35 whelen- Black Bear

[Alibiiv]

It's a shame that Barnes doesn't make the 250 grain bullet anymore. It hits like a Mack truck. I bought the last three boxes they had at the factory years ago and reload and replace the ones I use on game to keep my quiver full. My 350 Rem Mag pushes them at 2500 out of a 22" Bbl. Every grizz I've put my crosshairs on have dropped in their tracks thanks to that bullet. I'd look at hammer bullets for something similar as your whelen with the ability to load them long would easily push 250 grain bullets to 2550-2600fps and possibly more with the new powders available.

I like the Barnes 225gr TSX bullets out of the Whelen, they are deadly on black bear. They are doing 2700fps out of a 22 inch barrel. I believe that 35 Whelen ought to be enough for a grizzly, however if I were going on a planned hunt I would be using a 338WinMag or a .358 Norma mag for the hunt. I like the 35 caliber bullets for bear hunting, have had very good performance with them. I use the Barnes 200gr TTSX in the .358 Winchester, never had to track a bear, terminal tissue damage, always a through-and-through.

 

[tdbru]

with the ttsx, they don't lose weight. but they do need velocity to open up. so if your favorite 35 Whelen load is a 225gr. cup/core variety, try a 180gr. ttsx of if you commonly like 250gr. cup/core try the 200gr. ttsx. i.e. if your 250gr. Corelokt is recovered (rare I know) and weighs around 200 gr., then for a ttsx start at that weight and just boost up the velocity to that of a 200 gr. you get both penetration of the heavier bullet and a little flatter trajectory.

My 35 Whelen is driving the 180ttsx at 2900+ fps and so I wouldn't hesitate to take game animals out to 350 yards, which is further than I've ever needed to shoot save one time.

So even though the 35 Whelen is not a looooong range shooter like, say a 300 PRC, it's got more range than the short range caliber that it is commonly portrayed to be. And as you all know the larger frontal area slugs just hit harder.

I can highly recommend the 35 Whelen and the 180 ttsx. But I know many here think 350 yards is just the warm up distance, so use your judgment. the 35 Whelen does hit noticeably harder than is parent cartridge unless you have to stretch the distances a lot, in which case, a 300PRC or 340 Wby or something like that may be more towards what you're looking for.

best regards,
tdbru

 

[quarterman]

Black bears arent hard to kill. Your 200 grain factory ammo will work fine. If you are going to hand load then I would use a 225 grain sierra game king or nosler partition. This is what I use in my 350 rem mag and they work great for me on anything from whitetails to moose and grizzlys

 

[Monster Toms]

Guessing after three years he's figured it out!

 

[RBlevins]

Guessing after three years he's figured it out!

Yea Ive killed a few since then, shooting a 225 tsx at almost 2700, works well on everything Ive tried it on so far.

 

[Double Dropper]

225 seems optimal in the 35 Whelen, love it, I have multiple loadings and recovered bullets from test media, never recovered one on a game kill. Side by side on a 225 grain Sierra, Partition, and an Accubond, the Accubond penetrated slightly more and retained slightly more than the partition....impressed, the Sierra was close so no bad hammers here.

 

[Double Dropper]

225 seems optimal in the 35 Whelen, love it, I have multiple loadings and recovered bullets from test media, never recovered one on a game kill. Side by side on a 225 grain Sierra, Partition, and an Accubond, the Accubond penetrated slightly more and retained slightly more than the partition....impressed, the Sierra was close so no bad hammers here.

 

[Double Dropper]

A great example of the difference between 35 cal bullets. As far as weight retention, no real losers in my opinion. The bear claws are amazing with respect to retention and the mushroom, unbelievable but shooting a whitetail deer at 250 yards.....might be too tough. The Accubond retained more weight than the Partition and out-penetrated it a bit for sure. This is all pretty subjective so don't get too fired up, it's an across the board comparison with equal shooting range and an equal back stop, (wet newspapers water etc>) Range was 80 yards impact velocities were in the same range. Partition and Accubond 2780 fps, Federal Bear Claw 2600 fps, and the Speer 250 grain HotCor was 2650 fps. I will follow up with a Sierra 225 grain BT and a Barnes 200 TTSX in the future. I have no 225 grain TSX nor do I need any......lots of Accubonds and they group sub moa with Varget.

 

[Double Dropper]

Rifle is a rebored Remington 700 Stainless 1:12 gain twist 24" pipe. Work was done by RKS in Alberta Canada, the bore is beautiful and shoots almost everything to the same point of impact @ 100 yards. Not fussy and so far all groups are 1" or less. TriggerTech trigger, bedded, one piece base and Kick eez recoil pad.

 

[AKGuide]

I know the techs say the 225 sierras like 2000fps or more for impact velocities. So that keeps me at 300yds and in with my 350 Rem Mag. Looking forward to your results

Reuben

 

[Double Dropper]

AK you definitely bring a fair point, this is all closer ranges with stiff back stops.......I may have to look at some reduced loads to simulate a 400 yard hit Hmmmmmm. I would like to set 400 yards as a max for me.

 

[Double Dropper]

Ballistic Calculator
Load Data			Range	Vel.	Energy	Total	Path
Cartridge	35 Whelen		yds	fps	ft/lbs	Drop	Inch
Caliber	0.358		0	2700	3641	0.0	-1.5
Powder Type	CFE 223		50	2600	3376	-0.6	0.9
Powder Wt (gr)	0.0		100	2502	3127	-2.5	2.0
Case Type	Rem		150	2406	2891	-5.7	1.8
Bullet Type	Nosler A-bond		200	2312	2670	-10.6	0.0
Primer	Fed 210		250	2221	2464	-17.0	-3.4
			300	2132	2270	-25.2	-8.5
Ballistic Data			350	2044	2087	-35.3	-15.6
Velocity (fps)	2700		400	1958	1915	-47.4	-24.7
Bullet Wt (gr)	225		450	1875	1756	-61.7	-35.9
Bullet BC	0.430		500	1795	1609	-78.6	-49.8
Start Distance	0		550	1717	1472	-98.5	-66.7
Range Increment	50		600	1642	1346	-121.3	-86.5
Altitude (ft)	2500		650	1569	1229	-147.2	-109.4
Temperature (F)	35		700	1499	1122	-175.9	-135.1
Scope Ht (inch)	1.50		750	1432	1024	-209.8	-165.9
Zero Range (yds)	200		800	1370	937	-247.7	-200.8
Wind Speed (mph)	10		850	1312	859	-290.4	-240.5
Target Vely (fps)	3		900	1257	789	-338.1	-285.1

 

[Double Dropper]

Subjective but you get it, 1958 fps out to 400 yards, 225 grain Accubonds, and I would assume the 225 grain Sierras would do this with a max charge of CFE 223 (64.0 grs) and a 24 inch barrel.

 

[Double Dropper]

2 feet low @ 400 yards LOL