Finally, a Whelen

After three years of looking and watching two others walk out of gunshops in front of me, a .35 Whelen has finally followed me home.  This one is Remington 700 BDL in a nice clean stock.  According to Dave at Remington's Customer Service line, it's a 1988 gun, the same year as the Classic.  Sights, unvented recoil pad and NO forend cap.  This is a good thing.  I mounted a Leupold VX-1 3X9X40 on it for glass in the Redfield bases and rings that were on it.  I'm not a fan of them, but they were there and the scope fit well.

It's a cold, wet, very Novembery day here in the middle of May in southern New England.  That being said, I stopped by the range on the way home today to try it out.  I'm still pulling together reloading stuff, so factory green box 200 grain PSPs had to do.  The trigger is like an old barn door latch which didn't help, heavier than sin with significant creep.  That'll have to be changed.  I'll either freight it off to Neil Jones if he's still in business or replace it.  Jones did a nice job a number of years ago on the trigger in my 700VS.

I got honest 2" groups at 100 yds.  Not bad for the first time, but knowing that she can do better.  I'm not recoil sensitive, but there's quite a difference between this one and the shotgun-like push of the 45/70.  The Whelen is signficantly sharper than even my heavy Guide Gun loads of 50 gr. IMR-4198 and a 300 gr. HP.  As said in the recent American Rifleman article about the .375 Ruger, definitely a gun to be carried a lot and shot little.  Recoil may change as I develop a load.

That's it.  Summer's coming and there's work to be done getting it ready for those real November days.

Best, 788

         It seems that the powder to use in the Whelen is RL-15 my old custom ,squirts 250 grain bullets out the end at about 2600 FPS and puts the holes quite close together if I say so myself.

        I got my data from the aliant web page. Great cartridge, I am sure you will like it...tj3006

Edited by tj3006

Thanks, Bear.  I found it on SniperCountry.  I'll try it this week and see how it does.  788

Ok !

       I shoot both rounds, asuming you mean .338 win ,not 338,06. I have more fun with the Whelen.

       I have come to the conclusion over the years that within 300 yards magnums are not needed. I still have a 7mmSTW and a 338 win, if I want to shoot longer, but the Whelen is really fun.

   I have yet to shoot any game with the darn thing but it goes elk hunting with me all the time, and will cotinue to.

   The recoil is kind of different , substantial ,but not a problem for me.  Now the .338 will give me a headache after 20 rounds or so at full power., but it is not bad either.

   Both are good rounds but I like the whelen so well I am thinking of building another. A MK 30,06 action and screw in an adams and bennit barrel from midway at I think 85,00 and start shooting. Check the head space of corse.And  if you like it alot you can gussy it up over time.

    ...tj3006

Just a quick update.  I tried to adjust the trigger on the M700 Whelen.  I got it down to a nice 3 lbs with no overtravel.  Can't seem to get the creep out of it though.  I suspect that I'll go back for another try, but not until I've shot it some more.  I'm working up a load for fire forming new brass with 357 mag heads.

I went with the Whelen for a couple of reasons: The idea of a belted case never excited me and, the bigger one, is that it has some history to it.  I like things that have a bit of a past; 45-70, 45 LC, etc.

Thanks for the guidance on the trigger.  788

TJ, when I buy factory brass, I always put together some low end loads to make it once fired.  That way on the bottlenecks I can neck size only and save some wear and tear.  I've got an old can of RL-7 that will work fine for these lighter heads and at the lower cost, I don't feel so bad about just running them down range.  788

A quick update.  I had the trigger done by Neal Jones before his back surgery in August, crisp with no over travel at 3 1/2 lbs and restocked it into a Hogue with the monbloc.  I needed to have the LOP shortented to 13 1/8", didn't want to cut up the nice wood stock and found a new Hogue in a used bin still in the package for less than 40% of the new price.

I was still hunting this morning and walked up a little spike whitetail.  Too much gun for it definitely, but he went down where he stood and didn't get up.  The Whelen has been a good switch.  Heavier than my other hunting guns but so far, that hasn't been a problem.

The load was a 225 gr. SGK on top of 51 grains of IMR3031 and a CCI benchrest primer in a Remington case. OAL 3.240".  This is a sub MOA load if I do my part and gives me a point blank range to at least 200 yds.  (That's where I run out of room at the the gun club.)

Thanks for all your help guys.  788

Congratulations 788.  Seems the Whelen is everything you wanted.  The Colonel would be proud.

BEAR

We still need some pics of the new born!

Congrats 788 fan.

      the whelen is good. I recomend you try RL-15. It works great in mine. Saw a whelen I wanted today. It was actaly an AI version built on a L-61 sako.

   Guy was asking 595.00 with dies. Damn that would be nice. It had a fluted barell I could live with out but i wanted it.

    Can't swing it now. Got clear up 3 projects 1st before i buy another rifle...tj3006