Lets say that I decided to move to moose country (Maine) and wanted to rebarrel a 30-06 bolt action into a medium-bore moose-thumper. On occasion, this baby would be loaded with light bullets for whitetails, and would probably see some black bear hunting. Which of the three mentioned above would you recommend? The 35 Whelen with 250 grn Hornady's would seem to be quite the moose blaster, and I'd think that 200 grn Hornady's would drop whitetails with authority. Then again, the 338-06 would too, with those same bullet weights by the same company, or maybe 180 grn ballistic tips? Then again, it would seem that the 9.3x62 would speak with a little more authority with 286 grn partitions and 250 grn ballistic tips. Any recommendations?

They well all do the job so well your 06 with good bullets. Pick the one you want.

I'd take the Whelen for the use you describe . It is a little easier to live with for an American shooter than the 9.3 because of factory brass , plentiful 06 cases that can be necked with one pass of your sizing die , and easier to get bullets . In my view , the Whelen would better the .338 version if you want to load DOWN for close in whitetails . The .35 cal 200 gr roundnoses meant for the .35 Remington should be perfect for that work .........

[This message has been edited by sdgunslinger (edited 03-05-2002).]

He's right. And, the Whelen is a standard now, which means a higher resale value if that should be necessary. A reloader can do practically anything he pleases with a .35 Whelen.

Get the 9.3x62 so you have your DGR rifle when you go for buffalo in Afric

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MED

The sole purpose of a rifle is to please its owner

Both the .35 Whelen and the .338-06 have similar ballistics. The .35 Whelen benefits from bullets you can use for plinking (if you get into that), while only hunting bullets are available for the .338-06. The smaller diameter of .33's bullets helps with velocity (smaller frontal area), so one may be able to squeeze a little more velocity down range. The .35 Whelen with is slightly larger diameter may punch a bigger hole, but .33 bullets have greater SD and BC, so both are pretty equal.

Bullet weights for the .338-06 start at 160 grains, and end at 300 grains, and there should be just as many bullet weights for the .35 Whelen. Go with one of these two and don't look back.

Almost forgot...There is nothing wrong with the .30-06 the way it is now. With 180 to 220-grain bullets you should not have any problems hunting moose nor bears. Look around the local gun shops, and you will realize that ammo for it is very cheap and readily available. Federal and Hornady produce high velocity ammo for it that is not available for the other two. More than likely you will have to reload for both the .338-06 and the .35 Whelen to get the most from them.

[This message has been edited by Ray, Alaska (edited 03-05-2002).]

Ray in Alaska is right that the regular 30/06 is the best but for fun a bigger bore is interesting. Having hunted with a 358W since 1966 I am sure it hits harder than the .30's and much harder than smaller calibers.

If the bullet hits a vital area and makes a big enough hole then almost any cartridge including the 30/30 within it's range is enough for that game. But a hit near the liver or high in the ribs and the chase is on! I will take running shots with a .358W that I will not take with a smaller bore. I have that much confidence in it.

Any of those bigger bores are fine but I am not sure that the .33 is going to make that much difference. I am sure that .35 will.

As a final thought. The .35 Whelan Improved is not really a wildcat and it may prove to be better for handloading. I would pick that or the regular Whelan over the others.

The 338-06 would be good because it's bullets have better B.C. and sectional density when compared with the .35 Whelen. Also it produces higher energy then the .35 Whelen. The 9.3x62 is tops when compared to the 338-06 and the .35 Whelen but the bullets are a little harder to find and the caliber is a little more expensive to shoot. All three calibers are good choices but the 338-06 would be my choice. Bullets weighing 210 gr. on down would work great on deer and 210 gr. on up for larger game.

I am curious as to how the .338/06 betters the Whelen energy ? It is a ballistic fact , a larger bore is going to get you more velocity for a given bullet weight, all things being equal .

If you are overly concerned with sectional density , why use a medium bore at all ? The 220 gr .30 cal. bullet beats most all the .338 diameter slugs
for sectional density ..........

Well all arguments aside, Id get the one that floats your boat. Besides these arguments mean precious little in the field. While hunting Moose and black bear in Maine, B.C. will probably Never be an issue as most all shots will be way under 300 yards. Also in my opinion S.D. means very little with bullets over 200 grains, if they are well constructed. JMO. If it were me I would go with the .35 Whelen, not to many 35 bores out there any more.

I would pick the .35 Whelen. Its bigger .
I've seen some real interesting loads for it, one of which was with a 150gr bullet designed for the .350 Rem Mag that is lightining on deer. I would suggest that you go to www.sixgunner.com and either look under Paco Kelley's Sixgun Chronicles or Back Issues, under one of them Paco Kelley has written an article about the .35 Whelen, and it made me want to git one.
I like to go by the typical "bigger is better" truth that us Americans have come up with, , but the .30-06 would be just fine. With 220gr bullets, they would kill with authority as long as you put them in the boiler room, (and being a Southern squirrel hunter (no i aint from Indiana, just live here), i dont see what's so hard about hitting a kill zone as big as a billboard ).

cyberhick

[This message has been edited by cyberhick (edited 03-05-2002).]

Given the slim chances of getting drawn for a moose permit even as a resident, I don't know that it would be sufficient justification for a new rifle. NOT that I think anyone needs justification for a new rifle.

Black bear is another story since you get a permit for one along with your deer tag. Most folks up there just use a .30-06 on everything, anyway. One friend of a friend in Caribou, ME is considered a hard-core rifle nut because he has both a 7mm-08 and a .300 Win. Mag.

John

SD, BC and BS. On paper the 338-06 looks impressive. In the real world, for same weigh bullets, the whelen has a 100 fps advantage at the muzzle, which means at 300 yds the 338-06 bullet is finally going the same speed, and it is an amazing 1" flatter in trajectory. Yes many loading manual's show the whelen in a poor light, as they account for some dubious custom rifles made for the 80 year old round and lower the pressures a tad.

Did I forget sd, no, the whelen makes a bigger hole, and there just is no disgruntled base of hunters complaining that the whelen fails to penetrate as the sd pundits would lead us to believe.

A .358" 250 gr bullet @ 2500 fps is flat enough for 300 yds, heavy enough to penetrate any reasonable angle on animals up to 1500 #'s, including shoulder blades, and in the event you need to follow a blood trail, you'll have a decent sized entrance and exit to provide it.

Give me a 9.3 x 62 with 300 or 320 grain round nose bullets.

If I were going up I would go all the way to 9.3. It has a little more capacity than the others mentioned if I don't misremember. It is getting increased attention from the shooting press and I will wager will be chambered in factory form here one day soon. The CZ comes in that caliber now. Good luck in the draw and in the field. "D"

Here are some of the BC and SD from one of many bullets. These are from Swift, but most bullets are about the same as these, except tha some may have a higher BC.

Swift Bullets

CAL WT B.C. S.D.

.257 100 .318 .216
.257 120 .382 .260

.264 120 .344 .246
.264 140 .401 .287

.277 130 .323 .242
.277 140 .414 .261
.277 150 .444 .279

.284 140 .335 .248
.284 160 .450 .283
.284 175 .493 .310

.308 165 .367 .249
.308 180 .400 .271
.308 200 .444 .301

.323 200 .357 .274
.323 220 .393 .301

.338 225 .384 .281
.338 250 .427 .313
.338 275 .469 .344

.358 225 .312 .251
.358 250 .347 .279
.358 280 .388 .312

.366 250 .285 .267
.366 300 .342 .320

.375 250 .271 .254
.375 270 .349 .274
.375 300 .325 .305

.411 350 .328 .296
.411 400 .375 .338

.416 350 .321 .289
.416 400 .367 .330

.458 400 .272 .272
.458 450 .325 .307
.458 500 .361 .341

.470 500 .364 .329

[This message has been edited by Ray, Alaska (edited 03-06-2002).]

9.3x62 with 232gr Norma Vulkans works very well on deer for me and accounted for a bull calf in short order even thought the shot wasn't brilliant. It is not unpleasant to shoot. 232gr at 2,600fps.