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