Wailin' with the Whelen

When I was hunting gun (ala 7mm Rem mag) shot 1.5 inches.

Never did see an animal with a target on it, and that 1.5 inches was consistent, no better, no worse. Without the target all I knew was I hit them in the heart lung area just fine.

35 Whalen is a hunting cartridge if there ever was one.

Good luck with improvements, nothing wrong with that, but close to 1 MOA is a great hunting gun.
 
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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Use the right tool(s), and clamp the rifle in a vise, if needed.
If it really gets you spooked, you can try a soldering iron on the head to transfer some heat, then let cool fully. If there's loctite on it, you'll smell it when the screw gets hot.
If that doesn't work, or you don't want to try it ... put it in the hands of a professional.

I've had some stiff ones, and even one tightened so much that it crushed the stock. But I've never had one fail to come out.
I know you said you have. So, I understand the hesitation/reluctance.
 
And then there was this....

So I whipped up a bunch of the 225 gamekings propelled by H4895 and decided to give a go today at the local dump. It was a bit windy with gusts from the 8 o'clock--so POI tended to shift slightly from one group to the next.

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Right from the very first group I could see this was a far better combination than the accubonds driven by varget. In fact, most of the 4 shot groups had 3 shots touching eachother with me pulling a flier. It really came down to a "choke-a-thon" as to whether or not I could keep my stuff together enough to keep the group together.

At 57.8 grs it all came together for me and I got this:


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I didn't even finish the entire ladder--didn't see any reason to with numbers like this:

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I was also starting to get a bit of a "concussion headache" so I was glad to knock off on a good note.:D
 

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Mucho bettero..

Yea, my Savlington was quite snappy. I could only handle so much for any given day. It rattled the brain case and neck a bit.
 
BTW--you might notice the white thing on the ground below my labradar unit--that's where I put the battery pack and connection--I've had muzzle blast blow the battery off the unit one time too many times distorting the connector plug.
 
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"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."

I've taken elk from roughly 100 yards to 350 yards with the 225 gr. TSX from my Whelen.
On that 350 yard shot, the elk sat down like the RCA Victor dog then slumped the rest of the way down DRT. Never had a problem with any of the elk shot with that bullet.
Paul B.
 
.35 Whelen- The big game cartridge you can buy in a budget single shot rifle. IDK how the H&R's and CVA's shoot compared to the Hawkeye, but what's nice about them is you don't have to have a lot of money to get into big game hunting.

I'm a bigger fan of the Whelen than I am of the parent case that's so old it doesn't have a name, it's just numbers.
 
"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'm not quite sure I agree with that. I push a 225 gr. TSX at 2710 FPS which in theory is what a 180 gr. bullet from the 30-06 is supposed to do. (They don't) I get the same trajectory that the 06's 180 gr. bullet is supposed to do with a bullet 45 grains heavier. As far as penetration, I've not recovered one yet, not ever from the one shot at 350 yards. I've had one hit just behind the short ribs one the left side and exit between the right shoulder and the neck at 150 yards. Internal damage on both elk was massive.
Paul B.
 
"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."

I've taken elk from roughly 100 yards to 350 yards with the 225 gr. TSX from my Whelen.
On that 350 yard shot, the elk sat down like the RCA Victor dog then slumped the rest of the way down DRT. Never had a problem with any of the elk shot with that bullet.
Paul B.
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Good to hear from real world experience.
 
But it doesn't do anything better than a 30-06 firing 200's only 50-75 fps slower.
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Except that a 30-06 isn't usable during Mississippi's funky "primitive weapons" season while a single-shot .35 Whelen is. When they changed the law here, you couldn't give away a muzzleloader and everyone bought Whelen Encores and Handi-rifles.
 
Stag,
With those velocities, group size, and especially 13ES/8(?)DS, i think you found your load.

I've never had any issues removing the action screws from a Ruger. Wolfe springs help ALOT on the trigger. But when i take mine apart again, i'm upgrading to an aftermarket.
 
Stag,
With those velocities, group size, and especially 13ES/8(?)DS, i think you found your load.
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Yup--that's why I said the heck with it and didn't bother with the hotter loads which probably would have got me up into the 2700 fps range. Those energy numbers are pretty impressive too.;)
 
I did slip some sandpaper in between the barrel and the stock--mostly a bunch of "accumulated mystery goo" came out. Did that help with the accuracy? Maybe, maybe not--who knows.

I did some more pull tests and the trigger seems to settle in at around 5 lbs break most of the time. My standard for a "decked out with winter gear, gloves and assorted junk hanging from trees woods hunter" is 4.5 lbs--so I may not bother with a new trigger.

I once had the metal in the hex head of a savage action bolt give way under pressure and strip to uselessness--drilling and getting that out was quite the operation. That's why I'm leery of these things when they are torqued down under very high pressure. The front bolt holding the trigger guard down on my Hawkeye was also VERY tight--but I did get it to come loose.
 
I was also starting to get a bit of a "concussion headache" so I was glad to knock off on a good note.
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Yep, that are why she air a hunting gun.

You can get some impressive accuracy but ?????? You got your load and now its 3 to check accuracy each year, and one for your game. Clean it and repeat.

I never shot the 7mm for fun either, worked labor in my younger years and 20 rounds with it was more than enough for me.
 
Torque specs for Ruger 77 mkii

The angled screw should be torqued to x number of INCH POUNDS. I use 75 in. Lbs. for my Ruger Hawkeye Predator. You can google the conversion from inch pounds to foot pounds and use a regular torque wrench.
 
At one time there was a lot of hunters in deer camp that carried 35 Whelens, not to many any more, it is a great caliber !!
 
So... I finally got around to putting a Timney trigger in the aforementioned 77 Mk II in 7x57mm.
Removing that front action screw had me more worried than I ever have been with any rifle that wasn't already a beater, or something that came to be as a basket case.
It was not moving.

I was right on the edge of the maximum amount of torque I was willing to apply to that screw, when something finally snapped.
I wiggled the screwdriver a bit, to see if the head had sheared. No.
So, I went back to attempting to remove it.
It was stiff, and felt cross-threaded, but was coming out.

End result: Someone had dipped the entire threaded portion of the screw in red loctite.


Separate note:
This idiot ordered a left-handed version of the Timney trigger, for a right-handed rifle, and didn't realize the mistake until the package was open and the sear was already installed.
I made it work, but had to remove the over-travel stop to do it.
 
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