My buddy drew a VT Moose tag and I am going along as a sub-permittee. I have my Whelan already set up from last year's Elk hunt, but seeing as I will probably do more looking than shooting, I was thinking of maybe using my lighter .358BLR. I normally use 200gr. Hornadys for deer, but was thinking of a stouter load for possible back up shots at Moose. I do have 220gr Speer flatnoses.
Anyone have suggestions?

i would use a Partition or a good bonded bullet like Woodleigh for it since the moose is a large animal that need a good heavy bullet.

Take the whelen and any 250 grain bullet.

Yep! Take the whelen!

I've been using 225 TSXs in mine.

The 220 grain Speer would be my choice for anything bigger/tougher than deer from the 356 or 358 at woods ranges. I know that the 220 grain Speer is a flat nose bullet design and doesn't have the best BC numbers, but I think that it shoots flat enough for me to be comfortable in my ability to shoot a moose out to 250+/- yards. That said, I'd like my elk and moose to die as close to where they're shot as is possible, so I'd aim to break the shoulders, rather than shooting them through the lungs. You will lose some meat when you shoot them through the shoulders, but a moose with 2 broken shoulders isn't going anywhere fast.

Jeff

Take a look at my .35 Whelen bullet test .

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3221043/m/896106805

.358 Win, 250 Hornady RN, H335 and CCi primers, winchester brass, of course.

250 Horndy RN or 225 Barnes TSX.

NO 220 gr Speers.

225 gr partition or barnes in the 358 win, 250 gr in the whelen.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Take the whelen and any 250 grain bullet.

Me too.

I've shot a couple of moose with a browning blr in .358. I use the .250 grn speer, try some 1mr3031 or blc. I use 52 grns of 748 for 2340 vel. It will take just about any game you want to shoot out to 250 yds. Craig Bodding uded his .358 to kill a moose with .225 grn nosler partions.( if you can get some old AA 2015 use that) it.s the best powder I've ever found for the .358) I've killed a few elk and a bunch of black bears with the .250 speer.I think there is another AA powder that does pretty good with the .358 but I can't remember what it is just go to the Accurate Arms web sit and it is listed might be aa2520

I ment AA 2015 br not the new stuff called xmr 2015.

Take the .358, in a BLR it will be much more portable and a 250gr Speer hot-core will kill any critter out to 250yds.

In Nosler #4 the .358 win beats the 35 Whelen with 225gr bullets but the Whelen will sling the heavy boys with more velocity, its so close that no critter would know the difference.

Im going to load my Whelen with heavy weight 358 bullets like it was meant to. A 275gr Hawk or 270gr North Fork should work well with the 1 in 14" twist rate, for just about anything im gonna shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Blauwkamp:

NO 220 gr Speers.

I agree Terry, much too soft for moose.

250 Speers, 225 TSX, 225 partitions or 250 Hornadys. Much better choices, IMO.

I would think the nosler partition 225gr would be just about right. 2400fps or so with a very good bullet. Expansion with penatration and those little bits of flack when the frount gets wiped off wonderfull!! It is a moose, mid and large bullets are still not enough to "knock" it over. Take out the lungs and or heart and lungs and it will still take a bit for it to go down. Very large animals do not just drop unless spine, brain, or major bones are taken out. For moose, put a few in the lungs, don't get up and chase it away, wait and it will go down quickly. The 358 win and 35 Whelen are great junting choices, I truely don't understand why more people don't hunt with them.

Whelen 35 said,

quote:

I truely don't understand why more people don't hunt with them.

Me too. I have rifles in .358 Win. and .35 Whelen and I wouldn't part with any of them.
What I cannot figure out, it the little pissant .35 Remington has a fairly strong following for the thick cover deer hunters, but the .358 Win. and .35 Whelen which are much better cartridges are shunned as if they had a sexually transmitted disease.
I am of the thought that the "eggpspurts" in the gun rags are partly to blame. That, and the recoil of both rounds is a bit more than some people care for. However, people can learn to tolerate the slightly greater recoil with a bit of practice. What they do have to do is unlearn the BS that most "egg-spurt" gunwriters spout about both rounds being nothing more than short or medium range brush guns. Maybe they should all be forced to hunt for one year using the .358 and the next year witht he .35 Whelen and then honestly report their findings. (OH! Like that would ever happen.)
Even finding ammo for the two is a bit difficult where I live. What little the gun shops might have is either the wrong bullet weigh (.35 Whelen) or so overpriced as to be ridiculous. I only shoot 250 gr. bullets in the Whelen and all my local gunshops will only stock 200 gr. bullet loads. They will not even order the 250 gr. loads, even though I am willing to pay in advance. Ammo for the .358 Win. here is priced on a par with .300 weatherby ammo, very high. That is when I can find any. It's a good thing I reload.
I have noticed one thing though. When I'm at the range, people come up and ask what I'm shooting and then want to try a round. When they find out that the recoil is not all that bad, they ask where they can buy a rifle. makes one wonder what they'll think of either round when they shoot some game with one.
Paul B.

What I find to be interesting is when you run the numbers with any of the programs out there and use real numbers that you get from your own gun and plug in those speeds and use the bullets that you use and compair the 358 and 35 whelen to other popular choices out there, you will see that the 358 and whelen run right with the pack of so called mid to long range choices. My 35 Whelen is an improved version and I get 2830fps with the 225gr nosler BT. My 7 mag with 150gr bullets no matter what combo of powders I try is very hard pressed to get more than 3000fps. Now if you run the numbers for bullet drop when both are sighted in at 200yds you will be very suprised at how well the Whelen performs and it has a lot more wackem smackem at all reasonable ranges. The 358 will do all but perhaps 5% of the hunting shots that most will do in a lifetime. On the otherhand, 20 years ago I worked in the gun department of a sportingoods store and still chuckel when I think of all the 300 wins that I sold to people with 4-12 scopes and even higher when 90% of their hunting was posting in the woods when they were doing a deer drive. If these guns were ever even shot at 100yds it was only to sight them in. I guess it gos both ways sometimes. On the other hand, if they were real popular, I would likely hunt with something else. I just like to tinker with stuff that is not the norm.

35 whelen, the summer sucks in Mo. ! right now it is 103 and the humidity so high when you step outside it feels like a sauna. I have coronagraphed my .358 win. loads I can easily get 2450 with the .225's, the .220 is less and it sucks ! The .250 speer will give 2350, actually mine clocks 2370 in a 20" Blr81.
As to killing power the first was shot in the heart loung. We sat down and brewed a spot of tea and them walked over about 150 yds and dressed it, the second was shot in the neck and it fell on the spot ! Doesn't seem to matter what you shoot an elk with they will run a little but not much with a well placed .250 speer. The bears I've shot, none have ever gone more than 30-40 yds but most drop at the bait barrel. I shoot them right through the shoulders and have only recovered one bullet. In the kick dept. keep the scope low mounted on the blr same with bolt guns. My blr doesn"t
seem to kick at all. I've shot some 45-70 marlins that kicked the foo out of me. I also had a Remmington 700 classic in .350 Rem. mag that was plesant to shoot but you could tell you had a'holt of something with full power loads. I like the Blr81 in .358 because it doesn't kick, handy in a tree stand with more than enough power to get the job done. But, as a bolt man I would get me another Remington classic in .350 I've not shot onew of the guide guns so I can't comment on it.

I use an 81 blr in 358 and utilize the SPEER GRAND SLAM 250 gr mostly due to the seating depth to fit in the magazine, and nothing ever got up when hit....45 gr of R-12, cci 200 primer,ww brass, set @ 2.760"....3/8 " @ 100 yds...kick? negligible with PACHMAYER F990 recoil pad.

the guy is talking BLR, so no 35whelen's need apply

225gr TSX consumes WAY too much powder capacity for a BLR based 358, as you can't sit them long


hornady 358 bullets are SOFTER than bertam brass. Even the 250 is a rather SOFT bullet.


Either 200gr tsx (which is a decent bullet that will probably be short enough to stablize in your blr)

but my PREFERRED 358 bullet is the 225gr sierra game king, loaded with a health dose of 748 powder.

jeffe

Thanks to everyone for their input. After reflecting upon the hunt I decided to use my Whelen for the Moose and keep my 200 gr. 358BLR setup for the deer season which follows the Moose Season.

Which bullet are you going to use?

BCSteve, I will be trying Partions, Hornady Interlocks, and Speers, all 250gr. I have factory 225gr Federal Bearclaws which I have gotten decent groups with.
My 358 is set up with 200gr Hornady RNs with which the rifle is an honest, repeatable, sub MOA. I will be trying a Leupold Gilmore on this rifle for deer hunting as the shots are usually pretty close, and I like the reddot for Turkey hunting.

I have taken Moose with the Whelen and Remington Factory 250gr loads with no problem, but I want a little more umph!