I must confess: a hidden reason to love the 358 & 35 whelen

[mogwai]

They are cheap thrills!  I get real hard hitting rounds without great expense or fuss.  I can also plink for not many cents, but that is another thread.

I love my 35 thumpers and reload for both of them.  Where do I get my brass?  I sneak around the shooting range and scrounge 308 & 30-06 brass.  A quick run through the resizer and they are perfectly competent brass for the big boys. 

I don't mess with brass sorting, weighing, etc.  I load them to a sub-maximum pressure, shoot them a few times and enjoy.  The guns are extremely not-picky about load details...most everything shoots okay.

I'm not trying to squeeze MOA from my remington pumps, but both seem to throw 2-3 MOA with anything I feed them, regardless of the powder charge or bullet weight.  Best loads are <2MOA.

Tell us your story about skinflint shooting. 

[bja105]

Share your loads, too.

My cheap Whelen load is resized 30-06 brass, Remington 357 180 grain hollow point, and a compressed charge of surplus wc846, with a magnum primer.  Wear hearing protection with this load (or any load), wc846 is very loud!  I killed a deer with this load. At 150 yards, I had complete penetration and the deer dropped at the shot.


No 358 for me, yet.

I would like a Remington 760 in 35 Whelen, seams like the perfect deer rifle to me.

[doetag]

  I haven't got the whelen yet,its next on the list, but have a 7600 in 358 and love it. Still working on loads but as for now my favorite is 47 gr.of H335 behind the sierra 225  gamekings . Best groups have been just under an inch. I have used this load on three Alabama deer (under 150 lbs.)  Ranges 30 to 80 yds. they never made a step. looking forward to trying the new hornady rubber tips made for the 35 rem.

[mogwai]

  I haven't got the whelen yet,its next on the list, but have a 7600 in 358 and love it. Still working on loads but as for now my favorite is 47 gr.of H335 behind the sierra 225  gamekings . Best groups have been just under an inch. I have used this load on three Alabama deer (under 150 lbs.)  Ranges 30 to 80 yds. they never made a step. looking forward to trying the new hornady rubber tips made for the 35 rem.

I imagine those rubber tips will be quite expensive.  Why bother when REmington and Hornaday both make good spire point 200 gr bullets?  I'm using 200 gr core lokt round nose bullets in my 358.  Shoots like a dream out to 200 yds.  Never have shot groups farther than that with the gun

[burntmuch]

I love my rem700 35 whelen. It shoots the 180 grain SSP hornadys into a tiny little group. little recoil. Shoots the 200 grain remcorlocts almost as well a little more recoil though. No 358 yet but I got a 357max that shoots like a dream & cheap.

[Bigeasy]

I have a DWM 1909 Argentine Mauser converted to 35 Whelen, and an old model Browning BLR in 358.  When I am hunting with a rifle, they are two of my favorites.  I like reduced loads in both using the XTP 158 grn. bullet, or a hard cast 158 grn semi-wadcutter.  For big game, I have settled on the 225 grn Nosler in both.

Larry

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I've got a Savage 110 w/ an Adams & Benet barrel chambered for .35 Whelen.

I do the brass scrounging - except I just bum brass off all my co-workers who shoot .30-06 & .270.  Yes .270 works too, but you have to trim it down to lenght.  That way it's even easier 'cuz they just drop it off at my desk.  I know it's all once fired too.  Range scrap you never know about, is it once-fired?  Or is it some other reloader's cast-offs?  For that reason, I never leave junk brass at the range.  I don't want some other reloader picking up my 5th-fired brass thinking it's once-fired.

I've got a 280 grain mold that I paper-patch.  Now THAT makes for some affordable shooting.  Although, with the 280 grain bullet I had to devise a recoil absorbing shooting rest.  Just a regular ol' $35 Coldwell Zero-Max, but I put a 1" nylon web strap on it that wraps around the butt of the gun.  Then I lay a couple sandbags over the frame.  No need for a $100 lead-slead.  I think the nylon web strap set me back $1.50 at Ace.

I also like the Remington 200 grain core-lokts.  I'm using up a supply of roundnoses now.  Once those run out I might be sticking with cast bullets I just about choked when I saw a box of Hornady 250's for $54!  Shoot my cutsom-made 280 mold cost $80. 

[burntmuch]

Yeah if I didnt reload, I couldnt afford to shoot the whelen

[gl411]

No whelen -- but 2 .358 win bolts-- that Load of H335 and the Sieera is one I have used for years and it is the single most accurate load in my 3 35's (I let one go)-- as for cheap I use either gimmie 30.06 hulls or 308-- Normas really will last long - and have used cast and will again --normal Load is 200 Remington CL and H335 or H322--I did one time take some bought nickled 30.06 and turn them in to .358 --they is prutty:)

[Bigeasy]

No whelen -- but 2 .358 win bolts-- that Load of H335 and the Sieera is one I have used for years and it is the single most accurate load in my 3 35's (I let one go)-- as for cheap I use either gimmie 30.06 hulls or 308-- Normas really will last long - and have used cast and will again --normal Load is 200 Remington CL and H335 or H322--I did one time take some bought nickled 30.06 and turn them in to .358 --they is prutty:)

I was wondering, how do you form your 30-06 cases?

[JimP.]

I have two 35 whelens, one is a custom Mauser with a 26 inch barrel in a black laminated stock and the other is a Remington model 750. I buy 35 whelen brass from Midway usa and dont have to make my own. The Mauser likes the 200 gr Barnes TSX bullet and will shoot it at 2800 fps. The Remington likes the Nosler 225 Ballistic Tip, but i have slowed it down to 2550 fps... and they drop deer like lightening...JimP.

[Savage_99]

I to am a .35 caliber enthusiast and have used a .358 Win for woods hunting since 1966.  That is a 99F.

I have four .358 Wins!   The two rifles at the bottom are .358's.