35 Whelen wRL15

[SJB358]

I just got off the bench and started putting some more loads together for my 35 Whelen. I got a good deal on the Speer 250gr HotCor's, so that is what I used. I loaded from 55-58gr of RL15 with CCI250 in Remington Cases with Speers at 3.34". Wondering if any of you others have used similar loads. Would have liked to use the Nosler 250PT, but they are over twice as much, and the biggest these will probably get used for is elk. Hoping they shoot well out of my CDL, but pretty much everything has. Wondering what you all are getting for speeds out of your with the heavier slugs. They are some cool looking loaded rounds, and have a good BC of about .45 or so. They should be relatively flat shooting. Scotty

I just checked with a ballistic calculator and it seems like it would shoot pretty decent out to 400 for elk. With a 3.3" high zero at 100, I would be about 8" low at 300 and 26" low at 400. That would give me a 225 yard zero, and this is all assuming 2500FPS out of the round, which seems pretty attainable. Not too far behind my 338 Win Mag out to 300 at least.

 

[JD338]

The 35 Whelen is a great round! I have a M700 Classic and she is a thumper for sure.
Let us know how she shoots fr you.

JD338

 

[DrMike]

Scotty,

I have had some limited success with 250 grain Hornady SP and also with 250 grain Woodleighs. The Load with the Woodleighs (using a maximum charge of 51 grains of A2520) was relatively slow (c. 2300 fps), but quite accurate. As charge increased toward maximum, the groups opened up. Interestingly, results with Speer 250 grain SP and a maximum charge of H335 (53 grains) mirrored the results with the Woodleigh. Less than maximum charges gave me the best groups, but the velocities were relatively low. Maximum charge gave me velocities of c. 2400 fps. On the other hand, I have had such great success with the 225 grain AB, the 225 grain Partition and the 225 grain TSX, that this weight is receiving all my attention.

 

[SJB358]

Mike, I am with you on the 225's. I have a bunch of 225gr TSX's already loaded, and the rifle is zeroed for them. They shoot a hair under 2800FPS and really work well, I went with the Speers, because they are cheaper and I am shooting 225's out of my 338, and figured, it is a 35 Caliber, and heck, it should cast the 250's pretty well. They are a pretty good looking bullet and seem to be consistent for loading. I am just kind of messing about, since I have them, and the 338 does much better than the 35 Whelen, so I figure I might try the 250's out. They look pretty awesome loaded. Look like they would stop about anything. I think they were around 3600Ftlbs calculated at 2500FPS. I am not into the numbers, but would like something that is useful to 300-350 yards if needed. I will let you know how I do. Hoping for the best. My CDL has shot about everything pretty well, so I hope it stabilizes these 250's. Scotty

 

[JD338]

My M700 Classic in 35 Whelen has a 1:16 twist and shoots the 225 and 250 gr bullets with excellent accuracy.
My load with the 250 gr PT is 52.0 grs A2015 and shot well under MOA. The penetration with the 250 gr PT was almost into tomorrow.

JD338

 

[SJB358]

Good to know, I am pretty sure I am 1-16" twist also. I just picked up another box of 250gr Speers at lunch. It is hard to beat them for 14.00 at the local gun shop. If they shoot well, I may try some Partitions next time around, but they are closer to 50.00 a box and would be reserved for serious big game at that price. A 250gr AccuBond in 358 Cal would be pretty awesome for the full length 358's. Scotty

 

[DrMike]

Bottom line is that mass moving at a reasonable velocity will continue pushing through an awful lot of flesh and bone.

 

[SJB358]

Yup, and I think it will be a great load if it shoots well. Right now, the loaded rounds look awfully good, so I am kind of excited to see how they shoot. Hoping for the best out of them. Scotty

 

[SJB358]

I loaded up four more 35 Whelen cases with 59gr's of RL15. So I have from 55-59gr's to try out tomorrow. I am going to try and focus on the Whelen and the 270WSM tomorrow. Hoping to get two good loads for them. I need to start saving some milk jugs. I would like to see how the 150gr BT holds up in the 270WSM and what the 250gr Speers do out of the 35 Whelen. I will let you all know how it goes tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some good shooting in this Sunday. Scotty

 

[SJB358]

Just got back from the range. The Whelen did very well with the 250's. Loaded from 55-59gr's of RL15. All of the groups shot pretty well. Probably about 1.25 for the most part. 58 and 59 were under an inch and pretty close touching. 55gr's ran about 2375 and 59 ran 2580 (avg)! Cases from 55 look very close to the 59gr cases. I am ecstatic with that. I think it is great performance and alot of power out of the Whelen. Anyhow, I have succeeded in getting what I wanted. I was hoping for 2500 and got a little extra, and great accuracy for the Whelen. I think it would have been better, but I couldn't really let the barrels cool as much as I wanted due to sunset looming and I wanted to get as good of chrony readings as I could. Scotty

 

[257 Ackley]

Scotty -
Sounds like it will thump hard anything that walks in North America. Now that you have a great load worked up, what do you do with it till the 2010 big game season? :lol: It might make a nice yote rifle this winter :wink:

 

[DrMike]

Scotty,

I'd hunt griz with that load. It'll work for certain.

 

[SJB358]

I know, I am pretty excited over this load. I think it would be an absolute thumper for about anything. I am going to load about 10 more just to verify what I have, and do some zeroing. The rifle is still zeroed for the 225gr TSX's, but amazingly enough, the 250's were eating the bull out of the target. Pretty happy with those.

Not sure what I will get to kill between now and the Fall with them. Kinda thinking I still might get it out to shoot some deer here in Va, or at least get it out to the range and really shoot it out to 300 yards to see what it does. I would really like to see it work on some deer though. If I get out for a rifle hunt next year for elk, I will surely have that rifle with me. Scotty