Best Path to an Accurate .35 Whelen

[MoreSalsa]

I want a .35 Whelen for deer hunting in an area where the laws make this caliber one of the best options. I would not choose this caliber for deer hunting if not for the legal requirements. I'd like it to be deer hunting accurate, which I'll define as within 1 MOA at 300 yards. I'll be using it out to ~300, maybe 400 if I can improve my shooting. I don't currently handload, so I'd like to be able to do this with factory ammo.

I'm seeing no factory rifles available in that caliber. So, what do you think is the best (as in cost vs. value) route to get what I want? For budget, I'd just say that I'm trying to find the most cost effective route and then decide if I want to shell out the cash. If I can't get what I want for a price that I'm willing to pay then I'd just rather save the money. It's not a matter of I absolutely need one and so I want the best I can get for X budget. But I'd say I'm certainly hoping to get there for under $1500.

One reason I'm struggling is that there are two parts to it .... one is getting a .35 Whelen rifle ... the other is ending up with a rifle that is accurate. It seems like there are a lot of different possible routes to go after both of those two things. It sort of seems like I can either spend more on the rifle I buy or spend less on the rifle and more on the back-end (gunsmithing). One thing I have in mind is that since I'm shooting factory ammo and there aren't many factory ammo options for .35 Whelen, I probably need a rifle set up to shoot most ammo accurately.

I could buy a used rifle chambered in .35 Whelen but from what I'm seeing on GunBroker, good rifles tend to go for over ... or well over ... $1K, and any accurizing work that is needed on the back-end would just add to the price tag. I see there are some custom rifle places that seem fairly affordable. I could get a used 30-06 or .270 and take it into a smith, but I'd really like some advice here. I have a smith near me and he thought the best route would be getting a Krieger barrel in .35 Whelen and putting it on a 30-06, which would probably cost me around $800 between the barrel and labor. I originally thought the best route with a smith would be re-boring a 30-06's or 270's existing barrel (not sure if he thought that was a worse route or that it is just something he doesn't do). Whatever the case, I thought that if I'm already taking it into the smith for barrel/chambering work, it might be more cost-effective just to bundle that with accurizing work, and that would be most likely to produce an accurate rifle in the end.

I do have an old but nice Howa 1500 in 30-06, but the smith said he probably wouldn't be able to work with it because it's probably metric. So that means I'd have to send it out to another smith, which adds shipping. Also, not sure I want to lose my 30-06 (I have a lot of ammo). This makes me wonder whether it would be better just to get a newer Remington or Savage and go from there. Then again, if using the Howa is going to save me a lot of money, I could always just do that and then pick up another 30-06 later.

Last thing I'll throw out there in case it matters is that I don't want this to be an ultralight or even light rifle. I expect a lot of recoil from the Whelen, so I'd like something that is probably 7.5 lbs or heavier (8-9.5 lbs would be better).

 

[Taco John]

There's a universe of o6's out there.

Get one and put your fav barrel on it.

Done, and done.

 

[choprzrul]

I am going to be doing this same thing next year, albeit for different reasons. As matter of fact, I might start gathering parts and get on my gunsmith's waiting list now that I think about it....

Anyway, this is my intended course of action for my 35 Whelen

1. Browning AB3 for the short bolt throw and easy entry price. https://www.gunbroker.com/item/928426898 as an example
2. Boyd's AT1 stock
3. MCARBO's trigger spring
4. Medium Sporter barrel profile from probably either Hart or Kreiger
5. Bed the barreled action to the stock

Not light, but should shoot very nice groups for hunting. I've rolled around the idea of starting with one of the heavier barreled Ruger #1s and having a 35 Whelen screwed onto it. The single actions end up being about 4" shorter overall compared to bolt guns. Since I generally hunt from a ground blind, shorter overall length is much handier.

If 300-400 is your max distance, you might consider a 22" barrel and putting a muzzle brake on it to tame the recoil?

I pretty much followed this formula with the factory Browning barrel that I had cut down to 22". Shoots great. Ignore the scope/sunshade in this picture....it's been changed

Just my $0.02 worth....

 

[birddog 68]

If you trust your gunsmith like I do I would follow his advice. I'm interested in where you will find factory ammo for a 35?

 

[BigGriz]

I bought a 35 Whelen 2nd hand from Gunbroker. It is a Winchester model 70 that the original owner had sent to Shaw to be rebarreled. It shoots factory Nosler trophy grade 225 accubonds 3/4" at 100.

I would think your two options are to find something in the 30-06 family and have it rebarreled or send it to JES to be bored. I don't have first hand experience but I have read where others have had good luck.

 

[Matt Johnson]

A shaw barrel and tool kit can be had from midway fairly cheap. Screw it onto any savage long action and kill deer with it.

 

[MoreSalsa]

If you trust your gunsmith like I do I would follow his advice. I'm interested in where you will find factory ammo for a 35?

My gun store down the street has a bunch of Core Lokts and I see it on GunBroker. It's definitely not as readily available as I'd like but it's the most available of the options that will work within the laws and shoot like a bona fide high power rifle. I really wish .358 Winchester were more available, as I'd expect it to be plenty for shooting deer at 300 or 400 yards and would have less recoil (I'd assume). But it is much less available than the Whelen. I'm also hoping that there might be a bit of a resurgence in .35 Whelen if the laws remain as they are.

As for the smith, I have never really worked with one, but my call with the guy from the shop down the street went well. He was trying to minimize my spend and not upsell me and he seemed pretty knowledgeable and experienced when I was asking him what he'd do to accurize the rifle.

 

[Ross1147]

I don't think there's any issues with a rebore. If you have the ability to pull a barrel pick up a used gun in anything long action with a .473 bolt. Pull the barrel and ship it off to JES to rebore.

I inherited a 1971 Winchester M70 in 30-06 when my grandpa passed. I'm not a huge fan on the 30-06, so I pulled the barrel sent it off to JES to have him bore it to 35 Whelen. Had it back in a little over a week. Spun it back on and it shoot pretty dang good.

Below is a group (2 shots from me, one from my friend) at 100 yds. For a rebore wearing a 1-6x24 at 100 yds I couldn't be happier.

Always a thought and could save some serious coin.

 

[MoreSalsa]

I am going to be doing this same thing next year, albeit for different reasons. As matter of fact, I might start gathering parts and get on my gunsmith's waiting list now that I think about it....

Anyway, this is my intended course of action for my 35 Whelen

1. Browning AB3 for the short bolt throw and easy entry price. https://www.gunbroker.com/item/928426898 as an example
2. Boyd's AT1 stock
3. MCARBO's trigger spring
4. Medium Sporter barrel profile from probably either Hart or Kreiger
5. Bed the barreled action to the stock

Not light, but should shoot very nice groups for hunting. I've rolled around the idea of starting with one of the heavier barreled Ruger #1s and having a 35 Whelen screwed onto it. The single actions end up being about 4" shorter overall compared to bolt guns. Since I generally hunt from a ground blind, shorter overall length is much handier.

If 300-400 is your max distance, you might consider a 22" barrel and putting a muzzle brake on it to tame the recoil?

I pretty much followed this formula with the factory Browning barrel that I had cut down to 22". Shoots great. Ignore the scope/sunshade in this picture....it's been changed

View attachment 367663

Just my $0.02 worth....

Thanks, good ideas. I probably will skip a brake (don't like the extra noise for hearing damage concerns) but I'm guessing 22'' might have a bit less recoil than a 24"? I like the better ballistics from the 24'', although not too concerned about keeping velocity up for terminal performance as I am with my 6.5 creedmoor and lead-free bullets. I'm guessing that even just a .35 caliber hole through a deer is probably good enough terminal performance.

As for handiness, I've never hunted in a blind but I could see that in my future where I'm using this rifle. If I'm just trouncing around looking for a close shot, I'll probably just stick with the slug gun, or a lever gun in .35 remington would be an interesting option.

 

[MoreSalsa]

I don't think there's any issues with a rebore. If you have the ability to pull a barrel pick up a used gun in anything long action with a .473 bolt. Pull the barrel and ship it off to JES to rebore.

I inherited a 1971 Winchester M70 in 30-06 when my grandpa passed. I'm not a huge fan on the 30-06, so I pulled the barrel sent it off to JES to have him bore it to 35 Whelen. Had it back in a little over a week. Spun it back on and it shoot pretty dang good.

Below is a group (2 shots from me, one from my friend) at 100 yds. For a rebore wearing a 1-6x24 at 100 yds I couldn't be happier.

Always a thought and could save some serious coin.

I assume there is no reason he wouldn't re-bore a Howa? My Howa is the right weight, has a smooth action, and is a nice looking gun (about like a 700 BDL) that feels great against my shoulder. So if I can get it to shoot .35 Whelen rounds like that, that would be all that I'd need. Then later if I want an '06 to go with my ammo, I could pick one up with future $ for probably a lot cheaper than trying to find or build a Whelen. That might be the ticket.

Dumb question I know and I'll research it but is it easy enough to get a barrel off for all bolt guns? Is it just a matter of getting a kit from Midway?

 

[357Mag]

I want a .35 Whelen for deer hunting in an area where the laws make this caliber one of the best options. I would not choose this caliber for deer hunting if not for the legal requirements. I'd like it to be deer hunting accurate, which I'll define as within 1 MOA at 300 yards. I'll be using it out to ~300, maybe 400 if I can improve my shooting. I don't currently handload, so I'd like to be able to do this with factory ammo.

I'm seeing no factory rifles available in that caliber. So, what do you think is the best (as in cost vs. value) route to get what I want? For budget, I'd just say that I'm trying to find the most cost effective route and then decide if I want to shell out the cash. If I can't get what I want for a price that I'm willing to pay then I'd just rather save the money. It's not a matter of I absolutely need one and so I want the best I can get for X budget. But I'd say I'm certainly hoping to get there for under $1500.

One reason I'm struggling is that there are two parts to it .... one is getting a .35 Whelen rifle ... the other is ending up with a rifle that is accurate. It seems like there are a lot of different possible routes to go after both of those two things. It sort of seems like I can either spend more on the rifle I buy or spend less on the rifle and more on the back-end (gunsmithing). One thing I have in mind is that since I'm shooting factory ammo and there aren't many factory ammo options for .35 Whelen, I probably need a rifle set up to shoot most ammo accurately.

I could buy a used rifle chambered in .35 Whelen but from what I'm seeing on GunBroker, good rifles tend to go for over ... or well over ... $1K, and any accurizing work that is needed on the back-end would just add to the price tag. I see there are some custom rifle places that seem fairly affordable. I could get a used 30-06 or .270 and take it into a smith, but I'd really like some advice here. I have a smith near me and he thought the best route would be getting a Krieger barrel in .35 Whelen and putting it on a 30-06, which would probably cost me around $800 between the barrel and labor. I originally thought the best route with a smith would be re-boring a 30-06's or 270's existing barrel (not sure if he thought that was a worse route or that it is just something he doesn't do). Whatever the case, I thought that if I'm already taking it into the smith for barrel/chambering work, it might be more cost-effective just to bundle that with accurizing work, and that would be most likely to produce an accurate rifle in the end.

I do have an old but nice Howa 1500 in 30-06, but the smith said he probably wouldn't be able to work with it because it's probably metric. So that means I'd have to send it out to another smith, which adds shipping. Also, not sure I want to lose my 30-06 (I have a lot of ammo). This makes me wonder whether it would be better just to get a newer Remington or Savage and go from there. Then again, if using the Howa is going to save me a lot of money, I could always just do that and then pick up another 30-06 later.

Last thing I'll throw out there in case it matters is that I don't want this to be an ultralight or even light rifle. I expect a lot of recoil from the Whelen, so I'd like something that is probably 7.5 lbs or heavier (8-9.5 lbs would be better).

Moresalsa -

Howdy !

FWIW - CVA makes top-break single shot rifles chambered in .35 Whelen. They are part of their " Scout " line of rifles. They offer a stainless version that includes a brake an a scope base, and a blued version that does not feature a brake. Both models feature 25" barrels.


With regards,
357Mag

 

[wildcat westerner]

This may not be the right way to do this, but I have my uncle Allies' Springfield actioned 35 Whelan Ackley Improved that P.O. Ackley rebored in the late 50's I believe. I have a three die RCBS set of dies for both jacketed and lead bullets and about 400 rounds of ammunition. The rifle has a capacity of 5 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. It has a Fajen stock and Leupold 3X scope on Redfield one piece scope rings and mount, with a checkered bolt knob and is the slickest working bolt action I have ever used. Would you be interested? You don't need a muzzlebrake on this rifle and I do believe with the recoil pad on it you will feel no more recoil than with your 30-06. I do not know whether this message would be legal within the paradigm of this website, but if not, I am sure Len Backus will let me know.

WW

 

[Stk]

I want a .35 Whelen for deer hunting in an area where the laws make this caliber one of the best options. I would not choose this caliber for deer hunting if not for the legal requirements. I'd like it to be deer hunting accurate, which I'll define as within 1 MOA at 300 yards. I'll be using it out to ~300, maybe 400 if I can improve my shooting. I don't currently handload, so I'd like to be able to do this with factory ammo.

I'm seeing no factory rifles available in that caliber. So, what do you think is the best (as in cost vs. value) route to get what I want? For budget, I'd just say that I'm trying to find the most cost effective route and then decide if I want to shell out the cash. If I can't get what I want for a price that I'm willing to pay then I'd just rather save the money. It's not a matter of I absolutely need one and so I want the best I can get for X budget. But I'd say I'm certainly hoping to get there for under $1500.

One reason I'm struggling is that there are two parts to it .... one is getting a .35 Whelen rifle ... the other is ending up with a rifle that is accurate. It seems like there are a lot of different possible routes to go after both of those two things. It sort of seems like I can either spend more on the rifle I buy or spend less on the rifle and more on the back-end (gunsmithing). One thing I have in mind is that since I'm shooting factory ammo and there aren't many factory ammo options for .35 Whelen, I probably need a rifle set up to shoot most ammo accurately.

I could buy a used rifle chambered in .35 Whelen but from what I'm seeing on GunBroker, good rifles tend to go for over ... or well over ... $1K, and any accurizing work that is needed on the back-end would just add to the price tag. I see there are some custom rifle places that seem fairly affordable. I could get a used 30-06 or .270 and take it into a smith, but I'd really like some advice here. I have a smith near me and he thought the best route would be getting a Krieger barrel in .35 Whelen and putting it on a 30-06, which would probably cost me around $800 between the barrel and labor. I originally thought the best route with a smith would be re-boring a 30-06's or 270's existing barrel (not sure if he thought that was a worse route or that it is just something he doesn't do). Whatever the case, I thought that if I'm already taking it into the smith for barrel/chambering work, it might be more cost-effective just to bundle that with accurizing work, and that would be most likely to produce an accurate rifle in the end.

I do have an old but nice Howa 1500 in 30-06, but the smith said he probably wouldn't be able to work with it because it's probably metric. So that means I'd have to send it out to another smith, which adds shipping. Also, not sure I want to lose my 30-06 (I have a lot of ammo). This makes me wonder whether it would be better just to get a newer Remington or Savage and go from there. Then again, if using the Howa is going to save me a lot of money, I could always just do that and then pick up another 30-06 later.

Last thing I'll throw out there in case it matters is that I don't want this to be an ultralight or even light rifle. I expect a lot of recoil from the Whelen, so I'd like something that is probably 7.5 lbs or heavier (8-9.5 lbs would be better).

I'm interested in where you're hunting that has laws that make the .35 Whelen one of the best calibers for deer hunting? Nothing wrong with it, and I'm very interested in one myself, but factory ammo is going to be very limited and if you aren't willing to go with a custom, a rifle meeting your specs may be difficult to find too. The whelen also slows considerably and begins to drop very fast at the distances you're talking about--it's very effective at closer ranges but not really designed for 400 yard shots.

I've seen some very nice Nosler rifles chambered in 35 Whelen but I don't know if they'll come in at your price point.

 

[FEENIX]

I assume there is no reason he wouldn't re-bore a Howa? My Howa is the right weight, has a smooth action, and is a nice looking gun (about like a 700 BDL) that feels great against my shoulder. So if I can get it to shoot .35 Whelen rounds like that, that would be all that I'd need. Then later if I want an '06 to go with my ammo, I could pick one up with future $ for probably a lot cheaper than trying to find or build a Whelen. That might be the ticket.

Dumb question I know and I'll research it but is it easy enough to get a barrel off for all bolt guns? Is it just a matter of getting a kit from Midway?

The most cost-efficient option is what @Ross1147 is suggesting (barrel re-boring with JES). Your Howa in .30-06 is more than likely a 1:10" and a .35 Whelen typically has a much slower barrel twist, i.e., a 1:16 inch twist. From the look of the @Ross1147 shot group, it is not an issue. However, he probably custom-hand-loaded them.

There is nothing worse than having your dream rifle, and you cannot shoot it because you do not have ammunition. Since accuracy is one of your goals, you are at the mercy of how good the factory ammunition is and hope your rifle likes them. Do you have a friend that reloads? Good luck!