bullets.
JMHO.
Paul B.

mark, i have a 700ks & classic in 35 whelen.. the only 2 loads i have tried are the sierra 225 & nosles 225 bal tip.. the sierras are 3/4" and the bal tips pattern..try rl15 and you will have a great all round southern deer kifle.. the ks has a leupold 1.75x6 & the classic a burris 4x signitunre.