Wailin' with the Whelen

S

stagpanther

New member
Yes--even I can get sick of AR's, occasionally--while going through my load records I noticed that I had not recorded anything for my beautiful limited edition Hawkeye in 35 Whelen I bought last fall. My bad!

So I whipped up some 200 gr accubonds this morning and hope to get out later today.

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Nice lookin' rifle. Happy shootin'.
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Thanks.

Just got back from pounding out 24 shots of the reloads--didn't go as well as I hoped; though I think it was all on me Best I could do was 1.2 MOA at 100, but I was having a hard time finding the best formula for shooting and steadying off the bags--I tried to let the gun ride free-recoil but the trigger break seems at 4.5 to 5 lbs--so I was consistently pulling the shots.
 
If your doing 1.2 inches, and your problems are you.
You've got fun problems.
I liked my .35 Whelens. Have fun.
 
that comes out to about 3.6 moa at 300 yards, what are you hunting for field mice or large game? if field mice I would sell it.
 
Sounds like the rifle has potential. Maybe some trigger work followed by some adjusting your loads.
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It was used so I'm not expecting miracles. I could call the shots as I pulled the trigger--I was moving the gun every time.
 
My first 77 Mk II improved instantly with a Timney trigger. It was good before, and great after.
Now that there's another factory 77 Mk II in the house, I've been getting a very clear refresher on why I upgraded the trigger. This new one, I* think, breaks at about 8 lbs ... but is mushy and 'creepy' while approaching the break. *(Other people are all over the place - 4.5 lb, 5 lb, 7 lb, 5-6 lb, 11 lb. But I think it's closer to 8 lb.)
I need another Timney...


I'm jealous of the rifle, as well. Looks great.
And, currently being Whelen-less doesn't help.

The best load I found for my rifle, when it was still here, was as follows:
.35 Whelen
200 gr Hornady SP
R-P brass (factory, not formed)
2.475" case length
WLR primer (lot 638G, to be specific)
55.5 gr H4895
3.110" COAL


I believe that's a mid-range powder charge. In my rifle it was good for 3/4" or better at 100 yds, "all day long".
The H4895 also made it very tolerant of thrown charges with notable charge weight deviations. I need to get some Marlin projects finished so I can put the new .35 Whelen together and finally launch .35 caliber bullets again...
 
For a rifle like that, I would want the trigger to be consistent and feel right, breaking at not less than two pounds, nor more than four pounds, as long as it is the same every time. If the trigger can't be adjusted to achieve this, then I would look to upgrade to a better trigger. I love a nice walnut stock and would not tolerate a plastic stock on any rifle of mine. If the rifle would only do 1-1/2" at 100 yards for 5 shots and grapefruit size groups at 300, I would call it a good hunting rifle for big game and be happy with it. Since your rifle is already doing better than that, you have a winner. I'm sure you will get it dialed in even better with a little trigger work. Is that an original Redfield scope?
 
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Very cool rifle Stag.
I have made a handful of 35 Whelens for Wyoming and Montana elk hunters.
The 358 diameter bullets available can have thin jackets at times. Many were first introduced for the 35 Remington, and the Whelen is a very big step up from the Remington. so on elk I do hear reports of some bullets being better then others.
Everyone tell me the same thing however. Bonded bullets, partitions and expanding solids are the best for elk ammo in the 35 Whelen. I am not surprised. I can say much the same for most cartridges when elk are on the menu.

Ruger M77 Mk2 triggers are not all that hard to work on and can be cleaned up a lot. Be careful to not stone too much because the safety drum still has to block the sera notch. I will not say you can make them into bench-rest rifle triggers, but you can make them very nice and easy to use.
 
I guess when comes about as close to perfection with rifle and load, one should just lay back and relax. :rolleyes: Seriously, I'd been wanting a .35 Whelen for a very long time and then in the space of about three or four months I had three of them. :eek: First was a Ruger M77 then a Remington M700 Classic and last somebody's idea of how a proper classic custon rifle should look. He hit the X ring on that idea.

All three rifles like Paco Kelly's 250 gr. bullet load with 53.0 gr. H335. It's reasonably mild in my rifles and at 2550 FPS with the 250 gr. Hornady SP and RN and with the Speer Hot Core and easily minute of deer or better.

I did find a better load though but have not shot it in the M77 or M700.Why? When starting load work up for the Barnes 225 gr. TSX pressure rose too fast in the M700. The Ruger's chamber has IMO a bit of a headspace issue so it lays dormant in the back of the safe. The custom Mauser however is sub-MOA with 60.4 gr. of RE15 and the Barnes bullet. The largest group so far is .80" and that was my fault :o Half inch groups are common with this rifle. Velocity 2710 FPS.Nirvana! :D

Just my not very humble opinion but I think for an all around do everything in a .35 Whelen, a 225 gr. bullet would be the go to period. My preference is with the TSX but a Partition, Accubond whatever your preference would be the way to go. Six dead elk with that load, all one shot kills or stopped so hard escape was impossible. Two went down so fast the the guide and I lost sight if them. One shot nearly lengthwise still has an exit wound.

I have 225 gr. Nosler Partitions and Accubonds and have not even tried to work up a load with them, at least not in the Mauser. Maybe I'll try them in the M700 and reserve the Ruger as a cast bullet fun gun. :cool:
Paul B.
 
My lucky day--I hit the jackpot with great comments and suggestions; thanks guys.:)

I shot a few more of the 200 accubonds driven by target today--came very close to QL's forecast with 2,735 average fps. Even at 100 yds it's packing just under 1.5 tons of special delivery energy.;)

I took a closer look at the gun after shooting today--the stock appears to be contacting the barrel on the front and back quarters of the barrel--might be warped a bit, I guess. I checked the action screws--the main one which goes in at an angle on the front of the magazine floor plate appears to be very tight--I watched a ruger youtube video where a ruger tech warns that it's torqued to 80 inchlbs! A stripped action main bolt head is right up there with one my worst bolt gun experiences--so I'm really nervous about attempting to get that one out.

The 225 gameking shoots great out of my 358 win AR that I built--it's next on the menu and I had already planned on using H4895.

The red field, unfortunately, is not one of the original red fields (which has superb glass) but is a modern "revenge" that still is very good--I think I bought two of them at around $225 each.
 
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Just my not very humble opinion but I think for an all around do everything in a .35 Whelen, a 225 gr. bullet would be the go to period. My preference is with the TSX but a Partition, Accubond whatever your preference would be the way to go. Six dead elk with that load, all one shot kills or stopped so hard escape was impossible. Two went down so fast the the guide and I lost sight if them. One shot nearly lengthwise still has an exit wound.
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I never got around to using mine on any large game, but I came to pretty much the same conclusion: 225 gr is the sweet spot.
I loaded up a few boxes of test loads with 225 TSXs. ...But never did get around to trying them in the Savlington before I grew tired of the horrendous copper fouling of that barrel. (Marlin X7, made by Remington, impaled with a [tweaked] ER Shaw Savage barrel, with some modified parts.)
They're still waiting for the next .35 Whelen. (A Dumoulin Mauser build.)

If the TSXs (TTSXs?) hadn't worked well, I would have turned to Partitions. (Probably will do the same with the Dumoulin.)


Hey... Speaking of which, the Barnes .358" TSXs and TTSXs are on clearance right now (16-25% off); and Nosler .358" bullets are on sale (15% off) at MidwayUSA. Get 'em while they're hot.
 
Nice rifle, Stag!

No your stock isn't warped. Both my M77s touch the barrel. 257 Roberts, 280 Rem.
I like the red buttpad.

If your married, watch your wedding ring on the floorplate. Will scratch the heck out of the floorplate!
I put new floorplate on the Roberts with the Ruger emblem on it. $80.
 
I love the barnes bullets--but I'd be concerned about the velocity opening range as the bullet gets out there; the whelen looks to me like one you have to know how the bullet will do past 100. Would be nice if they made a tac tx in 358. Also--Sierra has announced with much fanfare their new "game changer" bullets--gonna be interesting to see what they are like (don't know if they'll be available in 358 initially)
 
Ruger stocks are supposed to be in full contact with the barrel. They claim better accuracy that way vs free floated using the angled action screw. This is one of those internet debates that will never be settled. Some people have free floated them and report improved accuracy, others report that accuracy became much worse after floating the barrel.

I had one of the All Weather Hawkeye's in 35 Whelen for a few years. Mine had a 22" barrel, but the one in the photo certainly seems longer.

Based on what I'm reading it is the Barnes bullets 30 caliber and under that really NEED the faster impact speeds in order to expand. Those above 30 caliber seem to work very well at slower speeds.

I found the 35 Whelen round to be an interesting round that filled a niche in 1925. But it doesn't do anything better than a 30-06 firing 200's only 50-75 fps slower. In fact the 200's from a 30-06 will pass it in energy within 100 yards and out penetrate at any range. If you want to surpass 30-06 performance with the 35 you need to shoot 250 gr or heavier bullets. Even then the difference is small.
 
I had one of the All Weather Hawkeye's in 35 Whelen for a few years. Mine had a 22" barrel, but the one in the photo certainly seems longer.
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Yes, it's 24" and the extra length does seem to help with velocity. The barrel also gets very hot very fast when testing ladders--even when I wait 4 minutes between shots.
 
I do want to take the stock off at some point, probably going to need to to work on the trigger or replace it--anyone removed the action from a Hawkeye have any advice on best way to remove the main angled bolt? I'm really worried about stripping the bolt head.
 
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