What is a 35 Whelen rifle?
The .35 Whelen is a powerful medium-bore rifle cartridge that does not require a magnum action or a magnum bolt-face. The parent of this cartridge is the .30-06 Springfield, which is necked-up to accept a bullet diameter of .358 in (9.1 mm). This cartridge is more powerful than its parent, especially in killing power on large game.
What kind of ammo is in a Whelen rifle?
The sight housing also contained a safety. The rifle was originally in .400 Whelen (see sidebar) and later rebarreled to .35 Whelen. The colonel’s favorite loads for that rifle were 61.0 grains of IMR-4350 behind the Hornady 275-grain bullet and 60.0 grains of the same powder with the Barnes 300-grain bullet (neither bullet is now in production).
Is the 35 Whelen good for medium game?
The .35 Whelen fires large projectiles and many hunters miss-perceive such bullet weights as being effective for big game only (and at close ranges), missing the wonderful virtues of this bore as a medium game cartridge.
What is the difference between a 35 and a 400 Whelen?
Whelen would go on to conclude that the .400 Whelen was more suited to heavy game while the .35 (.358” projectiles) made for an excellent all around hunting cartridge and was particularly well suited to large North American game. Also during this time, another very important event occurred.
Is 35 Whelen good for elk hunting?
That hasn’t changed and it remains a wonderful choice for grizzly/brown bear and moose hunting. If anything, the cartridge is even more effective on those animals now because of advances in bullet design. The .35 Whelen is also something of an underrated cartridge for elk hunting.
Who hunted with a 35 Whelen?
Someone who did hunt a great deal with the .35 Whelen was Elmer Keith. Before using it, he used a custom Springfield in .400 Whelen given to him by James Howe in 1925. Like Whelen, he eventually had his rifle rebarreled to .35 Whelen and used it to take what he described as a record-book brown bear during his first hunt in Alaska in 1937.