I'll be rebarreling another savage for 35 whelen, anyone have any experience with the caliber? I'm just wanting to try a medium bore out on deer this year.

Following this. I've got a Savage 116 30-06 I'm thinking about rebarrleing to 35 Whelen.

It will kill anything in North America deader than dead. All you need to know. Go for it.

I'll be ordering barrel tomorrow and should have it ready by opening day, I would do some pics but I'm not fooling with Imgur.

I have a model 700 chambered in it. It's a thumper on the business end and mine will tear ragged holes with factory loads. The recoil is no worse than 30-06 to me.

Where do you plan to order your barrel from Reloader?

Kicks pretty hard, ballistics are decent, not great.

Necked up 30-06 with about the same recoil. Rem 700 is very accurate and does a wicked number on deer. Also really like shooting a Rem 7600 in the same caliber. Have only shot core locks and they have performed well.

Being a model 7 homer I want one in 358 Winchester. The Whelen is a great cartridge that does the 358 Win one better. It will be a deer and hog killing machine.

Anyone ever had one bored up by a gunsmith? I've been thinking about buying a budget 30-06 and having it bored up/out to a .35 Whelen, but I've read a lot about accuracy issues resulting from the modification.

http://www.35caliber.com/3.html

Lots of good reports from this guy's work.

If you pick up a Savage as a buget rifle I think you'll be better off just getting a ER Shaw barrel than having it re-bored just keep in mind it is a magnum contour. If I were to build a hunting rifle I don't see the advantage around here of the .35 Whelen over .358 so I would build on a short action particularly if you can reload. To each their own, but that's just my observation if you never intend on hunting with it out west or Alaska. Here's my story:

If you read or read between the lines of my posts it should be no secret I'm a .35 fan. My first was a .35 Rem Marlin. I was impressed over the 30-30. I was fortunate enough that pre-internet I had what would amount to a library of information via reloading books and manuals as my father was heavily involved in such things. I'm talking Elmer Keith and there was the .35 Whelen. I thought it was likely overkill but I got one anyway and just loaded it mild with just a basic Sierra Bullet (99% sure because we always tried them first). I thought it might blow the whitetail in 2 pieces after reading Elmer Keith shooting Brown Bear with one... of course it did not. But it slapped the deer straight down nose in the dirt. Shot it through the front shoulders broke everything in between and out the other side no problem. Huh, I thought. Well, that was pretty authoritative.

Experimented with some other non-magnum bigger bore stuff 45/70. 375 Winchester. They had the thump but not the range. Years later I said... you know I wish I had a short light and handy one of these. Came across a .356 Winchester Marlin.

Hit pay dirt with that. Best whitetail round I ever shot. Recoil seemed fairly light with 200 grain bullets IMO. Finally decided it was collectible and quit hunting with it and got a .358 which is for all purposes the exact same thing. I'm shooting the Hornady 200 grain flex tip at deer and it will kill one with authority. Sure, They might run just like anything else... but there will be a well defined blood trail to follow the short distance required. Deer are tougher and survival instinct is greater than some like to give credit.

Any more dead than a .308? NO. But .35 Whelen/.358. You can't beat it IMO. How many of us really shoot over 300 yards anyway? Enough thump to kill a moose. I wouldn't think twice about taking it Elk Hunting (I have) and/or even Alaska. You'll have to come up with some other excuse than your bullet blew up. You won't need it though as long as the shot is good.

I'll leave you with this:

“I like one-shot kills where possible and prefer to do all my hunting before I shoot.” - Elmer Keith talking about the bigger bores.

I ordered barrel from midway, an er shaw kit for $229, I've had good luck with shaw barrel kits. This is the stainless magnum contour which will only require opening the barrel channel out to fit.

I agree with you goatkiller on the one shot kills that's why I'm going to try it out. I don't like tracking anything and there are some very very thick places I hunt.

I've got a 35 Whelen that I've used for years. It's a Remington 700 with a 24" barrel, iron sights and quick detach scope mounts. With it I've hunted from Namibia to the Arctic Circle, from Alabama to Alaska. Using it I've taken a brown bear, an elk, a musk ox, a bison and several other game animals. My longest shot was a measured 276 yards on a kudu. I love the gun and the caliber, it'll be with me until the end.

Got the Whelen going and have to say I'm well pleased with results. Everything went good on putting it together. Bought some factory rounds to try it out with and it shoots 5/8-3/4" 3 shot at best. Remington 250 gr cl were best in accuracy, 200 gr superformance was next, then 200 gr core lokts, and then 200 gr federal fusion. All were very good for factory Ammo and right now I see no need to do any reloading. I may bed the rifle but the way it's shooting now there really is no need. Going to try and put some meat down will next weekend.

Good deal

A 225gr TSX at 2600fps ain't a bad thing. That's all I've loaded for my Whelen.

Have you got to try the 35W out on a deer yet Reloaded?

Yes I have shot 2 and the results were drt, miminmal meat loss.