I see that Remington is chambering the 35 Whelen in their Model 700 Classic Deluxe rifle. What a nice looking rifle. This would be a great non magnum Elk gun. I have wanted one for years. If any one here has one, how do you like yours ?

That's an interesting bit of news. Rem did the Whelen in their Classic years ago so I guess this is a Classic Rerun. I don't own any Remingtons . . . on purpose! However, if such a chambering really suits your needs and you can get a decent price, Brownell's carries a replacement safety for the 700 that eliminates the lousy trigger-block style with a good striker-block in the manner of a M70. That should take care of my greatest concern, which is the occasionally dangerous trigger assembly Remington refuses to replace. Dangerous game not being a concern, the push-feed action is suitable and 700's are know to be very accurate.

You are right about the 35 W. being a superb American hunting caliber. I have used mine in a Ruger to take two bear and it was terrific. I found the factory loading to be pretty anemic but using Finn Aagard suggestions and loads taken from Pet loads I am very pleased with the power. Especially when using 250 gr. and larger bullets.
Frank

The 35 Whelen 700CDL(Classic Deluxe) is a special run for Grice's Gun Shop out of Clearfield, PA. The Remington web site does say the Whelen chambering will only be available in limited quantities and to have your dealer contact Grice's.

I have three rifles in .35 Whelen, the Rem. 700 Classic, a Ruger 77RS and a custom Mauser. The Mauser has a 1 in 14" twist barrel while the Remington and Ruger have 1 in 16" twist barrels; something that I personally consider an serious error in judgement. A 1 in 16" twist is in my humble opinion barely adequate for 250 gr. bullets and in discussing this with two well known custom gun makers, both of which prefer barreling their .35 Whelen rifles in 1 in 12" twists agree with me.
The Ruger will shoot 1.25" goups with either the 200 gr. or 250 gr. factory ammo and if you mix them up, the total group is 2.0" I've only used the 250 gr. load in the Remington and 1.5" is the best it will do. The mauser, which I've had for years needs to be rebedded, but at it's prime, it was a 1.25 to 1.5" gun depending on the bullets used.
Based on my use of the Remington Classic I own, it is a neat rifle. if you don't plan on using bullets any heavier that 250 gr., it should work just fine.
JMHO, but the .35 Whelen is a grossly under appreciated cartridge.
Paul B.

The Remington web page also shows a run of 7600's in 35Whelen. FWIW, Dutch.

I have a 35 Whelen, love it, it's an awesome cartridge. Mine is on a VZ-24 M98 action, which is vastly superior to the poorly designed, and made Rem 700.

The 35 Whelen is an excellent non-magnum caliber for hunting in North America. Paul B., if you reload you will find that this can also be an accurate caliber. I reload for a couple of friends of mine and they shoot 7600's and a mauser '98. I've found that 59.5gr of reloader 15, R-P brass, Rem 9 1/2 primers, and Hornady 250gr RN bullets seated to overall length of 3.240" gives sub minute of angle in either of these rifles and have been chronographed around 2600 fps in the pumps with no excessive pressure signs. Penetration is phenominal. You may want to start with around 54gr or 55gr as my load is a max load. Paul.

Not only is it an excellent caliber for NA but also for africa. I used 250 grain North Fork bullets and my PH expressed to another PH that it really "hits them hard". I took zebra, impala, wildebeest, warthog,gemsbok and eland with it and performance was excellent even on some straight away shots and a quartering away shot on the eland.

I am having a 35 whelen built.
It is on a Military mauser action, And I got a barrel and stock kit from Midaway. Its an Adams and bennet barrel, and a stock from Core lite,My smith has about 40 rifles in his shop all built by him and I consider them to be hos resume. if you saw them you would realize in an instant he knows exactly what he is doing. Anyway, if you wanted to build a whelen on a mauser action the kit is 188.00 for the barrel and stock and the quality is much better than you might expect for the price. The stock is a synthetic cammo, that I rather like (not love) but this rifle will be serving the purpose of a foul weather frend, bringing it on mule deer and Elk hunts, so I can put my prety wood stocked rifles away when conditions get rough. As for the cartridge, it ought to flatten any thing in Oregon real quick, but if had it to do again I might go with the whelen Improved, it has a sharper shoulder and is easier to head space ... tj3006

I like it.
I've had three; one built on an M-98 action, another a Remington 700 .30-06 re-bore and a 700 Classic, factory chambered for .35W when they came out the first time. My .35 Whelens have killed pronghorns, a black bear and a slew of whitetails very efficiently with not a lot of meat damage. Great cartridge, easy to load, practical.

Web site:
http://www.gricewholesale.com/

I've used grice's for years. They must have some pull with rem, cuz they sure get alot of special runs made up for them. I also ordered the cdl. I have handled another cdl that was the same configuration and it seems to be a nice rifle. Mine might be for sale the second I pick it up because I'm having a short barreled whelen built up for me now.

Also; down the street there is a place called Bob's army & navy. Not as many guns; but the two of them together can get anything made here or imported elsewhere.

turfman

I have a 7600 in 35 W inbound from Grice. Always wanted a med. bore pump rifle...now I have one. I also have a custom FN in 9.3 x 62 along with five 30/06's ...looks like all those bases are covered!

I believe also for 2004 that Remington is going to make a run of 8x57mm Mausers, if anyone has a yearning for this grand old cartridge.

Just got my 35 W in a pump Remington from Grice today. I was most suprised by the quality of the wood in both the butt and the fore end. Nice figure and no over runs in the checkering. Nice looking rifle. Hope it shoots as good as it looks!

Harry

Try the 225 gr Nosler Partition with IMR 4064 or R-15. My favorite combination for the Whelen. Speer 250's also work very well.

If you don't reload, try the Federal 225gr TB Bear Claws.

Have fun with your new Whelen.

WN

KevinNY,

I agree with you concerning the use of the 35 Whelen as a general plains game rifle. I have just returned from RSA where I took a waterbuck, black wildebeest, warthog and a mountain reedbuck with my 35 Whelen. In the past I have taken zebra, gemsbok, red hartebeest as well and could not be happier with the caliber. I use 225 grain Barnes X bullets. Emailing with Barnes, they will be producing a 225 grain triple shock this summer.

BigBullet

Any hunters travelling across PA on I 80 would be well advised to consider a trip to Clearfield. Both Grice's and Bob's have a selection that is unmatched by anything else in hundreds of miles. I don't think Grice's prices are all that great anymore but they have a selection of unusual items that I haven't seen exceeded anywhere. The old store was a taxidermy museum of considerable appeal as well.

I've been using a Model 700 CLassic .35 Whelen since spring of 2000. It's accounted for a couple of 5 X 5 elk and a couple of moose. The last moose was shot a 280 yards so it's not strictly a short range caliber. My standard load is the 250 Grain Nosler Partition in front of 58.5 Gr. RL-15 in new Rem. Brass and WLR Primers. Velocity averages 2,525 fps. Most of my 3 shot groups are sub inch with serveral less than 1/2 inch. Needless to say I am sold on this rifle. I've owned a bunch (here we go) of 700 Remingtons and never had any problems with the trigger or safety when it's properly adjusted to 3 to 3 1/2 lbs pull. I was put out with the non bolt locking safety but noticed that on the 1988 Classic the grove was still in the receiver for the little tab on the old style safety to pop up and lock the bolt. Now when I go through thick brush I no longer have to worry about the bolt getting hooked and opened. I lost several cartridges that way. I noticed that CDL special order. It will have a 24" barrel instead of the 22". I like the shorter barrel better for saddle scabbard use and for going through spruce and fir jungles.
I put a 1.75 X 6 Leupold Vari X III in a set of Kimber detachable mt.s and have an old M3X Leupold in another set of those mt's sighted in for a back up scope. It came with Remington's iron sights. I used an old Remington ramp elevator rear sight (with the white triangle below the vee)and a smaller ivory bead in the old Remington ramp so when it's pouring I can still hunt on the way back to the horses.

Rich Elliott