Linky to yours?
.35 Whelen. Any users on here?
- Thread starter njc110381
- Start date
I’ve always wanted a 35 whelan, About 25 years ago I was made aware of it by a gunsmith who was building a few for friends of his who were dealing with big, southern woodland stags and they were all very impressed with them.
They seem to me to be a great “biggish” bore cartridge that fits in a standard long action and mag. One day my sauer 202 will wear a 35 whelan barrel without having to buy any new magazines like I would if I went 9.3x62. Imo should be a fantastic driven game set up.
Lost track of the gunsmith for a while but I believe he is at East Anglian Gunsmiths in Ipswich now, Martin Nettleton was his name if memory serves. Might be worth a chat with him.
They seem to me to be a great “biggish” bore cartridge that fits in a standard long action and mag. One day my sauer 202 will wear a 35 whelan barrel without having to buy any new magazines like I would if I went 9.3x62. Imo should be a fantastic driven game set up.
Lost track of the gunsmith for a while but I believe he is at East Anglian Gunsmiths in Ipswich now, Martin Nettleton was his name if memory serves. Might be worth a chat with him.
Limpet
Well-Known Member
Sadly no link available but it belonged to the, now deceased, true gent Bob Morton - now owned by J Hogan & Son Gunmakers
In my opinion the British way is all wrong when it comes to guns. We seem to like fast calibres, and those who want a big rifle end up just driving their .30's faster and faster until they hit the magic energy number they require. The thing is though, at sensible stalking ranges (in my opinion, others may differ) you're much better off stepping up a bore size to get your energy than increasing velocity. Barrel life remains good that way, and meat damage is much reduced.
You can expect to get about 3500ft-lbs out of a .35 Whelen. That's about the same as a 7mm or .300 magnum give or take. The difference is a .300 Win Mag does it with a 180gr bullet at 3000fps and the Whelen does it with a 250gr bullet at 2500fps. If you're shooting your target at 300-400m then the magnums win hands down but if you want a 100+ yard gun that can shoot anything from muntjac to boar, the bigger round wins. When you shoot a 50 yard munty with that magnum it's going to bruise an awful lot of meat. I've done it with my STW, even using the best bonded bullets on the market it just splats close up. Stick a 250gr bullet through that deer at 2500 and it'll drive straight through and you can eat right up to the hole. I could even slightly hollow point a lead bullet I've cast myself and use that - there's much less fear of bullet failure if you're not trying to send it down range at the speed of light.
You can expect to get about 3500ft-lbs out of a .35 Whelen. That's about the same as a 7mm or .300 magnum give or take. The difference is a .300 Win Mag does it with a 180gr bullet at 3000fps and the Whelen does it with a 250gr bullet at 2500fps. If you're shooting your target at 300-400m then the magnums win hands down but if you want a 100+ yard gun that can shoot anything from muntjac to boar, the bigger round wins. When you shoot a 50 yard munty with that magnum it's going to bruise an awful lot of meat. I've done it with my STW, even using the best bonded bullets on the market it just splats close up. Stick a 250gr bullet through that deer at 2500 and it'll drive straight through and you can eat right up to the hole. I could even slightly hollow point a lead bullet I've cast myself and use that - there's much less fear of bullet failure if you're not trying to send it down range at the speed of light.
Even with a FMJ .357 pistol bullet and low charge? I agree a factory 200 grainer would probably pluck and draw it for you at the same time as killing it!
reiver
Well-Known Member
I looked for 35 Whelan in the U.K. with out any luck about 12 years ago without any luck!! So went for a 444 marlin instead. It does a similar job.
35 w Ammo was also a problem back then but there was plenty of it in France .
A mate of mine has a .444. Brilliant cartridge. I've had a lot of fun at the range with that rifle and he's taken it over to Croatia for boar a few times. A little less adaptable when it comes to finding a flat shooting load, but great for what it was designed for. In fact he brought it along way back when he mentored me and put me on my first deer. As soon as my shot went off I heard him chamber a round into it - he had no intention of letting that poor roe buck run off had my shot not done the trick. I hit it spot on with a Barnes TSX from my 6.5 Swede at about 50m - it wasn't going anywhere!
How could I possibly say no to that? Thank you so much, that's very kind of you. Let me know your tipple of choice and I'll bring it along!
You say justifiable for a certain task, strictly according to the guidance that task is dangerous game and dangerous game only so shooting in the U.K. does not justify good reason
Where does it say that? There will be a number next to the paragraph.
Says who? ..... just because a round is capable of DG kills, cannot mean it will not be able or suitable to kill Deer etc. I have two .300 WinMags, right at the lower edge for DG, but conditioned for DEER & AOLQ, so I could take fox with them if I so wished. .35 Whelen is renowned for heavy bullets in slower velocities .... I previously had 45/70 Gov conditioned for Deer, Also with AOLQ
Seems “GUIDANCE” is OK on a one way street.
As I say, based purely on the guidance, which unfortunately is the way Wiltshire are going unfortunately.
deer is good reason for a 45/70, 9 mm is Dangerous game with a big fat No for deer. Chances are your FLD are viewing the win mag as a 30 cal so acceptable. Wilts will condition 300 win mag for deer but not 338 win mag
I understand that firearms of a high muzzle energy may only be conditioned for UK use after initial good reason to need it has been established. I've got a .416 Rigby for deer and AOLQ, I've lived that battle!
What I don't understand is that there are hundreds of shooters in the UK with 7mm and .30 calibre magnums for deer. They don't have any justification other than they need a bit more grunt for the bigger deer species or boar, and they have been given them without question. I'm one of those shooters. I have that. I had a 7STW that I've just done the one for one with. Now, looking at data from Hodgdon, Alliant etc and doing a bit of basic maths, those big cased small bore magnums produce more energy with max loads than the Whelen does. So there's point number one - the energy of the Whelen shouldn't be an issue. It's not a .375H&H. To follow that up, .444 and .45-70 are listed in the guidelines as suitable for deer. My .45-70 is running 500gr bullets. Think about that for a second - 500 grains! That's nearly double what you can send out of a Whelen. So bullet diameter and weight isn't as high as it is for other calibres listed in the guidance as suitable for deer. There's point number two.
If the bullet weight is lower than the maximum weight allowed for deer, and the muzzle energy is lower than the maximum energy allowed for deer, why does the .35 Whelen count as a calibre that should only be issued for use abroad? Simple answer, it doesn't!
What I don't understand is that there are hundreds of shooters in the UK with 7mm and .30 calibre magnums for deer. They don't have any justification other than they need a bit more grunt for the bigger deer species or boar, and they have been given them without question. I'm one of those shooters. I have that. I had a 7STW that I've just done the one for one with. Now, looking at data from Hodgdon, Alliant etc and doing a bit of basic maths, those big cased small bore magnums produce more energy with max loads than the Whelen does. So there's point number one - the energy of the Whelen shouldn't be an issue. It's not a .375H&H. To follow that up, .444 and .45-70 are listed in the guidelines as suitable for deer. My .45-70 is running 500gr bullets. Think about that for a second - 500 grains! That's nearly double what you can send out of a Whelen. So bullet diameter and weight isn't as high as it is for other calibres listed in the guidance as suitable for deer. There's point number two.
If the bullet weight is lower than the maximum weight allowed for deer, and the muzzle energy is lower than the maximum energy allowed for deer, why does the .35 Whelen count as a calibre that should only be issued for use abroad? Simple answer, it doesn't!
in thegood reason table, it’s a 9 mm at over 3000 ft-lb
They probably all reload.
target shooting is something completely different from field use from a licensing point of view
But a .300 Win Mag is over 3000ft-lbs. They issue those all the time. It's not a .338 or 9.3mm, so just like the .300 Win Mag it's not on that table...
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