35 Whelen VS 375 Ruger

[PJGunner]

Well, to be perfectly blunt, I too am a fan of the .35 Whelen. I have three, a Ruger M77 RS, a Remington M700 Classic and someone's custom Mauser that I picked up at a gun show. That Mauser has been my preferred elk rifle ever since. I have a preference for the 225 gr. Barnes TSX which ha shot sub MOA from the Mauser from day one. Powder is RL15. That load which is fine in the Mauser is several grains too hot for the other two rifles. The Ckassic likes the 250 gr. Speer hot core and the Ruger the 250 gr. Hornady. The 225 gr. TSX load shows high pressure early on in the other two rifles but not the Mauser.

I have no experience with the .375 Ruger and seriously doubt I'll ever shoot one. I do have some with the .375 Taylor Wildcat and .375 H&H. The H&H is on a Ruger #1H and is rather pleasant to shoot. The .375 Taylor, also known as the .375 Chatfield-Tayor is nothing more than the .338 Win. Mag necked uo to take .375" bullets and loaded accordingly. I run it with H4350 and 270 and 300 gr. Hornady bullets. Powder that works best in my rifle is H4350. Velocity is the same as the .375 H&H but recoil is a bit stout in that seven pound rifle.
Paul B.

 

[FNWhelen]

Despite having a father who owned a small gun shop and thus having access to any gun I wanted I have carried the 35 Whelen he built for me for the past 40 plus years. I load 250 grain Hornadys and have never had a problem. They did the job on everything from deer to 10 foot brownie at ten paces. My Whelen is a little heavy and it is not loaded real hot. I can still shoot a full box through it and not feel beat up at all when done. That is not the case with any of my larger rifles.

 

[35 Whelen]

Chuck PMR,
I have been watching this thread abit. My own personal thoughts on the 35 Whelen in the hands of a skilled rifleman is this: Having guided dozens of Alaskan Brown Bear/Grizzly hunts over the years I started out with Sako .375 H&H and had wonderful success with it, later on I switched to a Win Model 70 Super grade in .338WM and again had great luck with it! Both accounted for lots of Alaskan Bull moose and again both worked super!
The 35 Whelen is a high performer when you compare factory .338 ammo to hopped up 35 Whelen ammo. The extra 100fps you actually get with a .338 is nothing compared to the extra weight of factory rifles.... extra recoil... extra lenght of barrels, and all the other things that go with big magnum calibers. In short in my experiences if you actually need more gun than a 35 Whelen shooting 250gr bullets, dont stop at a .375........ head right up into a .416 or more. jm2cw.
e

 

[RL338]

head right up into a .416 or more

YES!

 

[ChuckPMR]

Chuck PMR,
I have been watching this thread abit. My own personal thoughts on the 35 Whelen in the hands of a skilled rifleman is this: Having guided dozens of Alaskan Brown Bear/Grizzly hunts over the years I started out with Sako .375 H&H and had wonderful success with it, later on I switched to a Win Model 70 Super grade in .338WM and again had great luck with it! Both accounted for lots of Alaskan Bull moose and again both worked super!
The 35 Whelen is a high performer when you compare factory .338 ammo to hopped up 35 Whelen ammo. The extra 100fps you actually get with a .338 is nothing compared to the extra weight of factory rifles.... extra recoil... extra lenght of barrels, and all the other things that go with big magnum calibers. In short in my experiences if you actually need more gun than a 35 Whelen shooting 250gr bullets, dont stop at a .375........ head right up into a .416 or more. jm2cw.
e

I was wondering when you would be here lol. Thank you for the insight. I do believe that you all have me sold on a 35 Whelen!

 

[jason1290]

I’m excited to get my 35 whelen built after reading more and more about it, I’m getting less patience. I’m afraid the 358 winchester will sit in the safe more often sadly.

 

[Blkram]

I’m excited to get my 35 whelen built after reading more and more about it, I’m getting less patience. I’m afraid the 358 winchester will sit in the safe more often sadly.

Regardless of what rifle I take hunting, my BLR in 358 Win is usually in the back seat of the truck, for backup, and if there is any chance of having to perform follow ups in the thick timber. (It is so handy!)

 

[jason1290]

Good point Blkram! I like it.

 

[ChuckPMR]

I’m excited to get my 35 whelen built after reading more and more about it, I’m getting less patience. I’m afraid the 358 winchester will sit in the safe more often sadly.

Me too brother. I am patiently waiting for the Ruger Alaskan Bush rifle to come back in stock

 

[Vince]

My $0.02

If you’re going to hunt Africa get the 375.
You can add an Alaska Arms floor plate to increase the ammo capacity. The Whelen will hold two more rounds and the 375 will get one additional round with the AA floor plate.

I also use the Alaska Arms Ruger Scope Rings. In my opinion they are the best rings made for Ruger rifles. Both are more than capable for North America. I personally use a .338 Win Mag as my one and done for North America.

I’ll use my 375 Ruger next year for Cape Buffalo. In less than twenty years the 375 Ruger has moved to the number three spot for Brown Bears in the Alaskan record books. Number one is the .375 Hurt & Hurt. Number two is the .338 Win Mag. So I would say it’s acquitting itself well in a short period of time.

You won’t go wrong with either one.

Vince

 

[grry10]

I personally am a fan of the 35 Whelen, even though I own a .338-06 Ackley Improved. The 338 doesn't do anything the Whelen can't. I have a new Winchester model 70 Featherweight in 30-06 that I plan to have JES rebore and chamber to a Whelen, 4 grove 1:14" twist. This rifle is light, quick handling, and will be perfect for anything this 75 year old plans to hunt.

 

[Johnly]

If I were to try to bridge the gap between the 35 Whelen and the 375 Ruger, I'd go with the 9.3x62.
Using RL-17 and 286 gr. bullets I've been able to generate over 4000 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

 

[3 Meter Para Bellum]

I don't think I would be looking into either of these calibers anytime soon, but I have to say this thread has been an interesting read and makes me quite well disposed towards the 35 Whelen should I ever have reason to use something in that realm.

 

[Blkram]

If I were to try to bridge the gap between the 35 Whelen and the 375 Ruger, I'd go with the 9.3x62.
Using RL-17 and 286 gr. bullets I've been able to generate over 4000 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

In my 9.3 x 62 (which also comes in the same version of rifle the OP mentioned for the 35 Whelen) I am shooting the Nosler 250 gr AccuBond ammo, and get 2550 fps with just over 3600 ft lbs of energy, and the LH Sako 85, 9 lb scopes rifle produces 0.674" groups at 100 yards.
If I were to handload it to 64K psi, QL suggests that I should get 2719 fps and just over 4100 ft lbs of energy!
The factory ammo will retain 1932 fps and 2072 ft lbs of energy out at 400 yards, where it drops 26.7" from a 200 yard zero. (Still legal in BC for bison)
The Re-15 load listed above will retain 2077 fps and 2394 ft lbs of energy at 400 yards, and drops 23.1" from a 200 yard zero. That's flat enough to hold on hair to put a finishing round in the vitals of a wounded elk, bison, or bear, if needed, let alone take a first shot on a bull elk that far out. With just a hair more amount of felt recoil energy as a 7MM STW in a 8.5 lb rifle with a 160 gr bullet...so manageable!

If one prefers a Swift bullet for this work, Re-15 can push the 250 gr A-Frame to 2757 fps in a modern action capable of 64K psi, and obtain 4219 ft lbs of energy. While it has a lower BC (0.285) vs the 250 gr AB (0.494), it will still retains 1934 fps and 2076 ft lbs of energy at 300 yards, and drops 9.4" from a 200 yard zero.

 

[Firebird24]

Not everywhere, but in most parts of Africa 9.3 and the rough equivalent.375 h&h are the minimum legally allowed for buffalo. There is much more involved to this but stay with me-you can hunt cape Buffalo and lots more for the same price as a grizzly or brown bear on the North American continent. Cost wise you could more likely hunt lots more big stuff there than you can here. ( As Vince is clearly thinking) But you are most likely going to need a .375 to legally do it.

If it were me I would look at the more common .375 h&h and the many options you can find it in. Maybe someday add a whelen or the big ruger to your collection like everyone else did, but until then, you honestly don’t need them-

And as long as I am being opinionated, Use the 300 grain or bigger AFrame.

 

[PJGunner]

Hi folks, I am new to the forum here, but I have been reading for a while. I need your help in making my next rifle decision. I am looking at two different options: either the Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan/Guide gun in 375 Ruger, or the new Ruger/Lipsey's Alaskan Bush Rifle in 35 Whelen. I have read some of the forums here about ballistics and performance, and I fully understand that the 375 hits harder and thus has more recoil. I am a handloader, so I am not too worried about the availability of factory ammunition, as long as I can get components. I can also buy a used 375 Ruger for around 300-400 dollars cheaper than I can get a new 35 Whelen. My goal for this rifle is to hunt large game in North America, including black bear, hogs, moose, elk, brown and grizzly bear, and maybe coues deer as a bonus. I want a rifle that I can hunt North America with and not need 7 different rifles. I also want to be able to shoot the rifle a fair amount, and not just use it on hunts. As far as I can tell, big grizzlies can be some of the hardest to stop, and I want a rifle that, if I need to STOP a big bear, then I can do that. Sorry for the mouthful, and I look forward to hearing from y'all.

That's asking a lot from one rifle. My vote goes to the.35 Whelen. Work up a top load with RL15 and the 225 gr. TSX and you should have a winner. I have three rifles chambered to the Whelen A Ruger M77 Tang safety, Remington M700 Classic and somebody's idea of a classic custom I picked up and a gun show.The Ruger is currently used for cast bullet work, the Remington with factory ammo only for now as it does not like the handload for the custom. The two factory riffles have 22" 1 in 16" twist barrels while the custom has a 1 in 14" twist twenty four inch barrel. The factory ammo is somewhat underloaded by the factories at Remington's request to SAAMI and much loading data reflects this attitude.

I've never shot a .375 Ruger but I do have a .375 Taylor aka .375 Chatfield Taylor and the mman who dreamed it up and also as the .375/338 Win. Mag. It's a wildcat round. I shot it in a Ruger M77 Tanger set in a Ramline stock. It literally blew itself out of the Ruger factory stock probably because the screws needed to be tightened. My bad as Ishould have checked them before shooting. It has the same power as the .375 H&H wwith both 275 and 300 gr. bullets. I had the gun built for a special elk hunt in sine deep and dark timber with that chance of running into a Grizzly Bear. As it stands today, the rifle would have worked just fine but I'll never know as the plans for that hunt fell through.

I also have a rifle in .375 H&H, a Ruger #1H but while it's a nice rifle it's quite heavy.

As I said earlier, pressure specs for the Wheelen are deliberately kept low. One excellentpowder is RL15 and I run the 225 gr. Barnes TSX at 2710 FPS, not the mostly 2500 FPS something to one load doing 2610 FPS IIRC in the Barnes manual. I've shot more than few elk with the TSX load mentioned, all one shot kills from ranges of 75 to 350 Yards. I'll make it easy. The trajectory is almost exactly like the trajectory of a stiff loaded 30-06.

Speaking of the 30-06, a properly loaded 30-06 whill handle just about all the game you mentioned, possibly excluding the two great bears. Then again, I'd use the Whelen on those two and never look back. I might even opt for one of the 250 gr. premium bullets for those puppies if I had doubts about the TSX.
Edited to add: One nice thing about the Whelen is it's usually a simple deal to run some 30-06 brass through the sizing die, load up and go shooting. I don't even bother to fire form them first as so far it has not been necessary in any of the three rifles have.
Also had to correct some spelling and yes, I probably may have a couple left that I ave miss this last time around.
PJ

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I feel hesitant to voice an opinion since all I hunt for is whitetail deer and if a black bear would come by, but I got a 35 Whelen just because I wanted one not because I needed it. Of the two calibers in question, I would find the 35 Whelen more in line with my thinking as it has manageable recoil, cheaper to shoot cost wise for components and very versatile. Besides its fun poking deer with.