In this scenerio though, you think the 35 Whelen would be good on elk out to 600 yards (nevermind the unquantifiable "low recoil")? Genuinely curious as I don't know how they hold accuracy beyond a couple hundred yards.
35 Whelen is a caliber I never understood. It's in this weird middle ground between a 30-06 and 338 Win. I have a couple 30-06's and at one point, I was looking into converting one over to 35 Whelen just because. Still may...
EDIT: For my own gee-whiz, threw some sample load data into a balistic calcular and it looks like the 35 Whelen runs out of steam pretty quick and wouldn't be good for elk beyond about 400 yards (keeping energy above 1500). Example with a 200 grain accubond and "average" velocity listed by Nosler.
35 Whelen w/200 grain AB
Range | Velocity | Energy | Trajectory | Come Up (MOA) | Come Up (MILS) | Wind Drift | Wind Drift (MOA) | Wind Drift (MILS) |
0 | 2700 | 3237.0 | -1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
100 | 2458 | 2684.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
200 | 2230 | 2207.0 | -4.3 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
300 | 2013 | 1799.0 | -15.6 | 5.0 | 1.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
400 | 1810 | 1454.0 | -35.5 | 8.5 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
500 | 1622 | 1168.0 | -66.1 | 12.6 | 3.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
600 | 1451 | 935.0 | -109.9 | 17.5 | 5.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
30-06 w/190ABLR
Range | Velocity | Energy | Trajectory | Come Up (MOA) | Come Up (MILS) | Wind Drift | Wind Drift (MOA) | Wind Drift (MILS) |
0 | 2750 | 3190.0 | -1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
100 | 2599 | 2850.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
200 | 2453 | 2539.0 | -3.7 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
300 | 2312 | 2255.0 | -13.1 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
400 | 2175 | 1997.0 | -29.1 | 6.9 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
500 | 2044 | 1762.0 | -52.4 | 10.0 | 2.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
600 | 1916 | 1549.0 | -84.1 | 13.4 | 3.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |